Toyota Explains Throttle Control System on Video

Toyota PR Machine Finally Gearing Up

Toyota has made two critical errors over the last 6 months. First, Toyota (admittedly) dragged their feet on a series of floor mat and accelerator pedal recalls. Second, when the “sticky pedal” recall hit, Toyota’s PR machine responded terribly. It was as if Toyota tried to do the exact opposite of the right move. They responded slowly. They avoided making a statement. They acted as if the problem would “go away” if they ignored it.

Things have changed. Now that some time has gone by, Toyota’s media team is starting to churn out some great work. Read more…

Toyota’s Legal Troubles, Independent Testing, and Little Black Boxes

This promises to be a tough week for Toyota. While they’ve finally gotten their PR team in gear, the CEO of the company (Akio Toyoda) is going to be testifying before congress and it’s not likely to go well. Toyoda’s not a confident English speaker, a lot of embarrassing facts have come out about Toyota, members of congress are going to be working hard to get a good anti-Toyota sound bite or two, and despite a mountain of evidence that Toyota’s unintended acceleration problem is completely overblown, mainstream media continues to harp on the issue. Here’s a break-down of what you can expect. Read more…

Toyota CEO Writes Op-Ed in Wall Street Journal

Akio Toyoda, scion of the Toyoda family (pun intended), has written an open letter to the Wall Street Journal. Here are the highlights: Read more…

Toyota’s New Tundra Deconstructed Ad Campaign

Here’s the concept: Toyota gives a new Tundra to an East Texas cattle ranch and says “do your worst.” Two years later, Toyota takes the truck back and studies it. Then, Toyota interviews the guys who drove the truck every day and ask them for their impressions. The results are three videos on YouTube that seem completely genuine, not to mention compelling.

Check out these Tundra Deconstructed Videos – very entertaining: Read more…

Four Wheeler Magazine Evaluates Tundra 4.6 For 2010 Truck of the Year

This year’s “Four Wheeler Magazine Pickup Truck of the Year” award competition was between the 2010 Tundra 4.6, the Ram 2500 Mega Cab, the Ram Power Wagon, and Ford’s F-150 Raptor. Surprisingly, Four Wheeler magazine’s trail-oriented award did NOT go to the Raptor [which, by the way, is an awesome truck]. Instead, Four Wheeler magazine chose the 3/4-ton Power Wagon as their favorite trail truck of 2010.

Four Wheeler magazine 2010 Truck of the Year Competition

While the Tundra earned fourth place, Four Wheeler magazine did point out that the competition wasn’t quite equal. The Tundra was the least powerful and least expensive truck in the group, and it was the only truck missing an off-road package (sort of essential for these off-road tests, but not available on a 4.6 Tundra). The rules of the comparison aren’t necessarily meant to create an apples-to-apples comparison, so it’s hard to find fault with any of the results. It’s highly unlikely anyone has all four of these trucks on their shopping list. Still, if you’re looking at a new Tundra, you might find some of their observations interesting. Read more…