Toyota May Face Another Recall

Frame rust on 2000 and 2001 Tundras may cause Toyota its second major recall in as many weeks.

By Kathy Jackson of AutoWeek

Toyota may be faced with another recall a week after its largest U.S. recall in company history.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Tuesday said it would investigate frame corrosion on 2000 and 2001 model year Tundra pickups. An estimated 218,000 units are involved.

NHTSA said it has received 20 complaints — 15 of them alleging that the underbody-mounted spare tire separated from the rear cross member. The other five complaints allege damaged brake lines due to corrosion on the driver's side rear cross member.

Brian Lyons, a spokesman for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., said he is not surprised at NHTSA's investigation.

"We've been investigating this for a little bit of time," he said. "We know there are some complaints out there. We have repurchased some vehicles to aid in our investigation."

The disclosure comes a week after Toyota announced it will recall 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to replace a floor mat that could cause the accelerator to stick. The recall prompted a public apology from Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda.

Frame Rust
Toyota faced a similar frame-rust problem last year involving about 750,000 Tacoma pickups.

In March 2008, the company agreed to buy back 1995 to 2000 model year Tacomas at 150 percent of the high Kelly Blue Book value.

Then in November 2008, the company issued a recall on 2001 to 2004 model year Tacomas. If there was no rust, Toyota automatically extended the warranty to 15 years with unlimited mileage. If there was rust, the frames were replaced at no cost to the consumer.

Lyons did not say why the company did not issue a recall for the Tundra at the same time as the Tacoma.

"The two trucks did not share the same frame, but there were similarities," he said. Lyons said both trucks had the same supplier.

"But it's our responsibility, not the supplier's responsibility," Lyons said.

Lyons did not name the supplier.

The 2000 model year was the first for the Tundra, which replaced the T-100. It was made in Indiana at the time. The Tacoma is produced at NUMMI in California.

Toyota's Prius threatened by probe

Could the Prius and other Toyota hybrids be banned from the U.S.? It seems unthinkable, but that's one possible ending to a patent investigation launched this week.

This case centers around Paice, a tiny Florida company that has patented a way to apply force to a car's wheels from the electric motor or the internal combustion engine.

Paice thinks that Toyota (TM) is infringing on its technology, and is going after the automaker in court. The legal spat became much more serious for Toyota this week, when the U.S. International Trade Commission decided to investigate the matter.

Bing: How do hybrid cars work?

The problem is that the ITC can stop any imports that infringe on U.S. patents. So in the worst-case scenario for Toyota, the commission could ban the hybrid Camry, third-generation Prius, Lexus HS250h sedan and Lexus RX450h SUV, according to Bloomberg.

And that could potentially be devastating for Toyota, which Bloomberg says has sold more than 1.1 million hybrids in the U.S. in the last decade -- most of them Prius cars.

Paice won a 2005 patent suit against Toyota in federal court in Marshall, Tex. And you might snicker at that, because Marshall is notorious for granting all sorts of wacko patent cases. But still, the verdict was upheld on appeal, and a judge ordered Toyota to pay royalties to Paice based on car sales.

Paice has more lawsuits against Toyota in the Marshall court, and some may go to trial in January.

So can't Toyota just throw a little licensing money at Paice and make it go away? It's not that easy, according to one lawyer familiar with the case. Paice wants the cars banned.

"As soon as Paice wins an exclusion order from the ITC, Toyota’s in trouble," the lawyer, Michael Murphy, told HybridCars.com. "It doesn’t matter that Toyota can appeal that decision. And it doesn’t matter that Toyota might eventually have that decision overturned. For some indeterminate period of time, perhaps months, Toyota is stuck without any ability to bring these new vehicles into the United States and sell them. Think of the cost. Toyota would lose millions of dollars."

Realistically, the chances that Toyota hybrids will be banned are slim. Paice likely would accept big money -- not puny licensing payments -- from Toyota in return for dropping its complaints, so there is a way out for Toyota here.

