One of the complaints with the super-silent Toyota Prius (thanks to its hybrid configuration) is that pedestrians often fail to hear oncoming Priuses. (Yeah, whatever happened to stop and look in the stop-look-listen heuristic?)

Cases have been reported of near-collisions and actual collisions involving these silent Priuses and Toyota has finally taken action by creating a noisy-making device for the car.

Toyota has started to roll out these devices in japan in hopes of warning pedestrians of the sound since Priuses run are considered “near-silent” when running at low speeds in response to the Japanese government’s guidelines on hybrid noise.

The speaker, mounted, emits a sound which varies pitch depending on the vehicle’s running speed. Why just can’t they simulate a sound of a V12 monster, instead of a (what we assume) as a whiny noise.

Probably this is where the Nissan Leaf will trump them since the Leaf’s noise-making device simulates a airplane’s turbine.

Speaking of Toyota RWD coupes, the Japanese giant is rumored to be developing a new “baby” sports two-door hot hatch that will serve as the company’s tribute to recently-departed chief test driver, Hiromu Naruse.

The car is based on the GRMN Hot Hatch Concept that was unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this year. The car is expected to be slotted below the FT-86 though Toyota is intent on creating a small fun car.

Naruse wanted to develop a car that’s cheap but fun and a small front-engine rear-wheel drive car just fits the bill. The FT-86 was designed to replace the iconic AE86 street racer with the same configuration.

The new car will be based on the Aygo platform and will feature a 1.5L engine from Daihatsu. Power will be sent to the rear wheels.

We can all just hope that it doesn’t trash the FT-86 in market share. Cannibalism is most likely if Toyota comes out with a fun front-engine RWD drift machine earlier than the release of the FT-86.

It took quite a while before Subaru finally came out with their version of the revival of street icon AE86 but at least Subaru has finally revealed a more definite picture of what’s in store for the Toyobaru fans.

And it’s not one of those dimmed out teaser images as well probably because the car’s not as butt-ugly as the most recent Impreza incarnation.

The FT-86 is co-developed with Subaru which meant the two companies will have their own versions of the RWD street racer. The FT-86 uses a naturally-aspirated version of the 2.0L boxer engine that dishes out 200 bhp but Subie’s intent on getting a bit more kick out of the car by upping the power output by 60 bhp most probably gained through a turbo.

It would be interesting to see how the car fares especially since the car will remain RWD since Subie has ruled out using its 4WD system. The added complexity and weight contributed by the 4WD system might just rob the car of its performance.

Toyota head honcho Akio Toyoda said that he’s okay with reviving the Supra warhorse though claims that there might be some opposition from some in the company.

The Supra had been Toyota’s sports GT car until the company opted to stop its production in 2002. The company then refocused on producing mass production people cars.

However, Toyota’s giving sports cars another take this time around with the development of the Subaru-co-developed FT-86/FRS replacement for the old RWD AE86. A new MR2 is also under development.

The Supra’s scheduled for a 2013/2014 launch and is on track. The new car will most likely pack a V6 hybrid powertrain.

Here’s the other effed up bit for today – Toyota’s chief tester, Hiromu Naruse, was killed in a head-on collision at the Nurburgring.

Naruse was driving a Lexus LFA Nurburgring Edition when he collided head on with a BMW driven by a test driver. The BMW driver and passenger were seriously hurt in the crash. (No jokes about BMW safety.)

Naruse entered Toyota in 1963 as part of the testing division and had been involved with the company’s motor sport arm since the 70s.

He was involved in the development of mass-production sports cars like the 2000GT and the MR-S. Naruse was 67.

Tragic day for motoring this.

Source: Autocar

Toyota should make up its mind when naming their vehicles. A good brand name can make all the difference. A three-letter designation can work at times but there can be value in something that people can say with ease.

The FT-86 is a handful to say so any name other than that can be a welcome change. The 86 part is a nod to the legendary street classic AE86 (known as the Corolla GT, Corolla Levin, Trueno Sprinter) so that part actually lends something to the name.

Toyota’s planning on rehashing the name to FR-S. It has a nice roll to it when saying those three words and as initials they stand for front-rear sport (front-engined, rear-wheel drive sports car).

Toyota’s latest move to patent the name in the US signifies the probability of the name used to badge FT-86s for the US market.

Some might not like it but I guess for all it’s worth, FR-S can work.

Source: Motor Authority

Shoring up consumer trust in the brand seems like Toyota’s priority for now. So as part of its effort to gain more customers, the company will start offering five-year warranties for its vehicles as standard in the UK.

Toyota started offering it as an incentive a few months back and Toyota has decided to make it standard starting June 1. To add even more spice to the deal, buyers can choose between the lengthy warranty or 3 years free service.

Still, there’s a 100,000-mile catch with the warranty. The coverage ceases whichever comes first.

“Our new five-year warranty is tangible evidence of our commitment to quality and to our customers – both those who are loyal to the brand, and those who are considering switching to Toyota for their next car,” said Toyota GB director Miguel Fonseca.

Toyota has to claw its way back to consumer preference after a streak of reliability and safety issues involving a sticky throttle. Toyota recalled more than 8 million vehicles due to the fault.

Hyundai made a killing last year despite the sales crash thanks to clever marketing campaigns such as buy-back programs and free gas. Hyundai is also among those who offer at least five years warranty.

For those who are keen on having Toyota’s latest sport offering in the guise of the FT-86, then you might have to wait a tad longer as the company decided to delay its release until 2013, two years later than its intended 2011 release.

The FT-86 has been heralded as the replacement for the iconic AE86/Trueno Sprinter/Corolla Levin/Corolla GT car that has made its name as a budget RWD drift machine.

The new car was co-developed with Subaru and packs Subie’s four-cylinder boxer engine. The car might be considered “underpowered” but Toyota has put work on lightweightedness to give it a better power-to-weight ratio. It retains the classic RWD layout.

Scuttlebutt has it that the delay was to see if Honda’s latest sports hybrid – the CRZ – will fare well in the market. The CR-Z is considered to be an FT-86 rival despite the CR-Z being a hybrid.

Toyota has done quite a good job in shoring up their sales numbers despite the massive recall due to safety issues that the company had to undergo. Thanks to incentives such as zero-percent financing and lease deals.

However, these deals are slowly running out of gas and Toyota now has a tough job ahead to win back those customers who have simply lost faith in the brand. Toyota sales fell 16% from March to April and surveys reveal that many new buyers are skipping Toyota as a choice.

“The deck has been reshuffled,” James Bell, an analyst with Kelley Blue Book, told MSNBC. “There’s permanent damage there. It’s not fatal, but it changes the game. This makes Toyota compete in a way they haven’t in 25 years.”

This, perhaps, calls for a massive brand overhaul. At this rate Volkswagen should be feeling pretty confident that it has a fighting chance pipping Toyota for the top spot while other contenders like Hyundai and perhaps the Chinese brands now see an opportunity to get a larger share of the market.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration deemed it fit to slap a $16.4 million fine on Toyota’s mess with the throttle recall. In a quick move, Toyota announced that it will be paying the fine.

“We agreed to this settlement in order to avoid a protracted dispute and possible litigation, as well as to allow us to move forward fully-focused on the steps to strengthen our quality assurance operations,” Toyota said in a statement.

Toyota, however, claims that the payment is not an admission of any violation of the Safety Act and its implementing regulations.

“We believe we made a good faith effort to investigate this condition and develop an appropriate counter-measure. We have acknowledged that we could have done a better job of sharing relevant information within our global operations and outside the company, but we did not try to hide a defect to avoid dealing with a safety problem.”

The recall involved more than 8 million vehicles worldwide due to sticking accelerator pedals.

Believe it or not, Toyota is now seeing a “dramatic” sales boost on a year-on-year comparison. This is after the company recalled near millions of vehicles world wide for safety issues.

Toyota saw growth in key markets with its sales figures rising 41% in the US and 41% in Japan. Toyota claims that their new sales tactics which include discount leases and zero-interest loans are to credit for their strong sales.

This somehow shows how a lot of people still trust Toyota as a brand despite its safety woes of late. The recalls, which involved many models in Toyota’s fleet for the past decade, were due to unintended acceleration and brake failures.

Toyota was fined by the US federal government a record $16 million for safety issues.

Who can ever forget these cute little cars from Toyota. The Aygo, unlike the Toyotas of recent years, have proven to be quite the small, tough, and dependable cars. Remember how Top Gear played with these for some car football (soccer) action?

This here’s a special edition Toyota Aygo dubbed the Toyota Aygo Black. It is essentially an Aygo+ car with some added styling. It gets Alcantara and leather upholstery, a leather steering wheel, and black paint. The car also sits on 14-inch alloys which huge when used on a car as small as an Aygo.

The car is powered by a wee 1L VVT-i gasoline engine but gives great fuel economy. The car’s rated to go 62.6 miles to the gallon while emitting just 106 g/km of C)2.

The limited edition version will be available both as three- and five-door models.

The Toyota-Subaru co-developed FT-86 will get to production phase by 2012 and will enter the UK market with a price tag of sub-£20,000 for the entry-level model.

The car is powered by a 2.0L boxer engine adapted from Subaru’s flat-four. While it doesn’t dish out as much torque and power to rotate the earth, but the key to the car’s performance is its size and weight.

The car’s pretty standard though. RWD with a six-speed manual. However, the key in the car is its waif-like weight tipping the scales at 1250 kg. For drift lovers out there, the car’s proper limited slip differential combined with its RWD layout might just be enough for some sideways action.

As far as sports coupes go, the car’s no bigger than an Audi TT. Don’t be fooled by the images, the lines actually make it look larger than it really is. Rumors have it that the shell might not be the one going into production.

The travesty that is the biblical amount of recalled Toyota vehicles are placing stress on all levels of the Toyota chain. Toyota dealers are getting quite irate with Toyota in the midst of all the mess that the Japanese giant is making them go through.

Dealerships are at the very least unhappy with how things are getting handled and expressed their sentiments at a National Automobile Dealers Association convention.

“There’s a goddamned gap in communication,” says Mike Sullivan, an LA Toyota dealer.

Such sentiments were caused by the apparent lack of discussions between Toyota execs and their dealership network. Many of the dealerships were caught unawares that they’d be expecting a deluge of vehicles that needed the accelerator fix.

All the while Toyota announced that the dealerships will be ready to take on the affected customers.

Tsk tsk tsk, Toyota.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

Toyota’s recalls should now have been categorized as WTF! moments because Toyota’s sinking in a sea of crap right now. I’ve been a Toyota fan all my life and plan to get a Toyota as my next car. But after all of this, I’m considering other brands.

Toyota announced a worldwide recall of its hybrids that would involve 400,000 vehicles including the Prius, the Sai sedan and the Lexus HS250h.

The recall is due to brake problem. The brakes are said to go out when driving over a bump. This was identified as caused by the delay when switching from regenerative braking to conventional braking.

The other massive ongoing recall that involves 8 million vehicles is due to an accelerator pedal problem that causes the pedal to stick and cause unintended acceleration.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda has publicly apologized for the string of issues that plagued his company just these couple of months.

When you got a bad year, you got a bad year. That seems pretty applicable to what Toyota is experiencing now. The company has already recalled a massive 8.1 million vehicles due to the sticking throttle pedal problem.

Now, it is now mulling another recall for its prized Toyota hybrid due to a brake problem. The problem is said to cause brake failure when vehicles encounter bumps on the road. Co-founder Steve Wozniak experienced the same thing in his Prius and suggested that it was a software glitch.

Toyota now claims that it is indeed a software glitch that’s causing the problem. 270,000 Priuses in both US and Japan markets are affected by this problem.

