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Owner reflects on his $20.91 Toyota unintended acceleration settlement check

Where General Motors and Takata have grabbed many auto safety-related headlines this year with their problems with ignition switches and airbag inflators, a few years ago, a similar sort of scrutiny fell on Toyota for unintended acceleration. After multiple settlements with various parties totaling billions of dollars, the issues seem largely behind the Japanese automaker now. Owners are actually starting to receive their money, but it isn't exactly breaking the bank. Payouts are expected to be between $37 and $125 per person. Computer science student Jonathan Sourbeer received a check for just $20.91, and he considers what that money actually means in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. Sourbeer's biggest gripe is that the roughly 85 lawyers in the case are receiving $227 million in attorneys' fees and expenses, while the 25 primary plaintiffs and class representatives receive a total of just $395,270. According to the Frequently Asked Questions about the settlement, Toyota set up a $250 million fund to pay affected owners, as well. The money isn't for injuries or damages but for alleged economic loss to the vehicles. However, Sourbeer says he feels no personal suffering and still has the same car. In addition to the settlement, the automaker obviously has its own legal fees to deal with, as well. Sourbeer wonders how this is all going to affect Toyotas in the future. Obviously, the money has to come from somewhere, and it likely gets amortized over the company's vehicles in the coming years to add a few dollars to each one. That puts the problem back onto customers. Anyone involved in a class-action suit has likely seen this happen first hand. The lawyers take a large chunk of the money, and the rest is distributed in tiny morsels to those actually affected. Unfortunately, Sourbeer offers no solutions beyond saying the system needs to change.

Lost power in a winter storm? Just hook up a Toyota Prius like this guy did

The Toyota Prius' battery pack just got something like a five-star rating from a truly seasoned professional – a 50-year aircraft technician. Bob Osemlak, who'd served more than three of those five decades with the Canadian Air Force, brought electricity back to his home in December during a heavy ice storm thanks to his gas-electric car. His ingenuity allowed him to turn on lights, furnace, refrigerator and the TV. The Thornhill, Ontario resident lost power for nearly a day on December 21 – not nearly as much as millions of other people hit by the recent storm - and so he still set about using his Prius for backup power, according to EV World. His ingenuity allowed him to turn on lights, furnace, refrigerator and the TV. Being an aircraft technician for so long brought Osemlak the ability to home-brew his V2H set-up that he urges other people to avoid, for safety reasons. He had planned for a potential power outage by installing an outlet on his furnace and, when the storm struck, he ran a cord through the basement window to the car. During the nine hours Osemlak used his Prius for backup power, the car's fuel gauge only reduced less than one bar, or roughly the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline. It wasn't the first time Osemlak had played with his vehicle. In the 1960s, while stationed in Winnepeg, Manitoba, he created a car starter. Every hour, the car would start up and run for 10 minutes to avoid being frozen solid in frigid winter temperatures. Featured Gallery News Source: EV WorldImage Credit: Flickr Green Toyota Green Culture Hybrid PHEV vehicle to grid storm

Ford predicts it will finish 2013 as top-selling US brand

Ford is ready to call the ball on its 2013 sales totals, predicting a first-place finish for units sold in the US for a single brand. The company anticipates selling more than 2.4 million vehicles when all vehicle sales over the last 12 months have been tallied, repeating the victory it trumpeted over Toyota last year.
According to Ford's accounting, it sold 329,677 more vehicles than did Toyota in 2012. This year, the Blue Oval expects that margin to grow; through the end of November, Ford says it has outsold Toyota by 396,041 units.
Retail sales of Ford products are projected to exceed 1.7 million units for 2013 (the best retail result in 6 years for the company), with passenger cars accounting for 600k of that total. The redesigned Fusion is expected to crest the 290k mark, and the Fiesta is said to be ready to hit a model-record of 70k-plus. Meanwhile, utility vehicles and trucks are still paying a lot of bills in Dearborn, with the new Escape racking up an expected 300k sales and F-Series trucks chugging along at 688,810 units sold thru November.