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Toyota settles first wrongful death suit related to unintended acceleration

Toyota's sales seem to have rebounded from the unintended acceleration issues from 2009 and 2010, but the automaker is far from done dealing with this situation. Following a settlement worth up to $1.4 billion for economic loss to affected vehicle owners, Toyota has settled rather than going to trial in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from an accident in Utah in 2010 that left two passengers dead. This isn't the first case in which Toyota has settled, but it was the first among a consolidated group of cases being held in Santa Ana, CA.
According to The Detroit News, this case was scheduled to take place next month, and it was for a November 2010 incident in which Paul Van Alfen and Charlene James Lloyd were killed in a Camry when, based on findings by the Utah Highway Patrol, the accelerator got stuck causing the car to speed out of control and hit a wall; the terms of the settlement were not announced.
The article says that while Toyota will settle on some cases, it doesn't plan on settling on all of them as it still wants to be able to "defend [its] product at trial." This will probably be the case in suits claiming that software for the drive-by-wire accelerator was the cause of an accident in a Toyota or Lexus vehicle. The question of whether or not the electronic accelerator played any role in this problem has been a hot-button topic since the beginning. Toyota has issued recalls in the past to attempt to prevent unintended acceleration caused by trapped floor mats and faulty accelerator pedals, but it also says driver error was to blame in some instances.

Ice driving at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School | AutoblogVR

We have two new VR episodes for you this week, both of which come from the Bridgestone Winter Driving School. In one, we get some instruction in the snow and then have a little fun sliding around. In the other, two instructors give a visual demonstration of how rear- and all-wheel-drive cars handle differently in the snow (which also includes lots of fun sliding). You get to experience it all from the passenger seat, with a view in every direction. The Bridgestone Winter Driving School is located just outside the town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Facilities include a couple of meticulously maintained ice/snow tracks and a snow skidpad – which, it happens, is the best kind of skidpad. We worked our way up from an all-wheel-drive Lexus NX crossover to a rear-drive Lexus IS, and then the staff gave their drifty demonstration in two similar Lexus IS sedans – one with rear drive and the other with all-wheel drive. There's a preview above, but for the full immersive experience, you'll need the AutoblogVR app for iOS or Android – you can download it for free from the App store and Google Play. Be sure to try it with a cardboard viewer, too! Lexus Driving Videos VR Original Video lexus is virtual reality lexus nx 360video

Xcar gets Lexus LFA serviced at TMG

Toyota has made all manner of vehicles, from sedans and hatchbacks to crossovers and pickup trucks. It's even done a handful of sports cars over the years. But it's only ever done one real supercar, and that was the Lexus LFA. The ten-cylinder supercar was built at the dedicated, purpose-built LFA Works, a facility within Toyota City in Japan that's since moved on to making everything from bicycles to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. But if you were lucky enough to be among the 500 customers to get your hands on an LFA, you may not be inclined to send it back to the factory every time it needs servicing. Especially not if you live in, say, Europe. That's why Toyota Motorsport GmbH was tasked with handling service for the LFA for Europe. The facility in Cologne, Germany, was once home to the automaker's F1 team, now runs its championship-winning endurance racing team and will soon again serve as the home base for its renewed assault on the World Rally Championship. So it's just the type of facility that could handle whatever comes up with Lexus' high-strung exotic, from servicing the V10 engine to repairing the carbon-fiber chassis if need be. After checking out the underground collection in its last episode, the guys at Xcar popped their heads in at the LFA service center. There they spoke with TMG VP Rob Leupen, who seems convinced that Toyota should make a new hybrid supercar. We hope he turns out to be right.