Toyota News
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Toyota Motor Sales announced yesterday that its U.S. sales of new cars were up 24.4 percent over the previous April, during the worst of the economic meltdown. Despite recent months--during which a lawsuits have rained down on Toyota for unintended acceleration and brake related safety concerns relating to the 2010 Prius and other models--the April 2010 sales for the worldâs most iconic hybrid are up 50 percent on April 2009. Itâs hardly unexpected: The launch of the third generation 2010 Prius last summer and growing awareness of green cars seem to have...
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Toyota Prius Pedal Repair: Letters Go Out, Here's How It WorksWe've written several times about the accelerator-pedal recall for 2004-2009 Toyota Prius models. While plans for the recall were announced last fall, now Toyota has sent out letters inviting Prius owners to bring their cars in to dealers for the update. The recall came after it was discovered that...
John Voelcker -
Chinese Electric Carmaker BYD Loves LA Too, For U.S. OfficesWhile Chinese car company BYD exhibited its E6 all-electric crossover at the Detroit Auto Show last January, they've otherwise been fairly quite of late. Now comes word that the company has chosen downtown Los Angeles as the location for its U.S. headquarters. Friday, California governor Arnold...
John Voelcker -
VIDEO: Driving Tips For Hybrid Cars (Toyota Prius Included)Do you know when to accelerate your Prius "as though there's an eggshell between your foot and the pedal," and when to move away briskly? If you do, you may already be an experienced Prius driver. If not, we have just the video for you. In less than four minutes, our editor goes through some of the...
John Voelcker -
VIDEO: Five Things About Hybrid Cars That You Should KnowDo you know the difference between a mild hybrid like a 2010 Honda Insight, and a full hybrid like the 2010 Toyota Prius? Or what happens to all hybrid vehicles when the weather gets cold? If you do, you're probably well versed in green cars, and you may already be a hybrid vehicle owner. If not...
John Voelcker -
Ford Hybrids: Tough Enough To Be Police Cars in New York CityAs New York City works aggressively to reduce its carbon footprint and cut exhaust emissions, it has encouraged large fleets to switch to hybrids. From utility ConEd to the fleets of yellow cabs, more and more hybrids are showing up on city streets. The latest large fleet to go greener is the New...
John Voelcker -
Ah, yes, it must be about time for another outburst of Prius stereotyping. Three, two, one ... there! Did you hear it? Over there, in the slightly shrill tones of the ever-shrinking but still testy New York Observer (still printed on orange paper, so Nineties)? The paper attempted to survey New York City Toyota Prius owners as to whether or not they were concerned about the car's purported "life-threatening flaws," which have given the "ultimate cuddly totem of the smug liberal elite" an "ominous aura practically overnight." (For more details, see our guide to Toyota Prius sudden acceleration...
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Five Myths About Electric Cars, Courtesy of ThinkLast Thursday was the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and the CEO of one electric-car maker took the occasion to speak out on some of the popular myths around the manufacturing and use of electric vehicles. Richard Canny, who runs the recently refinanced Think, published a list of "top 10 EV myths...
John Voelcker -
Earth Day Special: The 'Hybridest' Green Cities in the U.S.Today is Earth Day, and in honor of that event--it started 40 years ago as a nationwide teach-in on environmental issues--we bring you a list of the greenest cities in the United States. It's not actually our list; it comes from Cars.com, which based its ranking on the percentage of car shoppers...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai Plans Prius-Fighter Hybrid Hatchback, Lithium BatteryThe hybrid wars look like they're heating up, with aggressive challenger Hyundai planning a dedicated hybrid that takes direct aim at the iconic Toyota Prius. The company is "studying" a unique hybrid vehicle, one that shares no body panels with an existing model, according to Miles Johnson...
John Voelcker -
Preview: 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In HybridWhile the Toyota Prius is the world's most popular hybrid vehicle--with well over 1.5 million sold globally since 1997--it's become almost an accepted part of the automotive landscape. And with plug-in vehicles seen as the next big thing, will the Prius fade away? Not if Toyota has anything to say...
John Voelcker -
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid Drive Report: The Invisible Plug-In?One of the nice things about being part of a larger network is access to other sites' content. In this case, we're pleased to be able to point ACE readers toward a drive report of a prototype 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid from our sister site GreenCarReports.com. The 2012 Prius Plug-In will be...