The Japanese giant, known in the industry for building tough and reliable cars, has suffered greatly from this round of recalls. Officials claim that the company is working hard to fix the problems and hopes to restore trust in the brand.

Source: The Detroit News

So your car happens to be part of the recall and Toyota’s taking too long to fix your car. Paranoid that your pedal will get stuck (and you’ll die in an anecdote) but can’t leave your car at home?

Toyota’s already shopping the reinforcement parts to fix the throttle pedal issue but dealerships will only be able to start repairs by the weekend. So for the mean time, take caution if you need to take your Toyota out.

A Toyota certified technician informs CNN of a few simple steps to help you deal with a stuck pedal in your Toyota.

1. Shift the transmission to neutral
2. Turn off the ignition switch
3. Apply the brakes and pull over

Take note that the power steering also cuts off if the engine’s cut off so expect the steering to get heavy when you do so. If your car happens to have a starter button instead of keys, just press on the button for more than 3 seconds to cut the power.

Might not be the perfect stop-gap measure but it sure beats the heck out of dying in twisted metal.

Source: CNN

Eureka! Toyota engineers have finally found a permanent fix for the accelerator pedal issue that prompted the company to recall millions of cars worldwide and halt sales of select models.

Finding the permanent fix was quick (maybe because Toyota execs held their engineers’ feet over flames) but the decision to actually make the fix permanent has been done a lot of damage to Toyota’s credibility already.

The problem was caused by parts of the pedal experienced excessive friction at times causing it to stick. The permanent fix involves adding a steel reinforcement bar to the assembly.

Toyota is already shipping parts for the fix to US dealerships and has already begun training mechanics to apply the fix. Toyota claims that some dealerships will be open 24 hours a day to make sure owners whose cars are affect will get the fix quick.

The thing with business is it really is a dog-eat-dog world. Falter and your competitors would be more than happy to kick you while you’re down.

Toyota might be the biggest automaker today after GM went bust but it might not be able to hold on to the title for long. Especially with mighty Volkswagen eating away at the lead and, of course, in the light of one of the biggest recalls in history.

An accelerator problem prompted Toyota to recall millions of vehicles worldwide. The company even halted US sales of select models until its engineers figure out a permanent solution to the problem.

Ready to pick on the wounded giant are GM, Ford, Chrysler and Hyundai who are offering Toyota customers incetives on trade-ins.

Chrysler is offering $1,000 bonus for Tundra, Tacoma, and Sienna owners who’d want to get any new Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge or Ram. A similar $1,000 offer is made by Hyundai for any new takers of a Sonata, Elanta, and Elantra Touring.

Call it honor, but Toyota’s biggest Japanese rival Honda which has been permanently trying to pip Toyota’s model range, takes the high road in not trying to steal Toyota’s customers in such a manner.

That 2.3 million recall would surely hit Toyota hard. That’s on top of 4.3 million that they previously announced.

Sales of the RAV4, Matrix, Camry, Corolla, Avalon, Highlander, Tundra, and Sequioa are all suspended until they can figure out the accelerator pedal problem that has caused the massive recalls.

Toyota initially announced that removing the driver side matting surrounding the pedals is a temporary fix but it appears that the issue is with the accelerator mechanism. Reports of collissions and injuries have already been filed prompting the initial recall.

Just when Toyota is trying to position itself to make a profit this year. Looks like Volkswagen will surely be happy to trim away at Toyota’s lead as the world’s biggest automaker.

For a Toyota fan, this surely is a disheartening. We could all just hope that Toyota gets its act together.

No doubt about it, I’m a Toyota fan. Their mass-production cars might not be the slickest ones to drive for fun, but they will get you around. And they’re virtually indestructible. Selling my old Corolla and swapping it with my now junk of a Sentra has got to be one of the biggest mistakes I’ve made.

But thanks to the accelerator problem that affects 4.3 million vehicles, Toyota’s reputation of dependability has now been tarnished quite badly.

