Toyota announces recall of 400,000 vehicles worldwide
Posted by admin on Feb 9, 2010
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Toyota Motor Corp. announced another recall Tuesday, involving about 400,000 vehicles worldwide — most of them Prius hybrids — due to potential safety issues related to their braking systems.
The voluntary recall in the United States includes about 133,000 Prius vehicles from the 2010 model year and 14,500 Lexus 2010 HS250h vehicles to update software in the vehicles’ anti-lock brake system, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. said in a press release Tuesday afternoon.
Only Prius vehicles produced since May 2009 and all HS 250h vehicles are subject to the U.S. recall. The Lexus model has a similar ABS system to the 2010 Prius, but first- and second-generation Prius vehicles use a different ABS system.
News Hub: Another Setback for Toyota?
Toyota resume production in the U.S. just as brake problems mount for the Prius. MarketWatch reporter Shawn Langlois tells Stacey Delo whether there will be a recall.
The world’s largest car maker by sales volume said it will also conduct a voluntary safety recall on about 7,300 early-production, 2010 model-year Camry vehicles in the United States.
These Camrys, which are equipped with the 4-cylinder engine, will be recalled to inspect for a power steering hose that may be in contact with a front brake tube. Contact could lead to a hole in the brake tube and cause a brake fluid leak and require greater stopping distance, Toyota said.
In Japan, Toyota /quotes/comstock/13*!tm/quotes/nls/tm (TM 74.35, +1.50, +2.06%) /quotes/comstock/!7203 (JP:7203 3,375, +95.00, +2.90%) said it submitted recall notifications earlier Tuesday to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in regard to the current-model Prius, Prius Plug-in Hybrid, the HS250h and the Sai, which is only sold in Japan.
The domestic recall affects about 223,000 vehicles and Toyota said it will begin corrective reprogramming of the software program that controls the anti-lock braking system on Feb. 10. The reprogramming is expected to take about 40 minutes per vehicle.
”We will do everything in our power to regain confidence of our customers,” Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s president, said in English at a televised news conference in Tokyo.
Total tally
All told, the recall pertains to around 400,000 vehicles worldwide, the car maker said.
In announcing its recall notification to Japan’s Transport Ministry, Toyota said in addition to the Prius, it is “now preparing remedies” for the Prius Plug-in Hybrid, the Sai and the HS250h and will suspend domestic sales of the three models or suspend deliveries to customers in the case of completed purchases.
Ahead of the official announcement, shares of Toyota closed up 2.9%, while the Nikkei 225 Stock Average slipped 0.2%.
/quotes/comstock/!7203 7203 3,375, +95.00, +2.90%
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
10
A
J
A
O
“As the market has been fed small hints of news releases and has been given updates, the stock has firmed,” said Brett McGonegal, a managing director at Cantor Fitzgerald. “The market is normally a quite efficient pricing mechanism that tends to overshoot on lack of information.
Toyota’s stock has been climbing “as people know news is coming out,” he said, and “my feeling is people will look at this as a buying opportunity as the market may have slightly over reacted.”
However, “if the recall grows or becomes substantially more expensive, then this trade will prove costly,” McGonegal said.
Time for apologies
Toyoda, Toyota’s president, had apologized on Friday for the company’s earlier worldwide recalls of more than 8 million cars to fix problems with its accelerator pedals and floor mats. Read the MarketWatch account of the Toyota executive’s action plan.
Tags: 000 vehicles worldwide, auto news, car news, cars, Toyota, Toyota announces recall of 400
Highest and lowest depreciating cars of 2009 in the UK
Posted by admin on Jan 27, 2010
Car price guide Parker’s has produced its latest depreciation lists for cars in the UK. It’s probably of most use if you’re shopping at the lower-priced end of the car spectrum, since a straight-up comparison would be pointless. Seven of the 10 cars with the least depreciation are Japanese, headed by the Honda Jazz, and all of them are small. Five of the 10 cars with the greatest depreciation, headed by the Maybach 57S, are English, and none of them are cheap.
Parker’s doesn’t break the list down into model trims, but the least expensive Honda Jazz on Honda’s UK site goes for £11,058 on-the-road (OTR). With 10,000 miles on the odo it will lose £1,379 in value a year later, or 12.5 percent of its value. A Maybach 57S goes for £297,945 OTR, and Parker’s says it drops by £127,526 a year later after 10K miles, or 43 percent. If, however, you’ve spent £400,000 on a car after adding special features, you probably have better things to think about than your fleet’s depreciation.
