Posts Tagged ‘Toyota’

Government announces hydrogen car initiative

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

The government has announced plans to make cars powered by hydrogen a viable alternative to petrol-powered vehicles in the UK. The first cars with fuel cells could be on the roads within the next three years.

The UKH2Mobility initiative is being backed by 13 companies including a number of car manufacturers. Business Minister Mark Prisk said electric vehicles which run off hydrogen cells were being recognised as a viable option for a future of low carbon motoring. He added that industry experts would be brought together to make the UK a major player in the use and manufacture of hydrogen fuel vehicles.

The task force is currently looking at how much investment will be needed to create an infrastructure for refuelling which will make hydrogen power attractive to the consumer.

Chief executive of Toyota Motor Europe, Didier Leroy, said a charging infrastructure would have to be set up before 2015 when the company intends to roll out its first hydrogen vehicles. Head of vehicle design and development at Nissan, Jerry Hardcastle, said that he believed hydrogen-powered vehicles could represent an important part of the car market in the UK over the next few years.

The project will also be considering how the electric cars can be used to boost the country’s economy and create jobs. The cars are powered by mixing air with hydrogen which will be kept in a tank in the vehicle. This then creates the electricity which is used to turn the wheels.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

US government fines Toyota over car recalls

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

The US government has told Toyota it must pay a fine of $32.4 million for the way it has handled two vehicle recalls. The latest penalty will mean a total bill for the car maker of $48.8 million this year in the US because of the way in which it has dealt with defects in its vehicles. The manufacturer also received a fine in April.

The latest issues are firstly over the way Toyota dealt with the potentially fatal problem of sticky accelerator pedals. The problem was initially thought to be with particular floor mats in some models, and the car maker recalled 55,000 vehicles in 2007.However, a Lexus sedan crashed in California in 2009. The fatal incident was thought to be because the accelerator got jammed on the floor mat.

According to US regulators it was not sufficient for Toyota to remove floor mats adding that the accelerator pedal itself needed to be redesigned. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration ruled that Toyota had known there was an issue but had failed to report it with in the time frame set out under US law.

A second case relating to the Japanese car giant involved an issue with steering. Toyota said the problem was only of concern to those who owned vehicles bought in Japan. However, it later conceded that the problem might be of concern to owners of a number of its models in the US as well. Nearly one million vehicles then had to be recalled.

Toyota’s head of quality in North America, Steve St Angelo, admitted that the company would like to move on from these issues and was working to improve the way it responds to its customers.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Another recall announcement from Toyota

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Car giant Toyota is warning owners around the globe to be aware that some models may have engine and brake issues. The manufacturer is notifying owners of 1.66 million cars that they should have their vehicles checked for possible faults in the brake system and with fuel pumps.

No accidents have yet been recorded, and Toyota was keen to stress that any problems with the brakes would result in a warning light being activated, after which a driver would still be able to operate the vehicle safely for around 200 miles. If the fuel pump cuts out, the result could be a stalled engine.

Toyota is working with the Department for Transport in the UK to track down 17,500 Lexus owners so they can be advised on how to repair the problems. The car maker said it would only take a mechanic a couple of hours to do this. All repairs will be free, and Belinda Poole, Lexus’ director in the UK, said the company was extremely sorry for any inconvenience caused.

In Japan, the company has recalled 600,000 cars and in the US it is asking 740,000 owners of Lexus, Highlander and Avalon vehicles to have them checked. In China, 134,000 cars have been recalled because of faulty disk brakes.

Automotive analyst with IHS Global Insight, Paul Newton, said recalls on this scale were not unusual. He added that for Toyota they had become an issue because the company was now in the spotlight. He went on to say that because Toyota now announced all its recalls in one go, it was bound to be noticed.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Hertz encourages development of electric vehicle infrastructure

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Hertz has announced its intention to use its leverage as one of the world’s leading car hire firms to promote electric powered vehicles. It aims to form strategic partnerships with other industry leaders to develop an infrastructure which is capable of supporting electric technology. The rental giant said it was in the perfect position to introduce the new technology across a wide and diverse range of customers.

Hertz’s electric vehicle programme is due to roll out over the coming months. It aims to introduce a range of electric and hybrid electric vehicles onto the market. In February, Hertz said it would be partnering with Nissan to bring its zero-emission, 100 per cent electric LEAF to select locations in Europe and the US.

Hertz also plans to work with manufacturers such as Toyota, GM and Mitsubishi in providing its customers with the option of choosing their electric powered vehicles. As well as providing vehicles and charging stations the Hertz Global Electric Vehicle programme will compliment the electric technology with new technology in other areas such as supplying the latest in Sat Nav and GPS systems.

Hertz boss, Mark P Frissora, said his company was in the perfect position to lead the world in new electric vehicle technology because of its global footprint, expertise in the car sharing and rental markets and excellent industry relationships.

Fred Krupp, of the Environmental Defence Fund, said he was extremely pleased to be working alongside Hertz in making sure that the new leap in technology was beneficial to consumers and the global environment.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Report says Toyota throttle not at fault

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

An initial report by the US Department of Transportation claims that the sudden acceleration experienced by over 2,200 consumers driving Toyota vehicles is not due to a problem with the electronic throttle, the Wall Street Journal has learned. According to the findings resulting from an ongoing investigation conducted by Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, some of the cases reported could have been caused by motorists putting their foot on the wrong pedal, with sudden bursts of speed resulting from a hard push on the brake pedal while trying to stop the car in a hurry.

A representative from Toyota would not comment on the initial findings, as he said the investigation is still ongoing. The spokesperson went on to add that his company did not want to prejudge the findings prior to the official release of the report.