At any rate, this isn't helping Toyota in the U.S. The automaker saw its sales drop 29% through August in the U.S., its largest market, and is struggling to revive its business here.

Toyota is still blazing ahead with its hybrids, and plans to add one or two more versions of the Prius, according to Reuters. Toyota also plans to spend $1 million in a marketing blitz in the fourth quarter -- about 30% to 40% more than it would normally spend to promote its cars.

Most Popular Vehicle in Henderson, Nevada

89052, Henderson, Nev. — Toyota Camry

"You drive around our town, and there's not a car over three years old," says Rick Glenn, marketing director of Henderson's Findlay Toyota, one of the top Toyota dealerships in the nation. But despite the fact that it's just seven miles from the Las Vegas strip, that's the extent of Henderson's penchant for new and flashy. Contrary to what you might assume, the most popular vehicle here isn't the Cadillac Escalade — it's the Camry. "A lot of people moved here because the cost of living in California was too high," Glenn says. "They have normal jobs and they buy Toyotas and Hondas because they're safe and dependable." Findlay sold 7,347 new and used Toyotas last year — the vast majority of them Camrys.

GM to shut down Saturn after Penske walks away

GM to shut down Saturn after Penske terminates talks with GM on uncertain future assembly

General Motors Co. said Wednesday it would shut down its Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire it fell apart.

Penske, citing concerns of whether it could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with GM ran out, ended talks with GM Wednesday to acquire the brand.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in statement that Saturn and its dealership network will be phased out.

"This is very disappointing news and comes after months of hard work by hundreds of dedicated employees and Saturn retailers who tried to make the new Saturn a reality," Henderson said in a written statement. "PAG's announcement explained that their decision was not based on interactions with GM or Saturn retailers."

In a statement, the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based auto retailer says an agreement with another manufacturer to continue producing Saturn vehicles after GM stopped making them fell through, leading Penske to terminate talks with GM.

Penske said it negotiated terms and conditions to make Saturn cars with another manufacturer, but that company's board of directors rejected the agreement. Penske spokesman Anthony Pordon would not identify the other manufacturer.

"Without that agreement, the company has determined that the risks and uncertainties related to the availability of future products prohibit the company from moving forward with this transaction," the company said in a statement.

In June, GM and Penske agreed to take over the Saturn brand and related dealerships, although GM would produce the vehicles for a limited period of time.

GM said Saturn vehicle owners can still go to their Saturn dealer for service and would be able to go to a certified GM dealer for service once Saturn dealerships are closed.

It was expected that GM would announce the completion of Saturn's sale to Penske in the coming days.

Share of Penske fell $1.93 to $17.25 in after hours trading. They rose $1.32, or 7.4 percent to $19.18 in regular trading Wednesday.

Toyota recalls 3.8 million vehicles

Potentially dangerous floor mats cited for company's largest U.S. recall

Toyota says it will recall 3.8 million vehicles in the United States to address problems with a removable floor mat that could interfere with the vehicle’s accelerator and cause a crash.

The company says it will be the largest U.S. recall in its history. Owners could learn about the safety campaign as early as next week.

Toyota and the government warned owners of Toyota and Lexus vehicles about safety problems tied to the removable floor mats. They say the mats could interfere with the vehicle’s accelerator and cause a crash.

The recall will affect 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, 2005-2010 Tacoma, 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350 and 2006-2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350.

Owners should take out the floor mats on the driver’s side and not replace them.

Toyota’s previously largest U.S. recall was about 900,000 vehicles in 2005 to fix a steering issue.

Battery Bottleneck Limits Prius Output

Booming demand for the hybrid has factories scrambling to produce the car's nickel-metal hydride battery.

Click to enlarge picture

Limited supplies of battery packs are slowing down production of the Toyota Prius.

Battery bottlenecks are hurting efforts to boost output of the Toyota Prius to meet booming demand, and the problem will likely persist into next year, a Toyota official says.

