February 2010 ~ Launch Modern Car

Friday, February 26, 2010

Consumer Reports Best American Cars For 2010

4:25 PM

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Consumer Reports does a lot of things differently (like not accepting advertising, buying the cars they test). And one of them is creating a separate list of Top Picks from American car companies.Well, this year's list is out now...and it's a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, Chevy/GMC/Cadillac list. Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep are nowhere to be found. For that matter, Buick is MIA.Interestingly, the editors couldn't recommend an American vehicle in the "family hauler" category.The list, and the reasoning behind the picks, he...

4:13 PM

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The Lexus ES350 described in Congressional testimony on Tuesday as "possessed" is off the streets, four years after the incident.One day after disclosing that Rhonda Smith sold the car (today's clarification from NHTSA: traded it to a Toyota dealer) after what she called a "near-death" experience and that a family has put 27,000 trouble-free miles on the vehicle since then (something that no one mentioned during Tuesday's hearing), the NHTSA has written that family a check and taken possession (pardon the pun) of the vehicle. They plan to test it.Full details from the Detroit Ne...

3:47 PM

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The chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform accused Toyota on Friday of withholding relevant documents when fighting lawsuits filed by crash victims.The accusation's roots are in the documents provided under subpoena by former Toyota counsel turned whistleblower Dimitrios Biller. Full details via the New York Times he...

"Possessed" Lexus Still On The Road...27,000 Trouble-Free Miles Later

5:23 PM

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If that were your car, what would you do?The Wall Street Journal (sub required...comments can be read free) reports that Rhonda Smith sold it...and another family has been driving it since.That's right. Not "demanded Toyota replace it under the Lemon Law".Not "parked it and sued Toyota for its replacement cost".We need to know just how that went down, I think. Trade it in and let the dealer work out the ethics? Craigslist? eBay? A close friend or neighbor?And Rhonda? She needs to head right back to Capitol Hill, sit down in front of that committee, under oath, and give a word-by-word description of just how that transaction went down. I mean, what do you say? "3,000 miles, creampuff, only tried to kill me once"?"It's to die for?""Once you drive it, you'll never stop?"Did she show...

8:44 AM

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Desperate for money, city, county and state governments around the country are looking hard at anything that throws off cash with little or preferably no effort and manpower.Which brings us to photo radar. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would like to change the law in his state that currently bans speed cameras (red-light cameras are legal in the Golden State), which he says could generate $338 million.But...as The Los Angeles Times reports...$338 million in tickets doesn't necessarily means $338 million in fines pa...

Kegger At The Sierra Club: GM Kills Hummer

5:50 PM

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Automotive News (you can register for free) broke the story late Wednesday that Hummer is history. After two years on the block and a thisclose deal with a Chinese manufacturer, the deal just couldn't be done. GM says Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. Ltd. was "unable to complete the acquisition", and so they'll wind down the brand.It's hard to remember now, but Hummer was white-hot when it first hit showrooms in the early '00s. Its peak sales year was 2006, when 71,524 of them found homes, largely in suburbia. The economy in general and gas prices in particular slammed the brakes on...with only 9,046 sold last ye...

5:35 PM

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Well, this won't help quell the conspiracy theory that the U.S. goverment is going extra tough on Toyota because it owns a chunk of GM:The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirms it raided the offices of three Toyota suppliers as part of an anti-trust investigation. Toyota itself says it wasn't contacted by authorities. Full details from the Los Angeles Times:...

5:19 PM

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Toyota president Akio Toyoda told Congress today he takes full responsibility for the recall of millions of his company's cars, but that he would tell President Obama "Toyota cars are safe". This, in the same hearing where Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in a deja vu moment linked to his February 3 testimony that owners should "stop driving" their Toyotas, only to retract it at the end of the hearing, told lawmakers the millions of recalled Toyotas "were not safe". As before, he amended...

Live Video Streaming and Blogging of Toyota/Toyoda Testimony

11:01 PM

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The Lede, The New York Times News Blog, will be providing live blogging and MSNBC live video streaming of Toyota president Akio Toyoda's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as well as other testimony and discussion Wednesday. Click here to follow. There's also commercial-free, break-free video streaming available from C-SP...