Further details of the report’s content as described by the Wall Street Journal said that although the electronic throttles are not at fault for sudden acceleration, the Toyota vehicles in question still have some problems. The accelerator pedals can be sticky, and the floor mats underneath the pedals have received numerous complaints from consumers that they cause the pedals to jam to the floor.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Toyota announces more recalls

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Toyota has announced recalls of 270,000 of its vehicles, the latest in a wave of setbacks which has seen the Japanese car manufacturing giant recall over 10 million cars in the past year. According to a report in the Asahi Shimbun, one of the three major daily newspapers in Japan, the current recall will cost the company over $228 million.

The recalls were announced through Japan’s Ministry of Transport, and will affect the Toyota Crown sedan, as well as seven Lexus sedan models, which apparently suffer from a fault in the engine. This is the second recall of autos in the past week in Toyota’s Lexus subsidiary, as 17,000 Lexus HS 250h vehicles were recalled last week due to a potential fuel leak. Of the 270,000 cars under the umbrella of the latest recall, the majority are currently located in the US and the European Union.

Toyota has been under fire during the past year for the many problems consumers have experienced with its vehicles, which ultimately led to Toyota executives having to explain themselves before a US Congressional Committee on Capitol Hill. The US lawmakers claimed that Toyota was lax in quality testing, and did not respond quickly enough to the complaints regarding acceleration problems inherent in many of its vehicles.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

US Congressional Committee grills Toyota over safety flaws

Friday, May 21st, 2010

A panel of US Congressmen have accosted Toyota executives for what they believe to be misleading information regarding the company’s safety claims. The hearings are a result of numerous accidents in the US from the allegedly unsafe acceleration system in some of Toyota’s autos, which have resulted in over 50 deaths and numerous injuries.

Toyota Motor Sales in North America President Jim Lentz testified before the panel that his company’s quality control tests found no flaws in the electronic throttle control system, which many experts outside of the company had previously labelled as faulty. This claim was vehemently rejected by California Congressional Representative Henry Waxman, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee inquiry, who accused the auto manufacturing giant of obfuscating the issue, and did not provide adequate tests to ascertain if there was indeed a problem.

Toyota has had problems in the past year with other faulty devices on its cars, and had to pay a fine of $16.4 million, or £11.4 million, for failing to recall a faulty accelerator pedal in a timely fashion. Adding to the company’s woes, Toyota is also currently facing numerous lawsuits from both federal and state government agencies in the US.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Prius being pulled from car rental fleets over brake fears

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Many major car hire firms are pulling the Toyota Prius hybrid cars from their fleets as the models were recalled over complaints made about their brakes.

The vehicles are popular with drivers who want to maintain a low carbon footprint when they are travelling on holidays.

The world’s largest hire car firm, Hertz, also charges a premium for hiring cars in its ‘Green Collection’, with drivers paying up to 10 per cent more than they would for renting a non-hybrid car of a similar size.

The decision to remove the third-generation Prius comes only days after many car hire firms also pulled other Toyotas from their rental fleets following a safety recall prompted by reports of the accelerator pedal sticking.

Hertz said the company was in the process for fixing the Priuses in its fleet.  According to a company spokesman, safety is the company’s main concern, and customers would be able to select other hybrid models or green models in the Green Collection fleet.

The new Prius has also been withdrawn from other car hire firms including Enterprise, National and Alamo.

A spokesman for Enterprise said that due to the high level of customer concern and media coverage of the ongoing story, the Toyota Prius are being removed as well.

Similar action has been taken by Budget, Avis, and car share clubs such as zipcar and Streetcar.

A Streetcar spokesman said that the cars were being removed pending discussions with Toyota over what action must be taken.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Car rental firms react by withdrawing Toyota models

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Toyota’s reputation could be severely dented given the slow manner the company has dealt with the faulty accelerator pedals in their cars.

The embroiling crisis engulfing Toyota has plunged to new depths with major car hire firms pulling the auto manufacturer’s models from their rental fleets, with US authorities launching a fresh safety probe, just as the carmaker estimated the crisis has already cost £1.3 billion.

The new twist in the drama witnessed Toyota suffering another terrible day on the global stock markets, with a total of $30 billion being wiped of the company’s vale since the crisis began.

The world’s largest car manufacturer has been running a global recall of eight million cars, including 180,000 in the UK.  The company is attempting to ease customers’ fears over safety by placing adverts in newspapers and posting videos online.

The company’s UK managing director Miguel Fonseca said that he wanted to complete the UK recall within eight weeks, in spite of the parts needed for the repair not arriving from Japan until next week.  Toyota service centres will be prioritising recall work as well as working extended hours and weekends.

Toyota yesterday predicted that the total cost of the crisis around the world would be $1.1 billion in repairs and $900m in lost sales in the first three months of the year. This is a further blow as it was revealed that Avis-Budget has taken over 20,000 Toyota’s out of circulation and Hertz is likely to remove even more.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Car hire companies in the US force to return Toyota models due to recall

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Some car rental firms in North America have been forced to return some Toyota models to the manufacturer after a fault was detected with the throttle pedal.

Companies including Avis, Budget, Hertz and Enterprise Holdings have all announced they would be returning the affected vehicles from their fleet.

Even though the recall is voluntary, most car hire companies are erring on the side of caution and sending the cars back to the manufacturer.

In a statement, Avis Budget said that they would remove a total of 20,000 vehicles from its fleet, adding that the problems are said to have arisen out of usage over time and that their fleets have some of the lowest mileage records, so they have reason to believe that the vehicles would not have posed a threat to customer safety.

Despite cutting a large number of rental cars as a result of the recall, the Avis Budget Group said they still have a sufficient number of vehicles in their fleet to fulfil all customer bookings and reservations.

Enterprise has meanwhile issued a statement stressing that customer safety is their top priority, and that any customer who is currently renting an affected model would immediately be given a replacement car.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »