All Entries in the "Auto News" Category
NHTSA Finally Acknowledges Finding No Fault With Toyota Throttles
After nearly a month of denials and anonymous statements, a NHTSA official reported to congress yesterday. From Automotive News (subscription required):
Brakes weren’t applied by drivers of Toyota vehicles in at least 35 of 58 crashes blamed on unintended acceleration, U.S. auto-safety regulators said after studying data recorders.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also saw no evidence of electronics-related causes for the accidents in reviewing the vehicle recorders, known as black boxes, the agency said today in a report to lawmakers.
…“At this early point in its investigation, NHTSA officials have drawn no conclusions about additional causes of unintended acceleration in Toyotas beyond the two defects already known — pedal entrapment and sticking gas pedals,”
Finally, the truth comes out, and we know who was lying about this data three weeks ago, and we know that Toyota’s throttles – as we have said all along – are just fine. Driver error is to blame.
NHTSA Blocking Release of Study Says Former Official
Last week, The Wall Street Journal interviewed recently retired National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) official George Person who alleges that:
- NHTSA’s investigation of so-called “runaway” Toyotas is complete
- After studying 40 alleged instances of sudden, unintended acceleration, NHTSA determined 23 of these reports were plausible
- After reading the engine data recorder in each of these 23 vehicles, EVERY recorder showed that the vehicle’s throttle was wide open at the time of the crash
If this former head of NHTSA’s recall division is correct, NHTSA’s study is done…and it has found that Toyota has no electronic throttle problems.
Tundra Sales Up 40% in July, 28.5% For The Year
Toyota’s July 2010 sales figures (released yesterday) show that the Tundra continues to sell at an above-average rate in 2010. This is a good sign – not only of the Tundra’s value, but that the pickup truck market continues to accelerate.
In fact, this might even be a sign that the economy is recovering. Some economists say that truck sales are tightly linked to construction, which is linked to investment. Who knows if this is true, but it’s a good thing to think about.
2014 Tundra – New Look, Bigger Gas Tank, But What Else?
In a Wall Street Journal article, the head engineer for the next-gen Toyota Tundra program offered some comments about what Toyota has planned for the new Tundra in 2014. You can read the article here.
We’ve decided that the best way to keep track of planned 2014 Tundra enhancement and upgrades is to create a page dedicated to the next-gen Tundra. Visit our new 2014 Toyota Tundra page to read about new features that the next Tundra will definitely have, features we think it will probably have, and features we’ve heard that it may have.
The new 2014 Tundra page will be updated regularly, so be sure to bookmark it!
Sequoia Rumored To Be On Life Support
Yesterday, PickupTrucks.com reported that the Sequoia will probably be cancelled at the end of the current model’s cycle. Intrigued, we made some calls and spoke to a few people who have been in the know in the past. While they agree that cancelling the Sequoia is both logical and probable, our Toyota sources say that this decision has yet to be made.
The reason? The Sequoia retains a significant chunk of the market – anywhere from 20-30%. Our sources say that Toyota is reluctant to walk away from any segment where they have a decent performer. You can see the numbers below for more info.
