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PSA: Toyota wants to save your life, needs an hour of your time

Toyota wrote Autoblog to ask if we could spread the word about the Takata airbag inflator recall. Defective inflators remain installed in tens of millions of cars made by 19 carmakers, with manufacture dates that go back to the year 2000. Each inflator compounds the risk of serious injury or death in an airbag-activating crash. With a new ad campaign called "in about an hour," Toyota wants to make sure that unaware owners, or overly busy owners, know they can get their Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles repaired free of charge in about the time it takes to do a load of laundry. The campaign focuses on cities in three so-called Zone A states where hot, humid climates worsen the threat of the ruptured inflators: Los Angeles, Dallas, and Miami. However, every owner everywhere who cares about his life, or his child's life, should at least check to see if his car is affected. All it takes is a quick VIN entry at the dedicated recall site at Toyota.com/Recall. The results will let you know if your car is affected and, if so, locate a local dealer for the free fix. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said the Takata affair has become "the largest and most complex safety recall in U.S. history." The numbers so far suggest the recall covers more than 42 million vehicles and more than 60 million airbags. Autoweek keeps an updated list of Takata information, including every make and model on the recall list. Consumer Reports published a list of frequently asked questions covering issues directly related and tangential to the recall. The 19 automakers maintain pages dedicated to the issue; Fiat Chrysler lists every relevant model and how it prioritizes repairs by Zone, Honda says it offers a free rental car while owner cars are repaired, Daimler vans says its fix only takes about an hour. And of course NHTSA serves all owners with its own VIN lookup site. We encourage you to check your vehicle — the life you save could be your own. Related Video:

Toyota and Suzuki partner up on autonomy with capital alliance

TOKYO — Toyota and Suzuki will take small equity stakes in each other, the Japanese car makers said on Wednesday, as they seek to develop newer technologies and meet sweeping changes upending the global auto industry. The tie-up is the latest example of automakers chasing scale to manage costs and boost development. Automakers — especially smaller ones like Suzuki — are struggling to meet the breakneck growth of an industry transformed by the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), ride-hailing and autonomous driving. Toyota will pay around 96 billion yen ($908 million) for a 4.94% stake in Suzuki, while Suzuki will acquire in the market around 48 billion yen ($454 million) worth of shares in Toyota. That is equivalent to 0.2% of Toyota's shares as of Wednesday's closing price, before the announcement. The companies said in a joint statement they intended to overcome challenges facing the industry by "building and deepening cooperative relationships in new fields while continuing to be competitors". They said they would strengthen technologies and products in which each of them specialize in. The firms had said in 2016 they were exploring a partnership, citing technological challenges and the need to keep up with industry consolidation. Earlier this year they said they would produce EVs and compact cars for each other. Automakers around the globe have been joining forces to slash development and manufacturing costs of new technology. Ford and Volkswagen have said they will spend billions of dollars to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles. Shares of Toyota and Suzuki closed little changed before the announcement. TOYOTA'S ORBIT The deal brings Suzuki firmly into Toyota' orbit, alongside Daihatsu, Hino Motors, Subaru, Mazda and Yamaha. Rival Nissan has an alliance with France's Renault, although that has been shaken following the ouster of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, and with Mitsubishi Motors. Honda has a tie-up with General Motors. Toyota has been looking to expand scale in next-generation technology and said this year it would offer free access to patents for EV motors and power control units. It believes that move would help it cut by as much as half the outlays for expanded electric and hybrid vehicle components in the United States, China and Japan. Supplying rivals would greatly expand the scale of production for hardware.

Lexus Eco Challenge rewards schools for clean water, briquette press projects

Teams from one New Jersey high school and one Michigan middle school reversed the old adage by thinking locally and acting globally. And that strategy won them the grand prizes in the most recent edition of the Lexus Eco Challenge. The future is indeed bright. The Toyota luxury-vehicle division gave out a half-million dollars in this year's contest. One $30,000 grand prize was awarded to the Pinelands Eco Scienteers from Little Egg Harbor, NJ, which produced and distributed low-cost briquette presses to rural villages beset by deforestation. The other grand prize went to the E.T. Electrical Team from Byron Center West Middle School in Michigan. That middle-school group raised money to send water filters to Haiti, Kenya and the Philippines. Lexus also awarded eight $15,000 first-place awards, with the winners including high schools from California, Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania as well as middle schools from Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas. A special shout out goes to Daniel Boone Area High School in Birdsboro, PA, where students created an educational and public-relations campaign to publicize algae-based biofuels. In all, Lexus has doled out more than $4 million in Eco Challenge awards in seven years. Check out Lexus's press release below. Students Get Dollars and Sense in Lexus Eco Challenge - $500,000 Awarded to Teams Who Learn About Environment and Community Empowerment Two Grand Prize Teams Earn $30,000 Eight $15,000 First Place Awards Given to Innovative High School and Middle School Teams Students Bring Ideas to a Larger Audience and Make a Positive Impact on the World TORRANCE, Calif., (Feb. 24, 2014) – It's a win, win situation! Communities become a better place, and students, teachers and schools have the chance to share $500,000 in scholarships and grants through the Lexus Eco Challenge. This year, the $30,000 Grand Prize winners are the Pinelands Eco Scienteers from Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, and the E.T. Electrical Team from Byron Center, Michigan. The Lexus Eco Challenge is an educational program and contest that inspires and empowers young people to learn about the environment and take action to improve it. High school and middle school teams nationwide define an environmental issue that is important to them, develop an action plan to address the issue, implement the plan, and report on the results.