----- Forwarded by Calvin R Thudium/CARZ/DCC/DCX on 04/20/2010 02:50 PM ----- | "Gord Gray" <ggray@mnsi.net> 04/17/2010 12:41 PM | | To | <Undisclosed-Recipient:, > | | cc | | | Subject | Toyota to recall 870,000 Sienna minivans / Toyota verifies flaw in Lexus SUV / Toyota Seeks Fix for Lexus SUV, Faces New Congressional Hearing |
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Another blow to Toyota . Bake Pedeals or what ever they want to call it, Carpets, Run Away Cars, SUV Roll Overs now this. Rusty Spare-Tire Cables. Like I said it's the "The Deception Game" to obtain the percetion of quality products. What Toyota will find out in time is that a "Half Truth Is A Whole Lie Which Will Come Back 360 Degrees And Bite You " Toyota to recall 870,000 Sienna minivans for rusty spare-tire cables http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100416/RETAIL05/100419906/1147
Automotive News -- UPDATED: 4/16/2010 7:45 p.m. ET Letter to the Editor (Reuters) -- Toyota Motor Corp said it would recall 870,000 Sienna minivans sold in the United States and Canada since the 1998 model year because of a risk that the spare tire could drop onto the road.
The recalls cover minivans sold in 20 cold-weather U.S. states and Canada due to potential corrosion from long-term exposure to road salt that could in the worst case cause the spare tire to separate from the vehicle, Toyota said.
All told, the recalls cover some 600,000 two-wheel-drive Sienna minivans from the 1998 to 2010 model years sold or registered in the United States and 270,000 of the same vehicles in Canada.
Friday's action pushes the number of Toyota vehicles recalled since late last year to more than 9.3 million. Most address the risk of unintended acceleration tied to faulty gas pedals and floor mats that can interfere with pedals. The Prius and other hybrids have also been recalled for brake problems.
On Tuesday, Toyota halted sales of its Lexus GX 460 SUV after Consumer Reports said its handling in certain curves posed a "safety risk."
The automaker has not yet decided whether it would have to recall the GX 460, but has said its engineers duplicated the results of Consumer Reports' tests.
For the Sienna recall, Toyota said prolonged exposure to high use of road salt could cause excessive corrosion in the cable. Owners will receive a letter urging them to bring their minivans to a dealership for inspection while Toyota develops a remedy.
The recall covers vehicles sold or registered in the District of Columbia as well as Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Owners in other states also can choose to have their vehicles inspected, Toyota said.
latimes.com AUTOS - Toyota verifies flaw in Lexus SUV The carmaker says it's looking for a fix to the SUV rollover issue in the GX 460. Separately, it will recall 600,000 Sienna minivans over potential corrosion in the cable securing the spare tire. By Jerry Hirsch, April 17, 2010 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lexus17-2010apr17,0,70001.story
Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday that its engineers had confirmed a flaw in a Lexus SUV model that Consumer Reports had warned consumers not to buy because of a rollover threat.
The automaker said it was looking for a fix but did not say whether it planned to issue a formal recall for the 2010 model year Lexus GX 460. It has stopped selling the SUV and has temporarily idled the vehicle's Japanese production line.
Federal regulations give an automaker five days, after finding that one of its vehicles is not in compliance with safety standards or has a defect, to make a report to the U.S. Transportation Department. A spokeswoman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the agency was aware of Toyota's test results and was waiting for the automaker's formal report.
This week, NHTSA issued an advisory asking motorists to use caution when driving the vehicle.
Separately, Toyota said Friday that it would launch a voluntary recall involving about 600,000 Sienna minivans sold in the U.S. to address potential corrosion in the spare-tire carrier cable.
The automaker said the condition affects some 1998 through 2010 Siennas that have been operated in cold-climate areas with high use of road salt. This could let the spare tire fall from the van, creating a danger for vehicles following it.
Toyota said it was working on a fix, but for now it wants owners to bring the vans to a dealership for an inspection. Once it has a remedy, owners will get a second notice advising them of the solution.
In its report on the GX SUV on Tuesday, influential buyers guide Consumer Reports said that "when pushed to its limits on a handling course" on the magazine's test track, the rear of the Lexus GX "slid out until the vehicle was almost sideways" before the vehicle's electronic stability-control system was able to regain control.
Lexus spokesman Bill Kwong said Friday that engineers started testing the Lexus SUV on a track in Japan on Wednesday, using conditions similar to the Consumer Reports test, and replicated the sliding under certain conditions.
Toyota engineers "are currently evaluating current remedies or fixes. It is too early to speculate what the remedy will be and the timing of the release," Kwong said.
"It is too early to tell if we are going to recall the vehicles. We have to figure out why it is doing it. We have to take it one step at a time," he said.
Consumer Reports and others have said they expected Toyota to modify the software that manages the GX's electronic stability-control system, but Toyota executives said they were evaluating a variety of factors that might cause the vehicle to slide under certain conditions and have not settled on a solution.
The GX, which sells for about $52,000, has been on the market for about three months. About 5,000 vehicles have been sold.
Owners worried about the safety of the vehicle should take it to their dealership, where they will be provided with a loaner "until the issue is resolved," Kwong said.
Morris Grossblatt, 81, a retired auto repairman in Tarzana, said his new GX 460 has been for the most part "an absolute delight."
But the news that Toyota has confirmed rollover concerns has him worried -- but not for his safety.
"I'm always concerned if there could be an accident, but I don't drive in an extreme way and the car has just behaved beautifully," he said. "But I don't like this going on because even though I plan on keeping it for many years . . . my $70,000 car won't be worth much as a trade-in."
