Toyota posted a surprisingly large $2.2 billion profit for their fiscal year, which concluded on March 31 2010. The amount was a massive improvement over their previous annual net total, a 437 billion yen loss.

Many of Toyota’s most popular vehicles have been the center of attention due to accusations of malfunctioning acceleration, braking, and steering mechanisms. Several lawsuits have already been filed against the company by consumers and shareholders, while the automaker has had to pay a $16.4 million fine levied by the U.S. government.

Source: WorldCarFans

Toyota’s 4Runner, which is build on the same frame as GX 460, will have a special eye kept on it during testing. Although, during the same run, Consumer Reports did not find the same issues with 4Runner. This may be because 4Runner’s body is wider then it’s Lexus twin. This announcement follows a recall of 600,000 Toyota Minivans.

“Toyota said it is testing stability-control systems on all of its SUVs and that it has had no complaints from customers in regards to the problems stated by Consumer Reports. According to the magazine’s testers, the slow reaction of the vehicle’s electronic stability control system when a driver takes it around a corner while quickly lifting off the throttle can lead to a situation called “lift oversteer,” which in conjunction with the vehicle’s weight and tire specification can potentially lead to a rollover.”

Via: Motor Authority

But mounting speculation against Mr. Sikes and this negative test result only adds insult to the case against this possible new Ballon Boy. Or was this all the media’s fault? According to Fox News, and this hilarious yet completely serious clip, this all might be:

In the end, we may never actually know if Sikes was full of it, or that his Prius really did try to kill him. Everyone has their opinion, and Toyota, of course, disagrees with his claims:

While a final report is not yet complete, there are strong indications that the driver’s account of the event is inconsistent with the findings of the preliminary analysis.
The investigation revealed the following initial findings:
• The accelerator pedal was tested and found to be working normally with no
mechanical binding or friction. It should be noted that the Prius is not subject to a recall for sticking accelerator pedals and the Prius component is made by a different supplier than the one recalled.
• The front brakes showed severe wear and damage from overheating. The rear brakes and parking brake were in good condition and functional.
• A Toyota carpeted floor mat of the correct type for the vehicle was installed but not secured to the retention hooks. It was not found to be interfering or even touching the accelerator pedal.
• The pushbutton power switch worked normally and shut the vehicle off when depressed for 3 seconds as the 911 operator advised Mr. Sikes to do.
• The shift lever also worked normally and neutral could be selected. The neutral position is clearly marked and can be easily engaged by moving the lever left to the “N” marking.
• There were no diagnostic trouble codes found in the power management computer, nor was the dashboard malfunction indicator light activated. The hybrid self- diagnostic system did show evidence of numerous, rapidly repeated on-and- off applications of both the accelerator and the brake pedals.
• After examination of individual components, the front brakes were replaced and the vehicle was test driven, during which the vehicle was observed to be functioning normally.
• During testing, the brakes were purposely abused by continuous light application in order to overheat them. The vehicle could be safely stopped by means of the brake pedal, even when overheated.

You can’t let the public think for a second that there’s a shadow of a doubt you’re full of s–t. Rumors began from the moment a CHiPs officer saved “runaway Prius” driver James Sikes that he was faking the entire event. 911 calls from whens he supposedly traveled at 90+ MPH down a San Diego highway didn’t help Sikes case – an operator had to instruct him how to use the emergency brake.

Is a dumb driver enough to make claims he was lying? No…but other facts surfacing are not helping his case. Mr. Sikes is somewhere around $700,000 in debt, bankrupt, and 5 months behind on payments with his Toytoa Prius. James and his wife, Patty, who were both in charge of a failed real estate firm, filed for bankruptcy in June of 2008. Sikes ALSO has an apparent history of items in his possession being stolen, followed by insurance claims (see pic above).

And now the oddest part of James Sikes’ story: a search of California Business Records shows the company Adutlswinglife LLC is owned by a Mr. James Sikes. The company operatesAdultSwingLife.com, which advertises that it supports “The Adult lifestyle, wife swapping, hook-up, Swinger clubs, adult social club, booty call, Friends with Benefits, NASCA” with web chats, message boards and other services. Sign us up, Mr. Sikes!

Sources: Jalop 1 | Jalop 2

To keep things fair, Ross and the ABC team went back to redo the Toyota test – at least part of it. He took a shot of the tachometer from a different test-drive – then edited that footage back into the original piece. Now don’t get me wrong – this blogger once owned an early 2000’s Avalon and believe me, it had more than one unexplained revving/acceleration issue. But with all the dismay surrounding our favorite Japanese auto maker they shouldn’t need any help from their own personal devil, Brian Ross.

The video above is an ABC News online official feed, which now seems to have completely edited out all of the Tach Shots. Gawker Media talked to ABC rep Jeffrey Schneider and when they asked why different tachometer shots were used: he paused for at least five seconds. Then he said, “I don’t know how that would happen. The tachometer was surging during each test we did, and the video is an accurate portrayal of what happened in the car to the tachometer.”

No one (ie: Gawker or Toyotapedia.org) are accusing Ross, ABC or anyone else of faking the test. But we’d love to see a redo where the actual proposed experiment was carried out fully on video. I mean, it’s not like this story is going away anytime soon…unfortunately for Toyota .

