plus 4, Toyota replacing 4 million faulty gas pedals - Star-Press

Toyota replacing 4 million faulty gas pedals - Star-Press
Tight economy forces some to stay home for holiday - San Francisco Chronicle
Toyota recalls gas pedals - Detroit Free Press
Toyota replacing gas pedals - Modesto Bee
Holiday travel under way, but millions are staying home this year amid ... - Newser

Toyota replacing 4 million faulty gas pedals - Star-Press

Posted: 26 Nov 2009 12:18 AM PST

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In a separate action, Toyota announced Tuesday that it would recall 110,000 Tundra trucks from the 2000-03 model years to address excessive rust on the vehicle's frame.

"Their reputation has taken a hit because the actual quality has taken a hit," said Aaron Bragman, an automotive analyst for the consulting firm IHS Global Insight. "That's absolutely critical for Toyota to get that fixed because that's the central pillar that they've built their business on."

The gas pedal recall is Toyota's largest in the U.S. and the sixth-largest ever in the U.S., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It includes 3.8 million vehicles, including the 2007-10 model year Camry, 2005-10 Toyota Avalon, 2004-09 Prius, 2005-10 Toyota Tacoma, 2007-10 Toyota Tundra, 2007-10 Lexus ES350 and 2006-10 Lexus IS250/350. NHTSA said 4.26 million vehicles would be covered, including new cars and trucks sold since September and others manufactured since the recall was announced.

It was prompted by a high-speed crash in August involving a 2009 Lexus ES350 that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and three members of his family near San Diego. The Lexus hit speeds exceeding 120 mph, struck a sport utility vehicle, launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames. In a frantic 911 call, a family member told emergency responders that the accelerator was stuck and the driver couldn't stop.

NHTSA investigators determined that a rubber all-weather floor mat found in the wreckage was slightly longer than the mat that belonged in the vehicle, and could have snared or covered the accelerator pedal.

The government has attributed at least five deaths and two injuries to floor mat-related unintended acceleration in the Toyota vehicles and has received reports of more than 100 incidents in which the accelerator may have become stuck. A Massachusetts-based safety consultant who has investigated the Toyota cases, however, has found more than 2,000 incidents involving 16 deaths and 243 injuries potentially tied to the Toyota gas pedals.

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Tight economy forces some to stay home for holiday - San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: 26 Nov 2009 01:08 AM PST

"It's too expensive," said Benita Hall, 24, a nurse's aide who can't afford to travel from Cincinnati to Atlanta to see her mother and siblings. "It's depressing because you want to be with your family for the holidays."

Nearly 38 million people are expected to take trips this year, slightly more than last year but 20 million fewer than in 2005 when the economy was better, according to AAA auto club. Air travel is expected to drop 6.7 percent this holiday compared with last year, AAA said.

While shopping for food for her holiday meal, Spring Clarke of Lubbock, Texas, said she couldn't afford to travel to Austin to be with family this Thanksgiving. Gas for the 740-mile road trip would take a chunk of change she can't spare.

"A hundred and sixty dollars is a phone bill, it's most of our electric bill," Clarke noted. "I'm not going home because of the economy. Can't do it."

Among those who are traveling, many are opting for cheaper alternatives to flying amid a sour economy that is still hitting household budgets hard.

Curt Label of Richmond, Maine, loaded his wife and two kids into their truck at 4 a.m. to start their 600-mile journey to his sister's home in Lorton, Va.

"To fly, the cost is probably $1,200," Label said as his family was stopped at a service plaza along the New Jersey Turnpike. "We're driving for $200."

Most people have calculated that travel by car often makes the most financial sense, said Alan Pisarski, a leading transportation analyst. About 33 million people are expected to travel by car this Thanksgiving, according to AAA.

Gregory Hudson was going to head to his father's place in Greenville, Miss. — until he considered travel costs. The 51-year-old hotel doorman said he'll roast a turkey for a few friends and family at his own home in Chicago instead.

"The Thanksgiving spirit's there," Hudson said. "But with the food so expensive we'll be cutting back on the size of the turkey and trimmings."

In Louisiana, Pearl Miller also was scaling back the size of her Thanksgiving dinner, leaving a New Orleans grocery store carrying only an aluminum roasting pan and one bag of canned goods.

"Usually more family comes from all over, but this year we're only doing Christmas," she said. "Money is just too tight."

Miller cleans houses for a living, but lost two of her customers in the last year. Last week she bought a turkey, which she planned to cook Thursday for her daughter and three grandchildren.

"Turkey is a good bargain. It lasts with all the leftovers," Miller said.

In Tennessee, retail security officer Mike Smith said he had to stay in Chattanooga and spend the holiday weekend working two jobs. He would normally travel with his wife and their 16-year-old son to Indiana to see his mother and a sister.

Mariangela Ruiz had nearly given up on the idea of spending the holiday with her family.

But she decided she could afford the $750 roundtrip ticket from Lima, Peru, to Miami after a friend agreed to pick her up and drive her two hours to Naples, Fla.

Ruiz, who was at the Miami airport Wednesday, said tickets were too expensive to fly directly to Naples, even though her employer would cover half of the trip because she would spend some time working. "I'd rather pay someone to pick me up and pay their gas than have to pay $200 more," she said.

Airlines had been depending on holiday travelers more than usual because travel has been so weak the rest of the year, said analyst Hunter Keay.

Train ridership was predicted to get a holiday boost, with Amtrak expecting Wednesday to be its busiest travel day of the year. Amtrak said its Thanksgiving eve ridership could reach 125,000 passengers, up from approximately 74,000 on a typical Wednesday.