Now, Toyota announced that it will be recalling around 2.3 million vehicles in the US to fix the problem. Mind you that this is separate from the initial 4.3 million that they’ve already recalled last year. Toyota claimed that it was initially a floor mat problem but reports have been sent in that the accelerator pedals keep sticking even without the mats.

The vehicles included in this round of recall: 2005-’10 Avalon, 2007-’10 Camry , 2009-’10 Corolla, 2010 Highlander, 2009-’10 Matrix, 2009-’10 RAV4, 2008-’10 Sequoia and 2007-’10 Tundra.

US owners can call Toyota at 800-331-4331.

And this is why we believe that Toyota will come out with the Prius sub-brand real soon. With hybrid concepts coming quite quick and plenty, that’s the only reasonable any sane person can have.

Meet the Toyota GRMN Sports Hybrid concept. This isn’t any small cutesy car like the Toyota FT-HC concept either. It’s a two-seater four-wheel drive hybrid based on the MR2 platform.

It packs a mid-mounted 3.3L V6 paired with Toyota’s THSII hybrid. According to Toyota’s numbers that gives the car a whopping 392bhp.

The car can probably still be a fun drive as the V6 power will be channeled to the rear wheels while the electric motor will be powering the front. Maybe the car will still be able to kick its backside out with a certain way of driving.

The car’s pretty lightweight too at 1500kg which reports say would allow the car to travel from 0 – 60 mph in just under 4.5 seconds. That’s almost Audi R8 V8 country! Looks like the Honda CR-Z will face some very stiff competition from Toyota.

Now if only the car is as fun to drive as the Toyota classics.

Aggression and Prius don’t really come together quite nicely. Being the supposed champion of hybrids, the Prius has earned a reputation as a pootling pansy of a hybrid. But what if you slap on a wicked body kit to it?

This here’s the Toyota Prius G Sports Concept. The G Sports badge is Toyota’s new lineup of tuning accessories. And would you look at that. It’s looks sporty enough to go toe-to-toe with that new Honda CR-Z. Not the Mugen one though.

No changes are made to the powertrain but the car gets a bit of a treatment in other regards. The car now sits on lowered suspensions (30mm lower) and sports new sports brakes.

As for the external styling, the car boasts of a rear wing, rear wheel covers, side skirts, carbon fiber mirrors, a new rear bumper, twin exhausts, and a new exhaust system. What all of that does to the car, we have no real idea. It’s not like you can go past 150 mph with that powertrain.

Inside you get aRecaro seats, leather steering wheels, a new dash and a G Sports badge on the shifter.

Still, all of that doesn’t really cover up the fact that it’s a Prius underneath.

Source: Autocar

So we already know that the Prius will be a sub-brand and the FT-HC hybrid concept car that Toyota showcased in Detroit is a very good indication that the Japanese giant is keen on expanding its fleet of hybrid vehicles.

Toyota US sales director Jim Lentz says that they think that the Prius wil be a bigger draw than its current model offerings in the US. For the longest time, the Toyota logo has been synonymous to Camry in the US.

“There are more models planned and FT-CH is a concept that we are considering. I think in the future the number one nameplate in the US will be Prius, not Camry,” said Lentz.

You have to hand it to Toyota. By being the first one to mass produce a hybrid, they’ve gotten pretty deep into people’s consciousness and sensibilities as far as green cars are concerned. To a degree Prius is the first car in people’s minds when it comes to hybrids.

Now that’s branding.

Source: Autocar

Here we are again with those pesky teasers and teaser pics. This time, it’s Toyota with their all-new hybrid.

It’s part of the whole drum banging build up to the concept’s debut at the Detroit motor show next year. Aside from a few pics and that announcement, Toyota hasn’t released anything else.

Judging by the picture, it could very well be a small car and possibly be based on the smallest four-door car, the iQ.

Toyota announced way back that it is intent on creating a sub-brand for the Prius much like Scion.

We just sure hope that Toyota doesn’t