Toyota’s Latest Recall Is For Its 2003 Sequoia SUV, Over Stability Control System

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Posted on 29th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Toyota has issued a second recall stemming from stability problems with its sports utility vehicles, this one for its 2003 Sequoias. http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota/toyota-announces-voluntary-recall-157593.aspx

Wednesday’s recall of 50,000 Sequoias follows in the wake of last week’s recall and halt of sales of the 2010 Lexus GX 460. Toyota took action on the GX 460 after Consumer Reports deemed that SUV unsafe because of issues with its vehicle stability control system.

In Toyota’s Wednesday announcement, the automaker said it needed to upgrade the program logic in the vehicle stability control system in the Sequoia.

Since November Toyota has recalled more than 9 million vehicles, an action mainly prompted by accelerator pedals sticking on several of its models, including the popular Camry. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/business/29toyota.html?scp=1&sq=Sequoia&st=Search

The issues with the SUVs is the vehicle stability control system, which helps control a loss of traction in on the front or rear tire as a car turns a corner. 

“In vehicles without the upgrade, the stability control system could, in limited situations, activate at low speed (about 9 mph) for a few seconds after acceleration from a stopped position and, as a  result, the vehicle may not accelerate as quickly as the driver expects,” Toyota said in Wednesday’s announcement. “There have been no reported injuries or accidents as a result of this condition.

Toyota instituted a running production change during the 2003 model year, and since that time, Toyota has been responding to individual owner concerns by replacing the Skid Control Engine Control Unit in Sequoias impacted by this condition.  Of the roughly 50,000 vehicles included in this recall, about half have already been serviced under warranty. 

Starting in late May, Toyota will begin mailing letters to all 2003 Model-Year Sequoia owners included in this recall, including owners of vehicles that have been previously serviced. http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/lexus/update-for-gx-460-recall-now-available-157680.aspx

 On Thursday Toyota said that its software update for the 2010 GX 460 was available at Lexus dealerships, and that it was resuming sales of the SUV.

 “We are confident that the update will make the performance of the GX even better for our customers,” Mark Templin, Lexus Group Vice President and general manager, said in a prepared statement.

Toyota Issues Yet Another Vehicle Recall, This One For Lexus GX 460

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Posted on 20th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 Another day, another Toyota recall.

 Toyota Monday recalled its Lexus GX 460, just a week after Consumer Reports magazine deemed the luxury SUV unsafe. The automaker will be fixing a problem with the SUV’s stability control system. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/business/global/21iht-toyota.html?ref=business

 The recall involves 9,400 2010 Model Year Lexus GX 460 to update software in the SUV’s Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system. http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/lexus/toyota-announces-voluntary-recall-157109.aspx

 The VSC system helps control a loss of traction in turns as a result of front or rear-wheel slippage during cornering.

 The Lexus GX 460 is the second Toyota recall in a week. Last Friday, it recalled its 600,000 Sienna minivans because of a problem with the vehicle’s spare tire carrier cable.

 Counting its prior recalls of Camrys for defective accelerator pedals, Toyota has recalled more than 9 million vehicles since November, according to The New York Times.

 Toyota issued a press release Monday on the voluntary recall of the Lexus GX 460.

  “Since it was launched more than 20 years ago, Lexus has built its reputation on customer respect and concern for safety,” Mark Templin, Lexus Group vice president and general manager, said in a statement. “With the news from Consumer Reports that our 2010 GX 460 did not pass its ‘Throttle Lift-Off’ test, we immediately stopped selling the vehicle and commenced vigorous testing to identify and correct the issue.”  http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/lexus/lexus-announces-plans-to-recall-157111.aspx

 Describing the recall, Templin said, “We have developed a remedy that will be quickly implemented to help address customer concerns….We will begin implementing this program in the next two weeks and our dealers will be reaching out to customers shortly to set up appointments to make this modification.

 Lexus dealers will have the VSC software update by the end of April. The updates should take about an hour for dealers to install.

 Starting in early May, Lexus will begin mailing letters to GX 460 owners included in the recall. Lexus will provide a courtesy vehicle to anyone who has purchased a 2010 GX 460 and has concerns about driving it until the recall work has been completed.

 Toyota made the announcement about its latest vehicle recall the same day it said that it would pay a $16.4 million fine, the largest government fine ever against an automaker, for hiding information about its sticking accelerator pedals.

 

 

Toyota Agrees To Pay $16.4 Million Fine For Hiding Safety Issues

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Posted on 19th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 Toyota has agreed to fork over $16.4 million to pay a fine, the largest government sanction against an automaker ever, for hiding information regarding its sudden-acceleration recall, federal officials said Monday. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/business/global/20toyota.html?hpw

 U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the news about Toyota, which has not admitted any wrongdoing. But the automaker merely paying the fine levied by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration doesn’t clear Toyota if any civil or criminal actions, according to The New York Times.

 The $16.4 million fine is the largest permitted under the law.

 Toyota released its own statement Monday. http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-motor-corporation-agrees-157093.aspx

 “We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully-focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations,” the automaker said.