Emily Jacobs, 26, said she and her sister, Katie, decided to take the train from New York City to Atlantic City, N.J., after weighing "traffic on the roads, getting out of the city, and then the New Jersey Turnpike ... might as well bypass all that."

The cost of flying was another deterrent, Jacobs said, since "ticket prices for planes were insane" already and the surcharges for holiday airfare were even more discouraging.

At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Manu Maile was checking to make sure passengers followed American Airlines' limits for carryon luggage. Maile, whose company, Prospect Airport Services, was hired by American Airlines to do the checking, said more people were trying to sneak an extra bag on board this year.

She said crowds were smaller and less frenzied than last Thanksgiving.

"Last year we had people fighting at the checkpoint," Maile said. "They were screaming at the (Transportation Security Administration.) They were getting mad over waiting in line."

___

Associated Press writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., Geoff Mulvihill in Cranbury Township, N.J., Mary Foster in New Orleans, Bill Poovey in Chattanooga, Tenn., Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Suzette Laboy in Miami, Ula Ilnytzky in New York, Joshua Freed in Minneapolis and David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.

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Toyota recalls gas pedals - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 26 Nov 2009 12:11 AM PST

To quell rising consumer worries from its largest ever recall, Toyota Motor Corp. will shorten the gas pedal and install a new brake system on some of 3.8 million vehicles recalled because of the risk they may accelerate without warning.

The problem, which allegedly has caused more than a dozen fatalities and resulted in more than 100 formal complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has presented the most serious challenge yet to Toyota's reputation as the auto industry's quality leader.

Wednesday's announcement came one day after Toyota recalled 110,000 Tundra pickup trucks from model years 2000 through 2003 which have experienced underbody rust that in some cases may loosen spare tires mounted beneath the trucks.

For 2005 through 2010 model year Toyota Avalons, 2007 through 2010 Camry and Lexus ES350, the automaker will reconfigure the floor surface beneath the pedal to create more space between the pedal and the floor.

The action is designed to address the root cause of the unintended acceleration, which Toyota previously blamed on floor mats becoming trapped between drivers' feet and the gas pedal.

The brake over-ride system that will be offered on the Camry, Avalon and Lexus ES and IS models should ensure the car stops if both the accelerator and brake pedals are applied at the same time. Many of the reported incidents involved sudden increases in speed when the cruise control system is engaged. Drivers have reported that their brakes could not stop their vehicles when they experienced the phenomenon.

Toyota intends to make the brake over-ride feature standard throughout the Toyota and Lexus product lines beginning in January 2010.

It is unclear how much these repairs and changes will cost, but it will be significant.

"If you have to dig into the vehicle like in the power train or under the dash, the cost is high even if the part cost is low," said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor.

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Toyota replacing gas pedals - Modesto Bee

Posted: 25 Nov 2009 11:56 PM PST

Toyota announced the recall in late September and told owners to remove the driver's side floor mats to keep the gas pedal from becoming jammed.

Popular vehicles such as the Toyota Camry, the top-selling passenger car in America, and the Toyota Prius, the best-selling gas-electric hybrid, are among those getting fixed. The recall included the luxury Lexus ES350, the vehicle in a fiery fatal accident in California that focused public attention on the danger.

"The safety of our owners and the public is our utmost concern, and Toyota has and will continue to thoroughly investigate and take appropriate measures to address any defect trends that are identified," the Japanese automaker said in a statement.

Toyota spokesman Irv Miller said the company was "very, very confident that we have addressed this issue" with the new fix.

Toyota has found "no reason to believe that there is a problem with the electronic control systems," he said.

Toyota officials said the floor mats are sold only in the United States and the recall would be limited to North America.

Toyota declined to provide a cost estimate for the fix, but analysts said it would be extremely expensive because of the extensive repairs involved and the manufacturing of new pedals.

Toyota also said it would provide newly designed replacement floor mats for the driver and front-passenger side.

The recall represents the latest blemish for Toyota, which developed a sterling reputation for quality in the United States by selling reliable family vehicles but faced challenges as it rapidly expanded. While recalls do not always indicate diminished reliability, Toyota executives have expressed concern about large numbers of recalls and pushed for improved quality controls.

In a separate action, Toyota announced Tuesday that it would recall 110,000 Tundra trucks from the 2000-03 model years to address excessive rust on the vehicle's frame.

The gas pedal recall is Toyota's largest in the United States and the sixth-largest ever in the nation, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It includes 3.8 million vehicles. NHTSA said 4.26 million vehicles would be covered, including new cars and trucks sold since September and others manufactured since the recall was announced.

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Holiday travel under way, but millions are staying home this year amid ... - Newser

Posted: 26 Nov 2009 01:01 AM PST

"A hundred and sixty dollars is a phone bill, it's most of our electric bill," Clarke noted. "I'm not going home because of the economy. Can't do it."

Among those who are traveling, many are opting for cheaper alternatives to flying amid a sour economy that is still hitting household budgets hard.

Curt Label of Richmond, Maine, loaded his wife and two kids into their truck at 4 a.m. to start their 600-mile journey to his sister's home in Lorton, Va.

"To fly, the cost is probably $1,200," Label said as his family was stopped at a service plaza along the New Jersey Turnpike. "We're driving for $200."

Gregory Hudson was going to head to his father's place in Greenville, Miss. _ until he considered travel costs. The 51-year-old hotel doorman said he'll roast a turkey for a few friends and family at his own home in Chicago instead.