At the other end of the least depreciating vehicles is the Mitsubishi i, which loses £2,271 after a year, a slightly whopping 25 percent. That is almost as bad as the Ferrari F430, which does the ‘best’ on the most depreciating list, losing ‘just’ £37,188, or 27 percent. Back to that Maybach 57S for a moment, though: a dealer in Surrey has a used one for sale, with 10,000 miles, for £249,990. Perhaps he doesn’t read Parker’s?
Tags: auto news, autosales, car news, cars, Highest and lowest depreciating cars of 2009 in the UK
Cash for Clunkers
Posted by admin on Aug 2, 2009
“Cash for clunkers” is a great example why the government is not capable of running the health care system. The clunker program offers up to $4500 for your low gas mileage, less than a 25-year old car.
When you trade in your gas-guzzler the dealer advances the $4500 credit, destroys the car, and bills the government. This is where the wheels come off the program. One dealer said it took five hours to fill out the paperwork for one clunker. Truth number one: Government runs on paperwork. So much for streamlining health care claims processing, and squeezing all those legendary “inefficiencies” out of the claims process.
The “cash for clunkers” program was funded with $1 billion and projected to run until November 1. After one week, they are out of money. This teaches us that the government has no idea what anything is going to cost; they guess.
The “cash for clunkers” program was designed to take gas-guzzlers off the road and replace them with fuel-efficient cars that would help reduce gasoline consumption. The problem was that most of the fuel-efficient cars are built by foreign manufactures.
The biggest winners will be foreign manufacturers. Same with national health care. Chronically uninsured American Citizens count about 9 million, less than 3.3% of U.S. population. The uninsured rate for illegal aliens is almost the reverse. According the Pew Hispanic Center, illegal aliens counted 11.9 million in October 2008.
The primary purpose of “cash for clunkers” was fuel mileage. The truth is, not really. You can qualify for a rebate by trading in a pickup that gets 17 miles per gallon for a car that gets 21 miles per gallon. That is going to make all the difference in the world. If you want a Crown Victoria, it automatically qualifies you for $4500, plus, your kids won’t ride with you anymore.
If you would like more information, here is the government website, “Cash for Clunkers.”
One last observation on the “cash for clunkers” program. What economist believes destroying property is a good thing? Every “clunker” traded in has to be destroyed. Removing products from the market while they still have economic life destroys value, thus a drag on the economy. This program is counter-productive. We borrow money to destroy value! If this made sense, why didn’t we level every foreclosed home in the U.S.?
Tags: cars, Cash for Clunkers, clunkers
Gas Is Going Up Again
Posted by admin on Jun 14, 2009
The price of a gallon of gasoline continues to climb, rising an average of 17 cents over the past two weeks.
That’s according to the national Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday.
Analyst Trilby Lundberg says the U.S. price of regular grade gasoline was $2.66 a gallon on Friday when the survey was completed.
The price of mid-grade was $2.78 and premium was $2.90.
Tucson, had the lowest price, at $2.41 a gallon for regular. San Francisco had the highest at $2.99.
Tags: auto, cars, gas, Gas Is Going Up Again, gas prices, Gas prices spike 17 cents a gallon in last two weeks
Kia Soulster Concept leaks ahead of Detroit Auto Show debut
Posted by admin on Jan 10, 2009
Kia’s Soul hatch just made its debut at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show in November, but already Kia is teasing a new Soul-based concept to be unveiled at next week’s Detroit Auto Show. The first official image of the new concept, called the Soulster, has leaked onto the internet, revealing a compact SUV based on the new hatch.
The image reveals that the Soulster has much in common with the production Soul, including its basic front end, though the rear shows a glass segment and tray in place of the Soul’s stout C-pillar.
A thick B-pillar, absent on the Soul, also makes an appearance on the Soulster. This is necessary to accommodate a large glass roof and rear hatch area.
Tags: cars, Compact SUV, Detroit Auto Show, Kia Motors, Kia Soul, Kia Soulster Concept leaks ahead of Detroit Auto Show debut, North American International Auto Show, Pillar, soul, United States