Published on
March 3, 2010 in
Manufacturer Update.
Tags: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, Avalon, leak, limited service campaign, LSC, oil, RAV4, Toyota.
Toyota Avalon
Last year, Toyota released a “Limited Service Campaign” (LSC) for some of its V6-equipped vehicles. An LSC shouldn’t be confused with a recall, because recalls are for safety issues and the LSCs are for “customer satisfaction,” according to Toyota. This campaign is for a defective oil line for the affected engines. Over time, a rubber portion of the line may degrade, causing oil to leak out, the engine to make odd noises, and the oil pressure light to illuminate on the vehicle’s dashboard.
Continue reading ‘Toyota expands Oil Leak Fix to new models’
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’
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
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
The details are coming in regarding the airplane crash which occured on Wednesday, involving 3 Tesla Motors employees. It now turns out that 56 year old engineer Doug Bourn was piloting his plane when it crashed. His passengers were Andrew Ingram, 31, and Brian M. Finn, 42, both of Palo Alto. Instead of the foggy conditions that were suspected, the San Jose Mercury News is reporting that it was probably a mechanical failure. Click past the jump for a video from the Contra Costa Times.
Continue reading ‘Update: Tesla plane crash details’
Published on
February 17, 2010 in
Hot Car - Upcoming and Manufacturer Update.
Tags: 2010, 2011, Hybrid, Hyundai, midsize, New York Auto Show, NYAS, sedan, Sonata, turbo.
After a banner year in 2009, where most companies lost money, Hyundai posted profits towards the end, sponsored the Super Bowl kickoff show a couple weeks back, aired some commercials during the game, and is releasing plenty of new vehicles this year. Arguably one of the most popular is the Sonata, which promises reliability, fuel efficiency and affordability, all good things in today’s economy. Via Twitter, Hyundai has announced that it will be revealing the 2011 Sonata Turbo and Hybrid models at the New York Auto Show in April. This adds to earlier news that the new Sonata wouldn’t be available with a V6 engine.
by John Suit
Source: Twitter
