Chronicling the Ever-Changing Automotive Industry
While The Knack’s song has been parodied before, this one is far more relevant to current events. Production quality is pretty good, so click past the jump to check it out. I’ve included the lyrics as well, since some of the lines can be difficult to hear.
Continue reading ‘My my my, Toyota! Corrigan Brothers Parody Video’
As part of one of Toyota’s recalls, the 2004-2009 Prius already has enough attention. Adding to this is a video and report of a California man whose Prius took off on him – unintended acceleration and all. The man’s car took after trying to pass a slower-moving vehicle, and a California Highway Patrol officer used his PA system to talk the driver and inform him how to stop the car. Read on for more details and video.
Continue reading ‘CNN: Cops help Prius driver stop runaway (w/Video)’
Toyota pushed back yesterday, and hard. They say that Dr. Gilbert, who worked with ABC News to show the unintended acceleration problem with a Toyota Avalon, falsified his results. They tested several different makes and models, and found that Dr. Gilbert’s modification caused all of them to accelerate out of control. The kicker: in Toyota’s tests, none of the other manufacturers’ cars had any error codes in their computers either. Very compelling evidence, and I hope someone gets to the bottom of it soon. Click past the jump to see the video.
Continue reading ‘PedalGate Update – with Video’
With every new electronic gizmo added to a car, there’s a chance that something can go wrong. Even with decades-old technology, a fault might be found. Such is the case in some 2010 Mazda CX-9 crossovers, where a faulty seat heater can lead to “burn damage of the seat cushion surface,” or even smoke and fire, according to the NHTSA.
Continue reading ‘Ouch! Mazda CX-9 recalled over too-hot seat heaters’
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’
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