 “This will allow us to focus on delivering safe, reliable, high quality vehicles for our customers and responding to consumer feedback with honesty and integrity,” the statement said. “These have been core Toyota values for 70 years, and we pledge to make an even greater effort to adhere to this philosophy now and in the future.  We also welcome a new, more transparent chapter in our relationship with NHTSA, consistent with our commitments to Congress and the American people.”

 In a case of we-think-he-doeth-protest-too-much, Toyota went on.

  ”We regret that NHTSA tentatively concluded that they should seek a civil penalty. Toyota denies NHTSA’s allegation that it violated the Safety Act or its implementing regulations,” Toyota said in its statement.

 “We believe we made a good faith effort to investigate this condition and develop an appropriate counter-measure.  We have acknowledged that we could have done a better job of sharing relevant information within our global operations and outside the company, but we did not try to hide a defect to avoid dealing with a safety problem.

 Both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Toyota over the sudden-acceleration recall

 Toyota knew about the acceleration problem and defective gas pedals for several months before ordering a recall in January.

 Toyota’s problems seem endless. Last Friday the company halted sales of its Lexus GX 460 after Consumer Reports magazine deemed the vehicle unsafe.

 And the automaker Friday said it would recall 600,000 Sienna minivans regarding a problem with a cable that holds a spare tire.

Judge Sets May 13 Hearing On Federal Toyota Lawsuits

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Posted on 16th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The judge who is presiding over the nearly 100 federal lawsuits against Toyota, which are being consolidated, has set a May 13 hearing on the case, according to The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304628704575186230332752408.html?mod=WSJ_auto_IndustryCollection

Federal Judge James Selna scheduled the initial hearing in the matter for his courtroom in Santa Ana, Calif. Dozens of attorneys for plaintiffs in the suits are expected to be in court for that session.

Some of the suits stem from deaths and injuries allegedly caused by the sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles, while others seek compensation for the loss of value of their Toyotas because of the acceleration problems.

At this point, Selena has opted to consolidate the wrongful death and injury suits with the consumer suits, according to The Journal.

Lawyers are eagerly waiting to see who Selna will choose to lead the arguments in the cases against Toyota. The Journal estimated that anywhere from $200 million to $500 million in attorneys’ fees will be generated by the cases, and that only a few lawyers – the lead lawyers – will share in that money.

For the period leading up to the first hearing, Selna has picked three lawyers as temporary leads: Elizabeth Cabraser of San Francisco; Steve Berman of Seattle; and Marc Seltzer of Los Angeles.

The lead lawyer for Toyota is Cari Dawson.

Also this week, Toyota suspended sales of its 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV in both the Unites States and other countries after Consumer Reports magazine deemed the vehicle unsafe.  

Toyota said it would also do safety tests not only the GX 460, but all of its SUVs. And the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said it would run its own safety tests of the GX 460.   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304510004575185983714141448.html?mod=WSJ_auto_IndustryCollection

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/16/business/16toyota.html?ref=business

 

Toyota Suspends Sales of Lexus SUV After Consumer Reports Magazine Damns It As Unsafe

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Posted on 14th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Can it get any worse for Toyota?

After Consumer Reports magazine said the vehicle was dangerous, Toyota Tuesday halted sales of its 2010 Lexus GX 460 sport utility vehicle. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/business/14auto.html?ref=todayspaper

 In fact, Toyota’s Lexus unit suspended sales of the SUV model just hours after the magazine warned that the vehicle had a handling problem that could lead to rollovers and “serious injury or death,” according to The New York Times.

 “We are taking the situation with the GX 460 very seriously and are determined to identify and correct the issue Consumer Reports identified,” Mark S. Templin, the Lexus group vice president and general manager, said in a statement. http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/lexus/lexus-statement-regarding-consumer-156934.aspx

 “Lexus’ extensive vehicle testing provides a good indication of how our vehicles perform and we are confident that the GX meets our high safety standards,” Templin said. “Our engineering teams are vigorously testing the GX using Consumer Reports’ specific parameters to identify how we can make the GX’s performance even better.”

 In its own statement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was talking to both Lexus and Consumer Reports about the problem that the magazine uncovered, according to The Times.

 Consumer Reports gave the Lexus GX 460 a “don’t buy” rating, which is apparently very rare. The magazine said that the handling problem surfaces if a driver eases up on the gas pedal while driving quickly through a sharp turn. That action causes the rear end of the SUV to slide, to fishtail, toward the outside of the turn, according to Consumer Reports. 

 In other dozens of other SUVs tested by Consumer Reports, electronic stability control systems detected and halted such slides. But with the Lexus GX 460, its stability control didn’t stop the slide until the SUV was almost sideways, Consumer Reports told The Times. 

 It’s no wonder that Toyota moved quickly on the Lexus situation. The auto maker faces a $16.4 million fine from federal safety authorities for failing to act swiftly regarding complaints about the sudden acceleration of cars like the Camry.

Toyota Stalled In Recall of U.S. Vehicles, Documents Say

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Posted on 12th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Toyota’s public relations nightmare continued Monday, as stories broke about the car maker delaying its recall of vehicles in the United States, even after the company had knowledge of sudden-acceleration problems that allegedly lead to dozens of deaths.