John Voelcker -
The other shoe has dropped: Yesterday, two U.S. government agencies jointly announced the final fuel-economy rules for model year 2012 through 2016 vehicles, giving automakers a single national set of standards and averting the threat of state-by-state regulation. Starting with 2012, automakers must improve the fleet average fuel economy of their light-duty vehicles (cars, crossovers, SUVs, light vans, and pickup trucks) by roughly 5 percent each year, reducing tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases by 5 percent at the same time. 2016 average: 34.1 MPG Across the entire industry, the combined...
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U.S. DoT Asks Scientists, NASA To Probe Toyota AccelerationIn the face of continuing suggestions that random electronic interference may be causing unintended acceleration in the Toyota Prius and other vehicles, the U.S. Department of Transportation has asked for independent studies on the topic from two scientific organizations. Despite multiple recalls...
John Voelcker -
Future Mazda Hybrids To Use Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive TechnologyMazda has long been known for its high-efficiency, fun-to-drive gasoline engines. It's also developing diesels. But the company had little ongoing research in hybrid and electric cars aside from its unusual hydrogen rotary hybrid research vehicle. Now the mystery of where Mazda will find that...
John Voelcker -
With Initial EV Prices High, Is Conversion an Option?Early this week, Mitsubishi announced that the U.K. purchase price of the 2010 i-MiEV would be a hefty £33,699 ($50,465). With prices for plug-in vehicles on the high side for the foreseeable future, is conversion a better solution for drivers who don't want to wait to plug in? Granted, the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
DoE Says No, Denies Secretive Startup V-Vehicle Loan RequestLooks like secretive startup V-Vehicle Co. won't be joining Ford, Nissan, Tesla, and Fisker in getting government guarantees for low-interest loans to invest in advanced vehicle technology. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Energy turned down a $321.1 million loan application by V-Vehicle (VVC)...
John Voelcker -
Story of Runaway Toyota Prius Questioned by NHTSA and ToyotaMore issues are surfacing in regards to the runaway Prius story from last week involving momentary celebrity James Sikes, whose runaway incident in a 2008 Toyota Prius made headlines for days. Last week, Jalopnik reported on the financial troubles of Sikes, who filed for bankruptcy in 2008. The...
Eric Loveday -
We thought we should provide a short update on two highly publicized so-called "runaway Toyota Prius" cases, one in San Diego and one in Harrison, New York. The reputed phenomenon of "sudden acceleration" has been debated at least since a 1986 controversy around the Audi 5000 model. But the two recent cases involving Toyota Prius models appear to exonerate the cars. Instead, the fault may lie with the drivers. 90 mph in San Diego In the first incident, a 61-year-old real estate agent, James Sikes, claimed to highway patrol officers that his 2008 Toyota Prius had suddenly accelerated and sped...
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The Punching Bag Hits Back: Prius Crash Was Driver Error, Toyota SaysFew automotive engineers believe in so-called "sudden acceleration". But until recently, there's been no way to determine what a driver what doing when he (or she) swears that he was pressing the brake pedal with all his strength even as the car accelerated. Now, that's changed. Federal...
John Voelcker -
Ask AAP: Is Sunroof Available on 2010 Prius V Trim Level?Our reader Javier M writes: I'm 99 percent convinced I want a Prius. However, there is one question: Does the "Prius V Model" come with a regular sunroof standard (within the $28,875 price)? I want to purchase the "basic" Prius V, but I do not wish to get any major upgrades (no navigation, etc)...
John Voelcker -
St. Patrick's Day Special: The Most Popular Cars Painted GreenWe write a lot about green cars, here at GreenCarReports.com. Surprise, right? Now our partner TrueCar has provided some data about which cars are greenest. That is, which cars are most often ordered in the color green. Consider this our automotive celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Lá Fhéile...
John Voelcker -
The Strange Saga of Sikes and His Suddenly Accelerating PriusAs we've noted before, so-called sudden acceleration is a confusing, messy, and very uncertain subject. Now a certain San Diego citizen seems to be caught in the cross-hairs of media scrutiny over what is and isn't technically possible in a Toyota Prius--let alone smart to do--if the driver claims...
John Voelcker -
Green-Car Tip: Hybrid Vehicles Get Discounts, Incentives TooWhile the auto industry in general offers an average incentive of more than $1,000 off the sticker price of any new vehicle, many buyers somehow assume this doesn't apply to hybrids. Oh, but it does. You can get money off pretty much any hybrid out there at the moment, since gasoline prices are far...
John Voelcker