Consumerist
damage control
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safety
Toyota Says It's Not Hiding Anything In Runaway Cars Investigation
One of Toyota's execs said today that the company isn't covering up information about its suddenly accelerating cars, but the Department of Transportation doesn't seem to agree. More » -
recalls
Memo Reveals Tragic Details Of Stuck Pedal Lexus Crash (Pics)
Tragic details are revealed in NHTSA memo about the Lexus that crashed at almost 100 MPH after the gas pedal became stuck on the floormat, leading to the immolation and death of the four family-members inside, and Toyota's 3.8 million vehicle recall. More » -
consumer reports
Some Ford Cars Are Reliable, Actually Worth Buying
Several Ford cars are among the world's most reliable vehicles, according to the latest annual car reliability survey from Consumer Reports. More » -
badvertising
Woman Sues Toyota For Convincing Her She Was Being Stalked
It's probably a bad idea to market to consumers by tricking them with practical jokes. It's definitely a bad idea to make a consumer fear for her safety over a five day period because she thinks a stalker is coming after her. That's why a woman in Los Angeles is suing Toyota for $10 million after being on the receiving end of a Punk'd-style stunt to promote the Toyota Matrix. More » -
the more you know
Testing Stuck Accelerator Survival Strategies
The recent recall of millions of Toyotas due to their floor mats' unfortunate tendency to trap the cars' accelerators, a flaw which has caused at least one confirmed horrific fatal accident, has caused people to wonder: if this happened to me, what would I do? Equipped with several different makes of cars and a test track, our colleagues at Consumer Reports Cars decided to play Mythbusters and put different stuck-accelerator survival strategies to the test. More » -
audio
Toyota: 911 Call Of Family's Fatal Lexus Crash Due To Gas Pedal Stuck On Floormats
Warning: This audio is graphic and shocking. Before Toyota could be bothered to recall 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus cars that they had known for two years had a problem, an off-duty state trooper and three members of his family had to die in fatal car crash when the gas pedal got stuck on the floormat. This is the recording of their 911 call moments before they crashed into the end of the freeway at 120 mph. More » -
recalls
Non-Recalled Toyotas Could Still Have Dangerous Floor Mats
Just because your specific Toyota wasn't among the 3.8 million recalled last week doesn't mean you're safe. More » -
Remove Floor Mats Immediately
Toyota Recalls 3.8 Mil Cars For Stuck Gas Pedal Danger
Toyota is recalling 3.8 million cars and warning owners of certain late-model cars to immediately remove their driver's side floor mat to avoid accelerators getting stuck. The affected Toyota and Lexus models are: More » -
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happy endings
Walmart Responds, Fixes Ruined Transmission
We're not entirely sure Consumerist is responsible for Walmart finally getting back to Jeff on his ruined transmission—and frankly, because of the length of time between the incident and his complaint, as well as Walmart's reputation for silence on consumer complaints like this, we didn't expect much to happen at all. We were wrong, and we tip our hats to Walmart for making good on a very expensive mistake. Read Jeff's update below. More » -
vehicles
Mysterious Oil Change Ruins Transmission, But Walmart Won't Respond
Update: Walmart has responded!
Jeff's 2006 Toyota Tacoma is now sitting in his driveway sans transmission, because back in February someone massively screwed up an oil change:
More »Apparently, a mechanic mistakenly drained all of the transmission fluid out of the housing. After realizing their mistake, they filled up the transmission with a mysterious chocolate-milk-colored, burnt, foul smelling liquid. Like gear oil.
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toyota
Toyota Accused Of Hiding Evidence In Hundreds Of Consumer Lawsuits
A former attorney for Toyota Motor Sales has filed a federal racketeering suit against the company, accusing them of failing to turn over or destroying documents relevant to accident victims' lawsuits against the company. More » -
recalls
Toyota Will Recall 95,700 Vehicles That May Experience Brake Problems At Very Low Temperatures
Toyota has announced that it plans to recall 95,700 2009 and 2010 model year Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, and 2008 and 2009 Scion xD vehicles all equipped with 1.8 liter engines. The company is only notifying owners in states "affected" by extremely low temperatures: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. More » -
cars
Honda, Toyota, Ford Top Cash For Clunkers Sellers
Some initial statistics are in on the vehicles traded in and purchased in the "Cash for Clunkers" program. Unsurprisingly, 80% of the vehicles traded in are trucks or SUVs, and the top sellers among car-buyers come from Honda, Toyota, and Ford. More » -
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caught in the act
VIDEO: Toyota Employees Taped Stealing From, Watching Porn In Customer's Truck
UPDATE: Dealership Video-Responds To Customer's Hidden Camera Expose
The first two times Jason brought his truck in to his local Toyota dealership for service, he noticed that someone had taken quarters from his change compartment. He complained both times, but was ignored. So the third time he brought his truck in, he placed a video camera on the passenger side. The dealership didn't ignore him this time. More »
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bizarre
Car Ad On Craigslist Has Hidden Paragraph On Hitler
Our commenter Zorantor discovered a weird, uh, can you call this an Easter egg?, buried at the bottom of a Craigslist post last night:
More »I was poking around craigslist tonight, to see if I could find a gift for a friend of mine who's interested in World War II. I didn't find much that caught my eye. That is, until I tried searching "Hitler."
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automakers
Toyota Posts First Loss In 59 Years
Here's a story that we missed late last week, probably because we were busy having nightmares about snake heads. Toyota lost $7.74 billion this past quarter. That's more than GM (though less than GM pre-bailout), and much more than predicted. It's the company's first annual loss since Elvis was in the Army.
The reasons for this are pretty obvious. Toyota's troubles are caused by a bad economy, the North American credit crunch, and a strong yen. Falling gas prices also make the Prius seem way less cool.
Toyota Posts Big Loss, Signals More to Come [Wall Street Journal] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
(Photo: blue_j)
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auto bailout
Toyota And Maybe Honda And Mazda Asking For A Bailout
It's not just US automakers that are in trouble these days. Toyota is asking its government for a bailout and now Bloomberg says that Honda and Mazda might do the same. More »
