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http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/26/acura-honda-toyota-dominate-alg-residual-valu- e-awards/
Wonder if Hyundai will drop next year after the bogus mpg claims?
Toyota is likely to sell 9.7 million vehicles this year, surpassing second-place General Motors Co. by more than 1 million vehicles and setting a record for annual auto sales. That's generating huge profits, with earnings tripling in the latest quarter to $3.2 billion and sales surging almost 20 percent compared with a year earlier."
Toyota on track to become world's bestselling automaker again (Detroit News)
People must think the grille has the shape of a pretty woman (hourglass).
Toyota and Lexus both up 17%.
Turn off your TVs, "we will close out 2012 with a December to Remember.”
Toyota sold more hybrids that Mazda sold cars. Wow.
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20121214/OEM11/312149796#ixzz2F45EJZaj
I called it. Ford's complaint rate was double Toyota's before Officer Saylor's crash. Why single out the import brand?
Camry is also the model most affected (largest numbers) by the unintended acceleration recall back then.
So in the end that was a non-event in terms of sales.
I'm more interested in the fact that CR has pointed out that C-Max hybrid real-world fuel economy is way off the EPA numbers, much more so than most other models they have tested. This, even as I watch a barrage of TV ads from Ford comparing C-Max to Prius V, in which the Prius gets crumpled up like waste paper because of the supposedly much better fuel economy of the C-Max.
I wonder how Prius V does in CR's fuel economy testing...
Oh yeah, and I got post 16,000. ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
The F "series" of pickups is really a whole bunch of platforms. Some say the ES is a fancy Camry, the Avalon is a LWB Camry, the Venza is a Camry wagon, etc.
Add all those up and I wonder which really sells more. I think at a minimum they should count HD pickup sales separately.
Does any one in the whole world think this:
Is the same vehicle as this?
:confuse:
URLs if you can't see the images:
http://www.trans-west.com/images/ford/f650-gallery/f650-white-bg.jpg
http://trialx.com/curetalk/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2011/06/cars/2010_Ford_F- 150_Regular_Cab-1.jpg
Toyota Motor Corp. has been ordered to pay a record fine of $17.35 million for failing to report a safety defect to the U.S. government in a timely manner
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20121218/OEM11/121219885#ixzz2FQa9OZ4R
Wonder if they'll fine Ford, once that's all sorted out? Probably not.
From the link:
"One such report, filed on May 18, 2011, described an incident where a 2010 model RX350 suddenly accelerated to above 60 mph while its passengers were waiting for a security gate to open. The vehicle reportedly crashed through a pair of gates and went airborne over a street before coming to rest against the side of building.
"One woman died and two people were injured in the crash, according to the report, dated May 18, 2011. It is the only one of the 28 complaints in NHTSA's database that led to a death or an injury."
I realize that the SUA events were explained away as old age, floor mats, sticking accelerator pedals. But this one doesn't fit that mold because they were sitting still waiting. The driver wouldn't have suddenly hit the accelerator pedal thinking it were the brake pedal because their foot was already on the brake while waiting. IT doesn't fit the sticky pedal because they didn't move the pedal down away from idle for the pedal to stick. And the whiskers have been disproved, supposedly, by some study of 2 exemplars.
In among the other explained examples of SUA, there seem to have been some idiopathic events that still don't fit the explanations.
Any ideas on what happened here?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I hear your point on that! The article doesn't mention trophy wife or lack of knowledge on driving in the USA as a factor... grin
It was a serious question on my part--note no dawgging on the various problems stipulated to already. I am curious if there is a real explanation for this and the few that don't fall into the other causes: old age, sticking pedal after depression, floor mats catching and holding pedals in open positions?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I'll stop now before I get struck by lightning. BWAHAHAHA!
But seriously, no more info than that?
Wonder if that RX has start/stop? The driver may have thought the car was off, and let of the brakes, then panicked when it re-started and moved.
Funny, my A8 rental had that feature, and it wasn't explained to me when I got the car, nor was there anything in the car explaining its presence. First time it engaged, I knew what it was without thinking. Probably not the reaction to be had by the average local driver here, though.
Searched on the NHTSA site and found the report, but there isn't any useful information they didn't already mention. Lady who died was a grandmother but she was a passenger, the report said.
61 complaints for the 2010 model, which isn't out of the ordinary given they sell so many. 63 for the same year Ford Flex, just for reference.
Keep in mind there are 100,000 or so of those on the road.
"We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a time-consuming dispute and to focus fully on our shared commitment with NHTSA to keep drivers safe," said Ray Tanguay, chief quality officer of Toyota North America.
Regulators are making a statement that automakers need to recall cars even if they are still investigating an issue and determining the proper repair, Anwyl said. Generally, car companies prefer to announce a recall and a fix at the same time.
Safety regulators fine Toyota for delaying SUV recall (LA Times)
Anwyl (as in Jeremy Anwyl, vice chairman of Edmunds) also said $17 million is just a speed bump to Toyota.
Question is, how and when do you decide that something is recall worthy?
Look at the Ford 1.6l EcoBoost recall.
