Chronicling the Ever-Changing Automotive Industry
Last week, it was reported that Jim Sikes was driving his Toyota Prius when it suddenly accelerated and wouldn’t slow down through the use of its brakes. A California Highway Patrol officer showed up and gave him instructions on how to get the car back under control. Now, through some research and testing, many facets of his story are starting to unravel.
Continue reading ‘Uh-oh: Prius driver loses credibility’
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’
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’