Various news outlets, including the Associated Press and The New York Times on Page One, cited internal Toyota documents that became public last week.

In one particularly damning comment, one Toyota official in January told his colleagues that he had to break some bad news, namely that some of the company’s car models “have a tendency for mechanical failure in accelerator pedals.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/business/12gap.html?hp

The message went on to say, “The time to hide on this one is over. We need to come clean.”

But there was a lag, three days later, before Toyota finally folded to public pressure and recalled millions of vehicle.

Basically, the documents show that Toyota stalled in taking any action to remedy the acceleration problem, and that it even took steps quicker in Europe and Canada than it did in the United States.

Last week the federal transportation authority announced that it was fining Toyota the stiffest penalty allowed, $16.4 million, over the recall related to the sticking accelerators.

Several days after that last week, federal safety officials warned Toyota that they might impose a second penalty against the car maker. That fine would stem from Toyota’s handling of the recall of 2.3 million cars and trucks with accelerator pedals that could get stuck. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-fine10-2010apr10,0,1294645.story

Federal Toyota Suits Consolidated Before California Judge

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Posted on 10th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 The litigation against Toyota over its sudden-acceleration problem took another step forward Friday, with more than 150 federal suits being consolidated before one federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-lawsuits10-2010apr10,0,6050180.story

 So even as federal safety officials are investigating and fining Toyota over the acceleration issue and the auto maker’s handling of the matter, the lawsuits against Toyota will proceed before federal Judge James Selna.

 Selna’s Santa Anna, Calif., courtroom will become the center for determining personal damages in the pending suits.  Santa Anna is only about 30 miles from Toyota’s U.S. headquarters.

 On Friday the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided to give allow 100 suits that are seeking class action status, along with 50 personal injury cases, to be litigated before one judge, Selna, The Los Angeles Times reported.

 “Centralization will create convenience for the parties and witnesses and will promote the more just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” the chairman of the federal panel, Judge John Heyburn II, wrote in an order Friday.

 But this only applies to federal lawsuits pending against Toyota, which has recalled more than 8 million vehicles due to the sudden acceleration problem. Numerous suits have also been filed in state courts across the nation.

 Last month dozens of attorneys presented arguments about whether the many lawsuits should be consolidated or handled individually.

 Judge Selna’s resume includes presiding over complex corporate, and he’ll his hands full in the dozens of Toyota lawsuits, according to The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304222504575174180229421268.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews

For example, he adjudicated a patent infringement case between Quaalcom and Broadcom, finding that Quaalcom had violated a court order by marketing computer chips that used Broadcom patented technology – without paying the royalties due.

Judge Selna plans to pick a committee of plaintiffs’ attorneys to be lead counsel on the consolidated cases, with more than 100 lawyers jockeying for those spots, The Journal reported.  

$16.4 Million Fine Against Toyota Seems Far Too Puny

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Posted on 8th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The U.S. Transportation Department’s decision to fine Toyota $16.4 million, the largest penalty permitted, made front page news in a number of newspapers Tuesday, including The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/business/06toyota.html?ref=todayspaper

and The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/05/AR2010040503200.html

 We understand that the government, namely the transportation department and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), legally could not impose a stiffer fine. But it seems like a pretty tiny snap on the wrist to only penalize an auto giant like Toyota that amount. Its crumbs to a company like Toyota, over the foolish handling of a fatal problem that has lead to dozens of deaths and the recall of millions of vehicles.

 And we’re not the only ones to think that.

 Safety Research and Strategies (SRS) agreed with our “slap-in-the-wrist” assessment, but added “we’re glad to see any government agency get back their regulatory mojo after eight moribund years of the Bush administration.” http://www.safetyresearch.net/2010/04/06/16-4-million-reasons-why-it-ain%E2%80%99t-over-yet-for-toyota-sua/

 The government levied the penalty against Toyota for not promptly notifying government safety officials about mishaps involving it cars’ accelerator pedals. That problem has allegedly led to the sudden accelerations of cars, allegedly causing accidents that have killed dozens of people and prompted several hundred lawsuits. 

 “We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a prepared statement. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families.”  

SRS raised some questions of its own.

“People need to remember: as NHTSA and Toyota have both acknowledged, sticking accelerator pedals have nothing to do with Sudden Unintended Acceleration,” SRS president Sean Kane said on the group’s Web site. “In fact, owners have complained to NHTSA about experiencing SUA incidents after getting the sticky accelerator pedal recall fix.”

The SRA also had this to say about the fine, which Toyota has two weeks to contest.

“We’re also very interested in seeing if NHTSA will take Toyota back to the woodshed for failing to initiate its floor mat recall in a timely fashion,” the SRS said on its site. “But let’s keep our eyes on the prize, folks: we need Toyota to identify the other root causes that can’t be explained by floor mats and driver error. Punishing Toyota doesn’t do much to resolve the financial woes and real safety concerns of drivers who are stuck with these vehicles.”