"The new Prius model has been excessively popular, inconveniencing some of our customers, and the factories are working overtime at full capacity," Takahiko Ijichi, Toyota senior managing director, said Tuesday at the company's quarterly earnings announcement. "Unfortunately, the batteries are not catching up with demand. Production of the batteries needs to be increased in order for our production to go up."

Toyota Motor Corp. has annual Prius capacity of 500,000 cars. Panasonic EV Energy Co., which makes the nickel-metal hydride batteries for the gasoline-electric hybrid car, can't churn out more than that right now, Ijichi said.

The third-generation Prius hybrid is a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy year for the world's biggest automaker. The car is facing months-long waiting lists at dealerships and is easily outselling Honda's rival Insight hybrid in the United States.

The success of the Prius in Japan is one reason Toyota says it will post its first domestic sales increase in five years.

"The new Prius model is selling quite well," Ijichi said.

Last summer Toyota said it would build the Prius at its Tupelo, Miss., factory in late 2010, scrubbing a plan to make the next-generation Highlander crossover there. But amid record losses, Toyota put the plant's opening on indefinite hold.

Ijichi said Toyota won't invest to expand Prius production until it is assured of an adequate battery supply.

Battery production will increase — but gradually. Panasonic EV Energy, or PEVE, plans to boost capacity in stages to around 1 million batteries by the summer of 2010, Ijichi said.

Despite cutthroat pricing to compete with the Insight, the Prius still enjoys healthy margins, Ijichi said.

That's because production costs fell 30 percent from the previous generation of the hybrid.

Said Ijichi: "In terms of the Toyota lineup, I'd say it's probably in the midlevel of profit."

Revealed: 2011 Nissan Leaf Electric Car

YOKOHAMA, Japan — In what the automaker hopes is a prophetic pairing, Nissan Motor Co. unveiled its new electric car as part of the grand opening ceremonies for its new, high-tech headquarters building in Japan's semi-official zero-emissions city.

"Just as leaves purify the air in nature, so Nissan Leaf purifies mobility by taking emissions out of the driving experience," the company said.

The five-seat, electric-blue Leaf hatchback is to be launched in select U.S. and Japanese markets next year to begin what Nissan hopes will become an era of global leadership for the company in a growing EV market.

Leadership shouldn't be evasive if the Leaf lives up to its performance billing. A top speed of 90 mph, a range of 100 miles per charge with a 30-minute recharge where quick-charging stations are available (6 hours with a 220-volt current) and seat cushion-compressing acceleration that will launch it from zero to 30 mph faster than an Infiniti G37, thanks to 207 pound-feet of torque from its 80 kilowatt (107 horsepower) electric motor are all part of the package.

To the degree that price matters, Nissan's also got a big edge in the EV world. Pricing hasn't been announced, but the company insists the Leaf will be "affordable" with pricing equivalent to a well-equipped C-class (compact) car. That's a European compact, though, and they're a lot better equipped, and more costly, than compacts in the U.S. so figure $28,000 to as much as $35,000 (the range for Nissan partner Renault's Megane hatchback) — not super cheap, but a bit less than the five-place Chevy Volt.

And that's before any government incentives — which could knock a substantial amount from the car's price in Japan and would be at least $7,500 in the U.S. as long as funding continues for the federal clean car credit program.

Nissan officials say pricing was held down in part by developing the entire powertrain, including the laminated lithium-manganese battery pack — arguably the most expensive single component on the car at around $10,000 — in-house with an eye toward affordability.

But the real trick is that the batteries won't be part of the selling price: Nissan's global approach will be to sell the car, but lease the battery pack.

The argument for leasing is that if you buy a gasoline car, the gasoline isn't part of the deal, and the battery pack in an EV (plus the electricity that it stores) can be likened to the gas needed to make a conventional car go.

The approach in the U.S, where consumers might be leery of buying a car, but having to lease an essential part of its powertrain, may be to simply lease the entire package, said Andy Palmer, Nissan's senior vice president and head of product planning.

Decisions on the sales or leasing method, as well as on U.S. pricing, will be made closer to the Leaf's late-2010 launch, Palmer said.

2011 Nissan Leaf

The event will make Nissan the first major automaker in modern times to put a full-service battery-electric car into dealerships for retail sales.

To help do away with charging anxiety, Nissan has equipped the Leaf with a communications system that enables drivers to communicate in real time with a special information center to find out where the closest chargers are, which ones are open and operating, and whether they have fast or slow chargers.

The system also highlights in real time on the Leaf's standard navigation system screens the one-way and round-trip travel ranges the car can achieve before needing a battery charge, and sends signals to a driver's cell phone or PDA when a car plugged in at a home or public charger is topped up and ready to go.

The Leaf's target launch date will beat General Motors' Volt plug-in hybrid, and while Japan's Mitsubishi and Subaru both launched EVs for sale to fleets in Japan last month, the cars are smaller, lower-speed, "city cars" with far less range than the 100 miles-per-charge Nissan claims for the Leaf.

The concept unveiled today is pretty much what the production car will look like next year, sans the exotic paint and high-end interior appointments unique to concept and show cars.

Shiro Nakamura, Nissan's global design chief, told us in an interview after a private preview showing of the pre-production concept, that the Leaf, while all-Nissan in concept and technology, borrows a smidgen of design language from partner Renault's popular Megane compact, most notably in the notched hatch.

The elongated but curiously bulbous headlamp assembly (designed for looks and airflow, said Shiro-san) extremely short nose (no engine to hide) and sharply delineated flanks and wheel cutouts are all Nissan, showing a little bit of the styling that went into the Murano crossover utility vehicle — no shocker when you learn that the Leaf's chief designer also headed the Murano design team, according to Nakamura.

Honda recalls 440,000 cars for airbag risk

One fatality and a number of injuries have been linked to the defect.

Honda Motor Co said on Friday that it is recalling another 440,000 vehicles — including some of its best-selling Accord and Civic models — for a potentially lethal airbag defect.

Honda said that the airbag inflators in some of its top-selling sedans can rupture because of too much air pressure causing metal fragments to shoot through the airbag and strike vehicle occupants.

One fatality and a number of injuries have been linked to the defect, Honda spokesman Sage Marie said.

The recall covers certain 2001 and 2002 Accords, 2001 Civics and some 2002 and 2003 model Acura TL sedans. The driver's side airbag is the defective component on the affected vehicles.

Honda said owners of those models can check to see if their vehicle is covered by the recall by checking the automaker's website .

The Japanese automaker said it was encouraging owners to wait until they received a recall notice to go to a dealership and have the inflator for the steering-wheel airbag replaced.

Honda had originally announced that it would recall some 2001 Accord and Civic sedans for the defect last November.

The notice issued on Friday added another 440,000 vehicles to the recall.

General Motors files!!

American industrial icon has fallen to bankruptcy. GM will permanently close nine more plants and idle three others to trim production and labor costs under protection.

Las Vegas escapes GM Terminator!!

AUTO INDUSTRY WOES: 1,124 GM dealerships to be terminated in U.S.

Southern Nevada's 15 General Motor dealers ended a white-knuckle wait for franchise termination notices Friday. They all escaped the Terminator for now.

Four Chrysler dealerships to close in the valley

Chrysler said in its filing that dealers are not competitive enough with foreign brands. Chrysler sold an average of 303 vehicles per dealer in 2008, according to its filing. By contrast, Honda Motor Co. sold about 1,200 vehicles per dealer, while Toyota Motor Corp. sold nearly 1,300 per dealer.

Local dealerships included in the proposed closures are United Dodge, United Chrysler Jeep, Marsh Chrysler Jeep and Integrity Chrysler Jeep Dodge.

The closures will leave Towbin Dodge and Chapman Chrysler as the only Chrysler dealerships in Southern Nevada.