Toyota to Replace Coolant Pump in 390,000 Priuses in North America

November 30, 2010, 1:22 pm

By RICHARD S. CHANG

Toyota announced Tuesday that it was replacing the coolant pumps on 650,000 Prius hybrids worldwide, The Associated Press reported. But the automaker has stopped short of calling the action a recall.

It is a “customer satisfaction campaign,” said Paul Nolasco, a spokesman for the Toyota Motor Corporation.

Mr. Nolasco says the problem — a pump malfunction — causes the hybrid system in the Prius to shut off to prevent overheating. The gas engine then kicks in to propel the car. Such a malfunction, Mr. Nolasco explained, did not warrant a recall under regulations where the vehicles are sold.

The pumps are in 2004-7 model year cars, and out of the 650,000 affected vehicles, 390,000 are in North America. The rest are in Japan and Europe.

Owners who have already had the problem fixed can get reimbursed by Toyota. There were reports of 300 problems in Japan and 28 elsewhere (and none related to an accident).

According to Reuters, Toyota has recalled about 14 million vehicles worldwide, including about 11 million in the United States, since last November.

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Toyota iQ to Have Electric Variant in 2012

Toyota’s urban electric car, shown in various guises at auto shows, will be based on the diminutive iQ when it arrives in Europe, Japan and the United States in 2012, the company says. Journalists in Japan drove prototypes of the car recently at Mega Web, a showroom with a small test track run by the Toyota Motor Corporation in Tokyo.

The iQ will be sold as a Scion in the United States when it goes on sale early next year, but Toyota did not say whether the electric car would also wear the Scion badge.

“We’re not sure yet how many will go to which markets, and not sure how it will be marketed,” said John Hanson, a Toyota spokesman. “But it will arrive in 2012, at the same time as the electric RAV4 and the plug-in hybrid Prius.”

A series of “road trials” of the electric iQ will begin in the three introductory markets next year, and sales in China are also under consideration.

Mr. Hanson said Toyota would have a “wide variety of programs” to help it meet coming environmental regulations. Between 2012 and 2015, it will introduce not only the electric iQ, but also a much-publicized plug-in hybrid and a fuel-cell car. The company will also bring out 11 new or redesigned hybrid models by the end of 2012. The electric RAV4, developed with Tesla Motors, was unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show last week.

Toyota also said Thursday that it was continuing development of its fuel-cell sedan, which Mr. Hanson said would go on sale “in 2015 or earlier.” The company said “a price under 10 million yen seems attainable,” which set off some alarm bells because that translates into more than $120,000.

But Mr. Hanson said the company planned to sharply cut production costs for its fuel-cell car by the time it reaches the market.

“We obviously have to reduce costs further, and that will be done in a lot of different ways,” he said. “We’re talking about a vehicle we want to sell in volume, so it can’t have an exotic-car price. The figure the company cited is simply where we are right now, but remember we used to call fuel-cell cars ‘million-dollar’ vehicles.”

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Toyota Turns to Consumers for 'Ideas'

November 8, 2010, 11:27 am

By STUART ELLIOTT

From our colleagues at the Media Decoder blog:

Toyota Motor continues on the journey to repair its reputation with a campaign using the theme “Ideas for good,” which will seek suggestions from consumers.

The campaign, to be introduced on Monday, invites consumers to come up with new ways to use five existing Toyota Motor technologies, like the advanced parking guidance system that is available on the Toyota Prius; a lifelike human model, nicknamed Thums, that the company’s engineers employ in crash tests; and a solar-powered ventilation system, also from the Prius.

The intent, in other words, is to come up with ideas to use automotive technologies outside the realm of cars and trucks.

Toyota Motor is pledging that it will try to bring to fruition the five best ideas submitted by consumers, as judged by an independent panel.

The campaign is being created by the Toyota agency Saatchi & Saatchi, part of the Publicis Groupe, out of its Los Angeles office. Read more here.

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Toyota Recalling 740,000 car United States for brake problems

October 21, 2010, 8: 51

By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN

Toyota is recalling 1.53 million vehicles worldwide, including 740,000 vehicles United States, potentially a brake fluid leak and cause to stop at "gradual reduction."

The automaker said in a press release issued this morning, models are the 2005-6 Avalon; 2004-6 Highlander (with the exception of the hybrid) and Lexus RX 330. Lexus GS 300 designs is 250-350 is 2006.

Said Toyota problem is this brake fluid used in maintenance could not contain the same amount of polymers as "Brake liquid authentic Toyota", and that could allow a seal to dry, causing a small leak.The leak would brake warning light illuminate.

Toyota describes as "voluntary", but once again recall that an automaker learns a problem, security , but he has no choice immediately recalled vehicles.

Hiroko Tabuchi reports that Toyota also announced that he had found a separate problem, an electrical problem with fuel pumps which could cause engine stalling, mainly affecting models on the market japonais.Ce callback Japan affects the Toyota Crown, Crown Majesta, Harrier, Mark X Alphard and Kluger, as well as the Lexus GX 350, Lexus IS 250 and Lexus IS 350 models.

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