They told people to park their cars and provided loaners while they looked for a fix. So the early adopters, generally your biggest fans, were driving around in rentals making payments on their new Fusions and Escapes.
That was a PR disaster. It's no wonder companies drag their feet.
In this case it was for engine fires so of course it's better not to take chances. When you have SUA complaint rates that are similar to competitors, it makes no sense to tell everyone to park their cars.
Looks like not much has changed, same people, same arguments. Toyota hasn't gone away as the doomsayers predicted after the big SUA brouhaha of 3 years ago (is it really that long)? Yes, it is -- that's when Tiger Woods was exposed doing some naughty things! Unlike Toyota, HE hasn't regained his composure!
I still have my 2 Camrys, the 2004 LE now with 111,000 miles and the 2005 XLE with nearly 65,000 miles -- still going strong, still looking great.
Too bad about Toyota's poor showing in the IIHS crash test release today; my older Camrys can't be much better. But just like all manufacturers with poor results in the past, they'll find a way to improve their cars; you can bet on that.
Yep, but I believe it is more of building a car to pass that specific test more than anything else. Cars are ALL very safe compared to even 10 years ago. At least it gave the Toyota hate group something to enjoy. :sick:
For instance, have you seen the new Scion FR-S, for example? Great new car from Scion/Toyota. I wouldn't hesitate for a second ta buy one of those pups. If I was made of cash, that is. :shades:
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Yes, there are some manufacturers that take shortcuts to pass the tests; in other words, dubious "improvements" are made that would seem to offer little protection to people sized or seated differently than the test dummies.
I absolutely agree however that today's cars are the safest yet, and they'll continue to get even better. This has to be a major factor in the dramatic decrease in deaths on US highways over the last several years.
BTW, is anyone STILL defending that idiot Sykes guy who claimed his Prius had an SUA incident in CA back at the height of the Congressional/media circus?
Oh yeah, I test drove the Scion FR-S, and it's a very nice car. I sampled the automatic, but I'd love to have the 6-speed, as the manual transmission seems very much now to have a bleak future. My wife won't approve however -- too expensive and not very practical if we wanted to carry any family!
Toyota took a hit in the press a couple of days ago over dragging their feet over reporting recalls, not to mention the crash test business. Their stock is up like $4 this week.
I think, to some extent, cars are designed to do well on specific tests.
Look at the new Honda Accord. Honda was aware of the new tests so this update reflects it (one of only 2 cars to score "Good").
Funny thing was when it launched there was a big debate about why it didn't shave off as much weight as competitors have been, including the Camry, but now we know why. I read it was some thing with the bumper structure in the front end.
Now nobody will complain about no weight loss.
So far very few cars scored Good - Honda Accord, Suzuki Kizashi, Acura TL, Volvo S60.
That's it!
My understanding is that Honda tied the ends of the front bumper bars into the upper structural rails that extend up from the bumpers to the tops of the fenders and back to the firewall. These upper rails are also more robust than those in most other cars.
I'm sure as engineers redesign cars in the future with this new test in mind, that they'll find ways to strengthen cars in a similar manner but with a smaller weight penalty.
Ask me again next week when a big Honda recall hits, lol.
Keep in mind BMW, Audi, even Mercedes failed to score Good.
I don't think any reasonable person would call the C-class unsafe.
The settlement, filed in a federal court in California on Wednesday, will result in Toyota taking a $1.1 billion pretax charge this quarter, a person familiar with the matter said. The settlement is one of the largest in a lawsuit involving the automotive industry, said Steve W. Berman, one of the lead plaintiff lawyers.
Wall St. Journal
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Yep, and we already have a sporty sedan in the 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS, too. No need for anything new.
I still wonder what the problem was, was it all the wrong size of mat under the accelerator pedal of the Lexus sedan in 2009 that went out of control, the one thing that seemed to cause all of this Toyota hating? Is there anything new regarding that story, just 4 unfortunate souls that are gone and the survivors grieving?
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
The class action settlement was 1000 times bigger and you just know the lawyers will get all of it. Owners will probably get a $100 coupon if they buy another Toyota (that's what Honda did for the Civic class action, remember?).
I'm not sure what happened with Bob
BarkerBaker Lexus, though. The family was still suing the dealer that put the wrong mat in the loaner car, and Toyota's settlement did not resolve that. If anything they had more liability than Toyota did.The court cases are more about financial liability, not justice.
Probably true, and opportunism and greed may rank right up there too.
Gotta laugh.
Lawyers and stockholders stay rich.
Ironically the new GS does not! Price is a big factor of course.
Up 52% for the year, yikes.
You might spend half your income on a Versa, but a Bentley is chump change to the owner.
Been saying Audi's on an uphill swing in quality since about the year 2000. The hill is pretty steep too. People are just slow on the uptake, but I spoke with my wallet early in 2006, and am extremely happy I did.
The exact same car would be at least 10-15% more today in cost than when I purchased in 2006.
I'm nearing 100K miles.... happy happy happy.
It's a shame that VW is clearly not doing all the same QC and QA work that Audi is though.
Still, I'd trust a VW before any of the Big 3.