So the hearings are going on in Congress, with consumers, senators, congressmen, Akio Toyoda and the NHTSA, among others. Ed Towns, who has spearheaded efforts to drag Toyota into Congress, has said that Toyota withheld documents it was required to turn over to regulators during recalls and investigations throughout the last several years. It hid them by settling in multi-million dollar court cases when the discovery of said documents was likely. On top of that, Toyoda himself said the company will pay to fix the issues. That’s the year’s biggest “duh” moment, if you ask me.
Continue reading ‘PedalGate: Updates from this week’
Consumer Reports has released its 2010 Automaker Report Cards. Each year, they take the average score of each automaker’s products and rank the automakers. Since Toyota has so many recalls, they’ve suspended the values for the 8 recalled models, so while Toyota is in 3rd place, that’s only a subset of their overall score. The only automaker to fall from previous ratings was Chrysler, which is interesting when you consider that most of their models are carryovers from the 2009 model year. Read on for more details.
Continue reading ‘Consumer Reports: Automaker Report Cards’
2010 Saab 9-5
It seems that the “wind down” of Saab will have to be postponed. GM announced on Tuesday that the sale of Saab to Spyker automotive has been completed, and going forward, Spyker will be responsible for all of Saab’s operations. This is good news to the Saab faithful and employees around the world. Although the automaker is a niche player, it will help fund Spyker’s other projects, namely its supercars. No news about who financed the deal, although it was rumored that the Swedish government had its hands in the deal, promising money to Spyker to give it operating capital to continue running Saab.
by John Suit
Source: GM
Each year, Consumer Reports rates new cars, and publishes a list of their “Top Picks.” Each year, they pick the best overall winners in several categories, and there are usually a few winners with Honda or Toyota badges on them. This year is a bit different, with Nissan (including Infiniti) winning a couple of awards. With all the Toyota recall hubbub, it’s not too surprising to see the list change, but the biggest surprise for me was the Nissan Altima winning Best Family Sedan. Read on for the complete list.
Continue reading ‘Consumer Reports’ Top Picks for 2010′
I know I’ve said it before in the case of Saab, but this time I believe GM – they’re going to wind down the Hummer brand. It seems the sale of Hummer to Chinese company Tengzhong cannot be completed. No word yet on why, but it may have something to do with intellectual property, since the Hummer H2 and H3 share their platforms with current Chevrolet/GMC products. GM says it will honor Hummer warranties and continue to supply parts for vehicles already on the road.
by John Suit
Source: GM
AutoBlog is breaking the news that Hyundai has ordered all sales of 2011 Sonatas to be stopped, due to a faulty door lock. Many Fords and other brands have allowed passengers to open the doors by pulling on the interior door handle, even if it’s locked. Hyundai has a problem with their version of the design, wherein if the door lock switch is held in the “lock” position while the door handle is pulled, it may not return to a closed, and therefore latched, position. This would lead to a door which doesn’t latch closed, definitely a problem.
While approximately 5,000 Sonatas have been sold, Hyundai is heading this one off at the pass, a good call given rival Toyota’s recent troubles. Keep your browser tuned here for more news as it becomes available.
by John Suit
Source: AutoBlog