5:42 PM

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Automotive News (you can register for free) reports that Hyundai is suspending sales of the just-introduced 2011 Sonata because front door lock modules can stick.5,000 of the vehicles, which arrived in showrooms 2 weeks ago, are in the U.S. and so far, only about 1,300 in buyers' hands. Parts will reach dealers beginning tomorrow and Hyundai says the sales halt will end as soon as repairs to models in stock are ma...

5:09 PM

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Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Tuesday, Toyota Motor Sales USA president Jim Lentz told lawmakers the gas pedal recall affecting millions of the company's vehicles may not solve the problem. Lentz said the company is still investigating the problem, including the possibility that the electronics system may be at fault. Also testifying today, United States Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who told the committee the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has found no evidence of electronics issues and believes floor mats and sticky pedals pose the greatest threat.And the committee heard the...

12:24 PM

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The House of Representatives seems to be running ahead of schedule...at least when it comes to testimony. It released Toyota Motor Sales USA President Jim Lentz' Tuesday testimony to the media late Monday...but we know what Akio Toyoda will say Wednesday at lunchtime on the west coast today.Complete remarks from the committee via WOKV, Jacksonvil...

7:19 AM

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It's report card day at Consumer Reports...Hyundai and Ford are happy. Toyota? A mixed bag. But the Prius keeps its Recommended status. Read the results he...

7:08 AM

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The Detroit News has published an advance copy of Toyota Motor Sales USA President Jim Lentz' remarks before a Congressional committee today, as well as those of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Lentz says the company has "taken too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues."UPDATE: Click here for .pdf of Lentz' complete remar...

6:46 AM

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312,000 model year 2005 and 2006 Dodge Caravan, Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans are being recalled.The airbag sensors can crack, water can get inside and then the airbags don't work as designed. Read the recall notice here.Not too comforting...the actual recalling and repair doesn't start until Ju...

5:05 AM

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Southern Illinois University professor David Gilbert says a short-circuit can cause the cars to accelerate suddenly and not leave a trace in the car's fault codes.Toyota's response? Click he...

Toyota's Hired Gun

11:19 AM

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When Toyota goes to Capitol Hill this week, or before a federal grand jury at a date to be announced, they won't be walking in alone.The Los Angeles Times has a profile of the U.S. company Toyota has hired in hopes of disproving claims that their cars are capable of unintended acceleration caused by electronic throttles. Previous clients? Exxon (Valdez), NASA (Challenger), FEMA (Oklahoma City federal building bombing) and at least one of Toyota's competitors (For...

6:51 AM

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Toyota announced today that it received a subpoena for documents related to unintended acceleration and braking issues which prompted its huge recall from a federal grand jury (southern District of New York).Date they got that subpoena? February 8.As in two weeks ago today. This, of course, is a big fat hairy deal...and Toyota should know it. If the grand jury doesn't like what it reads, the end result can be criminal charges.A bit more recently, Toyota says it got a voluntary request from the Los Angeles office of the Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday (February 19) for related documents, including the company's disclosure...

6:09 AM

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Be careful what you put in writing. Dad probably told you that. But according to a report in this morning's Los Angeles Times, Toyota Motor Company execs put together a presentation in July, 2009 that talks about how the company saved $100 million by negotiating with the U.S. Government to limit a recall linked to sudden acceleration claims..from all vehicles possibly involved to 55,000 floor mats. The Times also reports Toyota realized cost savings for delaying the implementation of a federal safety rule, stalling or mitigating safety regulations, and avoiding a government probe of a vehicle Toyota had issued a buyback program on.Stand...

Volkswagen Golf TDI Review

3:36 PM

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As good as the new Volkswagen Golf is...there are two three-letter combinations that can make it even better.One is "GTI".The other is "TDI". TDI is VW's clean diesel engine. And as much as we love it in the Jetta sedan, it's a revelation in the new platform Golf.It's the usual diesel attributes...tons of torque, excellent long-term prospects (diesels last longer) and killer mileage (the EPA says 30 city, 41 highway). ...

5:29 AM

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The same House committee (Oversight and Government Reform) before which Toyota President Akio Toyoda will testify next week about the automaker's gas pedal recall has subpoenaed records in the possession of former Toyota American National Managing Counsel Dimitrios Biller.Biller told ABC News earlier this month that Toyota had tried to hide "evidence of safety defects from consumers and regulators and fostered a culture of hypocrisy and deceit." Biller said he had documents in his possession that would validate that claim. Toyota filed an injunction preventing Biller from releasing those documents, but the House committee subpoena overrules that.The...

