After nearly two years of telling you about cars being recalled because of shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags, it’s almost a refreshing change of pace to report on an airbag recall that has nothing to do with the auto parts maker. However, Toyota’s latest recall of 1.4 million vehicles bears a striking resemblance to the Takata problems. [More]
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Report: Carmakers Continue To Equip Vehicles With Defective Takata Airbags
By 6.1.16
Fourteen automakers have recalled nearly 40 million vehicles equipped with more than 80 million defective Takata airbags that can deploy with enough force to shoot pieces of shrapnel at drivers and passengers, leading to 10 deaths in the U.S. and hundreds of injuries. While the Japanese parts maker, federal regulators, and carmakers have worked to replace these dangerous safety devices, a new report reveals that at least four carmakers continue to equip new vehicles with affected airbags. [More]
Today In Automakers Befriending Ride-Sharing Apps: Toyota Investing In Uber, VW Teaming Up With Gett
By 5.25.16
What’s an automaker to do when it wants to get into the ride-sharing game, and make some money off people who might not ever buy a car but will definitely ride in one, without starting from scratch? Grab a buddy, of course: Toyota is plunking money into Uber and Volkwswagen says it’s teaming up with Gett. [More]
Toyota Adds 1.58M Airbags To Takata Recall List
By 5.24.16
Weeks after federal regulators increased the scope of the recall for shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags by up to 40 million safety devices, Toyota has announced just how many of its vehicles are covered by the expansion: 1.58 million. [More]
Toyota Recalls 58K Camry, Avalon Sedans Over Airbag Deployment Issue
By 4.15.16
Most newer cars are equipped with a system that can detect whether or not a person is sitting in the front seat. If they are, the system will ensure that the airbags deploy in the event of a crash. But for 58,510 Toyota vehicles now being recalled that feature isn’t working correctly. [More]
Best Buy’s Geek Squad Ditches Retro-Chic Beetles For Environmentally-Friendly Priuses
By 4.11.16
Volkswagen Beetles? That’s so last decade, at least where Best Buy’s Geek Squad is concerned: the tech support service is trading in the retro, kitschy appeal of the VW Beetle for the environmentally-friendly Toyota Prius. [More]
Toyota’s New Plug-In Prius Has Twice The Battery Range Of Previous Model
By 3.23.16
Toyota is doubling the battery range on its newest plug-in hybrid: the Prius Prime will be able to go 22 miles just on its battery, the company announced today, which is twice as far as the most recent model. [More]
Toyota Promises Automatic Braking Will Be Standard In Most Models By 2017
By 3.22.16
Just days after automakers and federal regulators reached a deal that would make forward-collision warning and automatic emergency braking standard in vehicles by 2022, Toyota says it’ll do one better — make these safety features standard years ahead of schedule.
[More]
Maserati Recalls 28,000 Cars Because Floor Mats Shouldn’t Drive Your Vehicle
By 3.15.16
If you’re one of the few lucky (we suppose) people who own a vehicle by Italian luxury carmaker Maserati, listen up: the company is recalling more than 28,000 Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans that can simply run away from drivers. [More]
Toyota Recalls Nearly 200,000 More Vehicles Equipped With Takata Airbags
By 3.2.16
The often criticized piecemeal approach to recalling vehicles equipped with shrapnel-shooting Takata airbags continued today as Toyota announced the recall of nearly 200,000 cars in the U.S. [More]
Toyota Recalls 2.8 Million RAV4 SUVs Because Seatbelts Shouldn’t Separate
By 2.18.16
The purpose of a seatbelt is to secure a person riding in a car to prevent injury in the event of an accident. But the safety devices may not work as intended in nearly three million Toyota SUVs now being recalled. [More]
See Ya, Scion: Toyota To Absorb Youth-Focused Brand After 13 Years
By 2.3.16
Starting later this year, Scion will join a long list of vehicle brands — think Mercury, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saturn — in the dustbin of history, as Toyota plans to end production of the brand after 13 years. [More]
Nissan Joins List Of Automakers Dumping Takata’s Ammonium Nitrate Airbags
By 11.9.15
Takata lost yet another customer over the weekend, as Nissan announced it would no longer use ammonium nitrate filled airbags produced by the Japanese parts maker. [More]
Toyota Will Stop Using Takata’s Ammonium Nitrate Airbags
By 11.6.15
The hits just keep coming for Japanese auto parts maker Takata. After being fined $70 million by regulators over the company’s failure to report airbag defects and losing its largest customer in Honda, Takata now has to say goodbye to some of Toyota’s business. [More]
Toyota Recalling 6.5M Cars Worldwide Because Windows Should Not Start Fires
By 10.21.15
Ah, fall: the time of year when you need neither the air conditioning nor the heat on in your car, but just need to roll the window down a few inches to feel that lovely autumn breeze. Unless you are one of the 6.5 million people in the world who own certain model Toyota and Scion cars, in which case rolling down that window might just smell like your driver’s side door catching fire. [More]
Toyota Plans To Be Done With Gas-Powered Cars By 2050
By 10.14.15
Thirty-five years is nearly half a lifetime, but that’s how long Toyota thinks it will take the company to phase out traditional gas-powered vehicles from its product lines. [More]
Toyota Plans To Have Self-Driving Car For The Masses By 2020
By 10.7.15
Toyota attempted to break away from the self-driving car fanfare last month by announcing it would instead invest $50 million into creating “life-saving intelligent” vehicles that weren’t necessarily autonomous. Today, the company made it clear that it’s also pursuing the fully driver-less route, revealing plans to release a commercially available self-driving car by 2020. [More]
Toyota Investing $50M Into “Life-Saving Intelligent” Vehicles
By 9.4.15
There’s a lot of talk these days about the inevitable arrival of self-driving cars and the implications they will have on safety, insurance, traffic, and fuel costs, but Toyota has announced an investment in new research to develop “life-saving intelligent” vehicles that aren’t necessarily self-driving, but which could ideally combine the best of the autonomous car with one driven by a real human. [More]
