More than 100 lawyers from all around the country packed into a San Diego courtroom yesterday in an attempt to stake their claim to the lion’s share of any settlements that come from the multitude of federal lawsuits filed against Toyota in recent weeks. [More]
toyota
How Does Brake Override Technology Stop Runaway Cars?
By 3.24.10
The recent fuss over Toyota’s recalls has brought a lot of attention to a previously rather boring car feature: brake override. It wasn’t a very sexy feature until we began reading about throttles gone rogue, taking drivers on a terrifying ride. Brake override, and its absence on the affected Toyota models, became very interesting all of a sudden. But how does it work? Does it really work? Our sister publication Consumer Reports has a test track and some Toyotas lying around, so they set out to find out. [More]
Fake Toyota CEO: "From Now On No Brakes!"
By 3.24.10
Uh-oh, (fake) Mr. Toyoda is mad. He went on Letterman to call the latest runaway Toyota report a hoax, and he’s going to get revenge for this blatant attempt to shame him. “From now on, Toyota no brakes!” Also, he’s apparently upset about Jay Leno for some reason. All are punish-ed!
Fake Toyota CEO Yells at David Letterman, Mocks Jay Leno [Gawker.TV] (Thanks to GitEmSteveDave!)
Document Shows Toyota Knew Of Camry Acceleration Issues In 2002
By 3.23.10
A newly uncovered document shows that Toyota alerted dealers to complaints from some drivers of 2002 Camrys about “surging during light throttle input at speeds between 38-42 mph” and that the resolution to the issue is an electronic, not mechanical issue. [More]
Consumer Reports Picks Top Cars In 10 Categories
By 3.22.10
In the April issue of Consumer Reports, they announce their top picks for vehicles in 10 separate categories, from Family Sedan to Green Car to Pickup Truck to Best Car Overall. This year, that title belongs to the Lexus LS 460L. [More]
NHTSA: No Evidence Of Braking In NY Prius Crash
By 3.18.10
Looks like those who called “driver error” on the Prius that slammed into a stone wall in upstate New York a couple weeks back might have reason to boast. An e-mail from NHTSA seems to negate the driver’s claims that she attempted to brake during the incident. [More]
Police Report Supports Runaway Prius Driver's Story
By 3.17.10
The Associated Press is reporting that a newly released police report confirms details given by the driver of the runaway Prius, but does not address inconsistencies between the driver’s story and information provided by Toyota. [More]
Simulate Driving A Runaway Toyota
By 3.17.10
This website professionally simulates what it’s like to drive a Toyota. Includes authentic screams of terror.
(Thanks to thespatulaoflove!)
Video: How To Stop A Speeding Prius If You're F****** Stupid
By 3.16.10
This masked video troll is the zeitgeist. His 40-odd f-bomb-fueled demonstration of how to stop a Prius captures the mood among a swath of consumers that runaway Toyotas are just the fault of “stupid” drivers. Nevermind that the driver of an out-of-control Lexus did both the “power off” and “put it in neutral” tricks he shows, potentially pointing to an electronics system issue, and it didn’t help. “Get your head out of your ass, stop thinking about saving the planet, and figure out how to drive your car,” he admonishes. Very NSFW, cursing. [More]
Runaway Prius Was On Its Way To Dealership Before Crash
By 3.12.10
Remember the story the other day about the woman in New York who slammed her runaway Prius into a stone wall? In an interesting little twist, the police say she was actually on her way to the Toyota dealership to have her car serviced when the incident occurred. [More]
Woman Crashes Toyota Into Church, Blames Stuck Accelerator
By 3.11.10
Another day, another report of a Toyota crash being blamed on a stuck gas pedal. This time, it’s a 76-year-old woman in Connecticut claiming her recalled Toyota Camry went nuts on her and — in spite of her best efforts to stop it — crashed into a church. [More]
Toyota Probably Should Have Written This Spam's Subject Line More Carefully
By 3.11.10
“Amazing Incentives For Select Toyotas That Will Not Last Long.”
Reader Maida did a spit-take when this email from a Toyota dealer offering 0% APR for 60 months landed in her inbox. Yeeks, talk about a syntactical pileup.
VIDEO: Does Putting A Runaway Prius Into Neutral Slow It Down?
By 3.10.10
As more reports of runaway Toyota Prius vehicles begin to pile up, there is an ever-widening chasm between those who ask “Why didn’t the driver just put the car into neutral?” and those who reply “Because it doesn’t work on a Prius.” Well, one series of incredibly interesting — but also entirely unscientific — road tests will likely only add fuel to the debate’s fire. [More]
Yet Another Toyota Prius Goes Rogue, Smashes Into Wall
By 3.10.10
Things went from bad to worse to downright awful for Toyota on Tuesday as yet another of their Prius hybrid vehicles was involved in an accident involving a stuck accelerator pedal. [More]
Toyota Still At Loss For How To FIx Problem WIth Prius
By 3.9.10
A day after a 2008 Toyota Prius went rogue at speeds over 90mph on a California interstate, Toyota has admitted that, even though the Prius is on the current recall list, they don’t quite know how to fix the problem. [More]
Mercedes Shows Off New Safety Feature For Cars
By 3.9.10
Last week, Mercedes showed a bunch of journalists some new safety features it’s working on to prevent deaths in the event of a car crash, and BNET describes them. I hope you like air bags going off all around you–the demo even has air bags for the car. Sadly, the people-scooper feature–something about when you hit a pedestrian, the car “scoops” the body onto the hood and keeps the person there, probably so that his screaming can alert you that you’ve been in an accident–will only be available in Europe. [More]
Toyota Prius Runs Wild At 90mph With Stuck Accelerator
By 3.9.10
This is probably not how Toyota wanted their week to start. Yesterday afternoon in Southern California, a man called 911 because he was unable to unstick the accelerator pedal of his 2008 Toyota Prius and continued to drive at speeds of over 90 mph until finally coming to a stop. [More]
Toyota Workers Say Bosses Have Ignored Safety Concerns For Years
By 3.8.10
Adding a bit of fuel to the anti-Toyota fire, six Toyota manufacturing employees now say they wrote a memo to company executives in 2006 voicing concerns about vehicle safety and long-term impact on the company, only to be completely ignored. [More]