Mr. Toyoda Goes To Washington

4:29 PM

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Well, that didn't take long. Literally hours after being formally invited to testify before Congress about Toyota's gas pedal recall, company president Akio Toyoda said he'll be there.In a very brief statement released Friday morning, Japan time, Toyoda said he "looks forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people." Full press release (remember, we said "brief") he...

10:50 AM

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Toyota President Akio Toyoda's announcement Wednesday that he wouldn't be attending next week's congressional hearings into the company's gas pedal recall and would instead let Toyota's North American chief represent the automaker was, in this climate, guaranteed to get a response.It's not a subpoena (yet), but the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has formally invited Toyoda to testify. When pressed yesterday, Toyoda said he would "consider" appearing before Congress if he recieved a formal invitation. Read the committee's news release and invitation to Toyoda to see just how formal it's beco...

Detroit News: NHTSA To Announce Formal Investigation Into Toyota Corolla

5:28 PM

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The Detroit News reports that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration will announce a formal investigation into complaints about steering in the Toyota Corolla Thursday. As we reported Wednesday, Toyota is considering a recall of the 2009 and 2010 models, which use electrical rather than mechanical steering...converting the steering wheel from an implement which is directly linked to and physically turns the front wheels into a control device that sends electrical impulses to a computer, which then tells the wheels which way to turn, how much and how quickly.More than 160 Corolla drivers have complained to the feds, many claiming...

6:49 AM

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Toyota says it's considering recalling its best selling model (and the world's), the Corolla. Consumer complaints about cars veering off track have grown since Toyota switched from mechanical to electrical steering (which changes the steering wheel from a direct connection to the wheels and makes it an input device which a computer then decodes and acts upon) in the Corolla. Two weeks ago, we told you about the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's investigation into similar complaints about the Chevrolet Cobalt, which also uses electrical steering. How bad is that electrical steering? Coincidentally, I'm just finishing...

5:36 AM

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Just days after Toyota announced a recall of its Tacoma pickups for a driveshaft component flaw, Nissan is investigating a similar flaw and what to do about it. TheDetroitBureau.com reports that both automakers use the same supplier, Dana...and that appears to be the source of the problem, which Toyota said could cause the driveshaft to crack, separate and fall...resulting in a loss of control of the truck....but Nissan says won...

Chevrolet Equinox Review

10:13 PM

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And the award for "most improved" goes to.....No, I'm not kidding. The past four years of the Chevy Equinox couldn't have been blander (quick..can you really picture one?). It was dead on arrival and buried by every new small SUV or crossover that came along since.But this....if they'd had 535 of these to put in the Capitol parking lot a year ago, Congress would have passed a GM bailout bill so fast it would have made your head swim. There would have been no bankruptcy.Yes...it's that good. So good, in fact, that I'd cross-shop it against the Mazda CX-7. And if you've read that review, you know that's saying something.Pick the Chevy over the...

7:22 AM

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Federal regulators now say at least 34 people have died in accidents invoving Toyota vehicles where unintended acceleration is a suspected cause. That's 13 more people than the feds had said a month ago. But...The Los Angeles Times actually read the report and found that only one of those 13 was a new crash...and that some of the other 12 go back as far as 1992...meaning the publicity is causing cases that may or may not be proved to be relevant to come out of the woodwo...

Toyota Recalls 8,000 Model Year 2010 Tacoma 4WD Pickups

3:27 PM

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This time it's voluntary. Toyota says 8,000 of its 2010 Tacoma 4X4 pickups contain a front drive shaft component that could contain cracks, causing the front drive shaft to separate, resulting in a loss of control.Exercise caution for the next 30 days...Toyota says affected owners will be notified by mail....in mid-March.The full release, from Toyo...

5:14 AM

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Return with us now to the good old days.Mid-2007, say.That's when the current-generation Lexus LX 570 hit the showroom floors as a 2008 model. When bigger was better, when more was more. When an SUV dripping in all the luxury and tech the Toyota gang could muster, with a base price of more than $70,000 and an EPA mileage estimate that wouldn't challenge your ability to count too far into double-digits was no big deal...at least not for the intended clientele.It was the days of "go big or go home"...and Lexus went big.For those whose investment accounts can still justify it, the LX 570 is very impressive. Even approaching it with the new realities...