Via About Lawsuits: A new Toyota recall has been issued for approximately 8,000 Toyota Tacoma 4WD trucks from the 2010 model year, as they may have defective drive shafts that could cause drivers to lose control of the pick-up trucks. The vehicles will join millions of Toyota and Lexus vehicles recalled in recent months over issues like brake problems and uncontrolled acceleration, which have been linked to dozens of deaths.

The Toyota Tacoma recall was issued over a manufacturing problem that the auto maker indicates could have caused cracks in the front drive shaft of some of the vehilcles. The cracks could cause the driveshaft to separate and fall from the truck, leading to a loss of control and potential accidents that could cause serious injury or death.

Affected drivers are being asked to bring their vehicles into Toyota dealerships for inspection to ensure their drive shafts show no signs of fracture. Toyota officials say the inspections should take about 10 minutes. The 2010 Toyota Tacoma 4WD trucks affected by the recall were manufactured between December 2009 and early this month.

Last week, the Japanese auto maker announced a Toyota Prius recall and Lexus HS250h recall that affected approximately 437,000 hybrid vehicles sold this year, as a software glitch could cause drivers to experience brake failure.

In September 2009, a Lexus and Toyota floor mat recall was issued for 3.8 million vehicles that contained certain all-weather floor mats, which Toyota indicated could get stuck under the gas pedals, causing unintended acceleration. In January, Toyota issued another recall for 2.3 million Toyota vehicles due to a mechanical problem that was causing some gas pedals to stick.

At least 34 deaths have been associated with the Toyota sudden acceleration problem, according to the most recent data submitted to a database maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Thirteen of those deaths were reported to the government over the last three weeks.

The acceleration problem gained national attention following a fatal accident in California in August, where an off-duty state trooper and three family members were killed while driving a Lexus ES 350 on loan from a San Diego dealership. Minutes before the fatal Lexus crash, passengers called police and reported that the Lexus had accelerated to 120 m.p.h. Witnesses reported that the car’s tires were on fire, which was likely due to the driver slamming on the brakes before slamming into an SUV, falling off an embankment, rolling over multiple times and bursting into flames.

The Toyota accelerator pedal recalls have resulted in more than 60 Toyota lawsuits, including over a dozen wrongful death and personal injury claims.

Engineers with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have given their approval to a Toyota plan to fix vehicles that may be subject to sudden, uncontrolled acceleration. The problem has been linked to 19 deaths and roughly 2,000 complaints, leading the world’s largest automaker to recall nearly 2.5 million vehicles while halting production on eight models.

* 2005-2010 Avalon
* some 2007-2010 Camrys
* 2009-2010 Corolla
* 2010 Highlander
* 2009-2010 Matrix
* 2009-2010 RAV4
* 2008-2010 Sequoia
* 2007-2010 Tundra

The Source: WorldCarFans

The vehicles in question are:

2009-2010 RAV4,
2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
Certain 2007-2010 Camry
2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-2010 Sequoia

Worse than this, several assembly lines in charge of producing said autos will also take a pause, while this Toyota-Fire-Starter is looked into:

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Canada (Corolla, Matrix, and RAV4)
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (Sequoia and Highlander)
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky – Line 1 (Camry and Avalon)
Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (Camry)
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (Tundra)

Sources: Jalopnik | YouTube

Toyota “Recall” Will End Up Being a Positive For Brand

Toyota yesterday instructed 3.8 million vehicle owners to take the floor mats out of their cars, trucks and SUVs.

News reports to the contrary, Toyota is officially calling this a “safety advisory” and says it has not yet issued a recall. But it’s more like a directive in real life.

“Sudden Acceleration” is the reason for the action. It turns out there have been a few cases of people suddenly accelerating out of control with some fatal consequences because the mat got caught up in the accelerator pedal.

“Sudden Acceleration” is a scary terrible phrase in the auto industry. Worse than “gas taxes” to American drivers. Audi took a beating in the late 1980s and 1990s after CBS’s Sixty Minutes gave a spotlight to some trial lawyers whose clients had claimed “sudden acceleration” was to blame for some accidents. Audi issued denials. But the story dragged on. Investigations were done. There was never any finding that a design or engineering flaw in an Audi was to blame. Yet, enormous damage was done to Audi sales and the brand. It has only been in the last five years or so that people have let the false charges of sudden acceleration drift into the archives of their memories.

Today, Audi vehicles are world-class competitors to Mercedes, BMW and Lexus, and the brand is one of the fastest growing in the category worldwide.

Toyota has had some recalls for engine sludge, bad ball joints, etc. Its own management has admitted that it grew too fast, especially in the U.S., and took its eye off the ball in terms of quality amidst all that growth.

The last thing the company needed to do in this sales-challenged economy was deny any responsibility. And easy for them, all they have to do is tell the owners to take the factory-issued mats out of the vehicles. My belief is that while it is the single biggest “directive” of its kind, the act of dealing with it straight-up will be a plus for Toyota. Even better would be if they came up with a fix to the problem: anchored mats. Then, they could give everybody nice clean, new mats that don’t bunch up.

I have to straighten out the mats in my own cars from time to time because they ride up into the pedal area. It’s common sense. But assuming common sense is wide spread is a dangerous thing to do.

Now, the search goes on to see what company has the smartest mat design that prevents the problem. Then, let every automaker copy that good design, eh?