He also worried that his insurance company might increase his premium.
The vehicle's sales suspension comes as Toyota is using aggressive financing and lease incentives to entice customers back to showrooms after a series of large recalls and federal probes into safety defects.
The Japanese carmaker has issued nearly 10 million recall notices worldwide in recent months for problems related to sudden acceleration that it blames on sticky gas pedals and faulty floor mat design, as well as braking problems in some hybrid models.
The latest safety issue "is a huge problem, but the real question is how much longer is this going to go on?" said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com. "If three months from now we haven't heard anything else, Toyota can start to regroup and move on."
Toyota's brisk sales last month have continued into April, demonstrating that despite the ongoing controversies, the automaker has a "decades-old reservoir of good will" that is helping it through the crisis, Anwyl said. "One could argue that with all this news, why would anyone buy a Toyota?"
Toyota has until Monday to decide whether to contest a $16.4-million fine levied by the U.S. Transportation Department -- the largest ever sought by the agency from an automaker. The government accused Toyota of delaying before issuing the recalls.
Toyota Seeks Fix for Lexus SUV, Faces New Congressional Hearing
By Alan Ohnsman, Jeff Plungis and Angela Greiling Keane
April 17 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said it’s seeking a fix for a Lexus model identified as a “safety risk” by Consumer Reports as a U.S. congressional committee set a new hearing to examine unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.
The world’s largest automaker said yesterday its engineers reproduced the same “slide” Consumer Reports magazine found in its tests of the 2010 GX 460 sport-utility vehicle. Separately, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman asked Toyota for documents on unintended acceleration for a hearing his panel will hold on potential electronic causes on May 6.
“We’re going to work on a countermeasure” to eliminate the handling issue on the GX, said Bill Kwong, a U.S. spokesman for Toyota’s luxury unit. “It’s too early to say exactly what that will be.”
The combination of Consumer Reports issuing a “don’t buy” assessment on the Lexus GX and renewed congressional scrutiny underscores the challenge Toyota faces regaining its reputation after global recalls of more than 8 million autos for problems including unintended acceleration. Compounding those issues, Toyota yesterday recalled 870,000 Sienna minivans in the U.S. and Canada for corrosion in a cable that holds the spare tire.
“Big obstacles remain before Toyota can regain customer trust and its strong quality reputation, especially in the case of non-Toyota owners,” said industry researcher Robert Cole, professor emeritus at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. “The public now associates problems of unintended acceleration with Toyota.”
Toyota’s American depositary receipts fell 69 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $79.37 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
GX Test
The assessment by Consumer Reports, a non-profit magazine published by Yonkers, New York-based Consumers Union, was the first of its type for the magazine in nine years and led Toyota to halt sales and production of the $52,000 SUV.
Consumer Reports researchers found the GX’s rear end “slid out until the vehicle was almost sideways before the electronic stability control system was able to regain control” at a Connecticut test track, the magazine said. “In real-world driving, that situation could lead to a rollover accident, which could cause serious injury or death.”
The Toyota City, Japan-based company said GX assembly at its Tahara, Japan, plant would stop from April 16 through April 28. Toyota suspended sales of the luxury SUV in North America, Russia and the Middle East. Toyota has said it’s conducting Consumer Reports’ driving test on all Toyota and Lexus SUVs.
“With the GX, this isn’t necessarily a problem related to carrying out an avoidance maneuver, but one that comes up when drivers are traveling at a high rate of speed,” said Dan Edmunds, director of vehicle testing for Edmunds.com, a Santa Monica, California-based automotive data and pricing service.
“The fix could be something as simple as reprogramming the software for the electronic stability control system,” Edmunds said.
House Hearing
Toyota executives were called before House and Senate committees in February and March to explain the causes of its recalls for problems linked to sudden acceleration.
Waxman, a California Democrat, said yesterday in a letter to Toyota U.S. sales chief Jim Lentz that his committee wants to know more about Toyota’s work with engineering and research firm Exponent Inc. Waxman asked Lentz to testify at next month’s hearing.
The panel asked for all contracts and correspondence between Toyota and Exponent relating to unintended acceleration and electronic throttle-control systems.
Exponent executives helped Toyota rebut the assertions of a Southern Illinois University professor about flaws in its electronic controls at a March 8 news conference. David Gilbert, a professor of automotive technology, had been featured in an ABC News broadcast and testified at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Feb. 23.
New Recalls
Toyota said yesterday that the spare tire on Siennas can be dislodged if the cable deteriorates. The company is voluntarily recalling 1998 through 2010 vans sold in parts of the U.S. and Canada where salt is most likely to be used on roads.
“Toyota is listening to its customers attentively, and we want to make sure their voices are heard,” Steve St. Angelo, the Japanese automaker’s chief quality officer for North America, said in a statement. “We are also working diligently to develop a remedy as soon as possible.”
New York and New Jersey are among 20 states and the District of Columbia that are covered by the recall. Toyota is working on a fix for the defect and will inspect affected vehicles in the meantime, the company said.
The automaker said it will provide free inspections of spare-tire cables in all states, including those not in the recall, to customers who want them.
Toyota also said yesterday it’s recalling 4,774 units of “tray-type” floor mats in Canada on some 2007 through 2010 Tundra pickups and 2008 through 2010 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid SUVS. Like floor mats recalled last year, these can shift out of position and potentially cause the accelerator pedal to stick, Toyota’s Canadian unit said in a statement.