Volkswagen Golf Review

4:04 AM

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35 years ago, Volkswagen revolutionized the concept of the small car with the original Golf (sold here for many years as the Rabbit). The basic shape and proportions are still recognizable, but the changes have been evolutionary, and it's easy to write off each generation as not having changed that much from the one before.Big mistake.It's impossible to overstate the refinements the 2010 Golf brings to the game....the leap forward it represents from last year's model, and how much better it is than virtually everything in its size and price class. ...

Honda Expands Airbag Recall; More Than 800,000 Cars In U.S., Total

5:36 PM

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Honda says driver's-side airbags in many of its 2001 and 2002 Honda and Acura vehicles could deploy with too much force, resulting in injury or death. Tough guys will say "Hey, I can take a punch"...but that's not what Honda's talking about here. The force involved could shatter the inflator casing and send metal fragments flying through the airbag cushion material and into...well, you and your passengers. Same basic principle as a grenade.Honda says it's aware of a total of 14 incidents, with one fatality. This is phase three of this recall. It began sixteen months ago with 4,000 cars, had 436,000 added to it in July 2009 and today 378,758 cars...

4:42 AM

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It's official. Toyota is recalling a total of 148,500 hybrid vehicles in the U.S...133,000 2010 Toyota Prius models and 14,500 of the new Lexus HS250h...to update software in the cars' anti-lock brake systems.Given the prickly retaliatory mood at least one Toyota dealer group is in about "excessive" reporting of Toyota's current issues, we'll let Toyota itself fill in the details of the recall with its official press release. Read it all...there's also a recall of 7,300 4-cylinder Camrys for an unrelated brake problem mentioned in the final paragra...

Buick LaCrosse Review

11:01 PM

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Attitude is not an attribute one has associated with Buick for more than 20 years...since the hot Grand National models. But Buick has decided to get in your face with its message about the new LaCrosse...with billboards and TV ads calling it "Something else for Lexus to relentlessly pursue."Really? Is this the view that ES 350 drivers will be seeing, choking on some good old Detroit (well, close, our tester was built in Kansas City) dust?The fact that we're even entertaining that question says something, doesn't it?Clearly, the exterior design of the LaCrosse leaves no doubt that they consider Lexus the target. And at first...

4:58 PM

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(Disclosure: My full-time job is with an ABC television affiliate not affected by the story below. If the target had been CBS, NBC, FOX or any other network, group or individual station, this post would still be here, just with different network or station call letters)Just as the news began to turn good for Toyota ( the resumption of sales of models sidelined since the gas pedal recall was announced, the company's cooperation with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak on his Prius, six North American plants getting back to work building Toyotas for sale), Southeast Toyota, a group representing 173 Toyota dealers in five southeastern states, has...

5:43 AM

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If we're all headed for compact cars (um...Mr. President, a follow-up question?), then this is the way to go.Early and/or thorough TireKicker readers will remember I gave the last-gen Mazda 3 a glowing review in one of the first TireKicker posts. Every word still applies, but the 2010 Mazda 3 is a game-changer.I get the same feeling from the new 3 that I got when I got behind the wheel of my 1984 Honda Civic...and I wasn't alone then. Jean Lindamood of Car and Driver (now Jean Jennings of Automobile) ended her review thusly: "Damn, she's a fine one. Our orders are in."It inspired me to take a test drive that led to a 14-year ownership of said...

Ford Taurus Review

11:26 AM

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If there's a feeling I hate as much as any other, it's being too late. Getting to the party after all the fun's been had. When I was a kid, a big Ford, optioned properly, was a cool grownup's car (think red Galaxie 500 XL hardtop or convertible with knock-offs and a big V8...or better yet, just look at the picture above). By the time I got my license (a mere decade later), big Fords were grandma's cars. In fact, the only person I knew who owned one was my friend Sara's grandma. And from there, they devolved into service animals. If you've hailed a cab or been pulled over by the police in the last 25 years, odds are it was a big Ford Crown Victoria.So...

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