2010 Toyota Tundra on 2040-cars

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Toyota won't face recall for Corolla unintended acceleration

Toyota will not face a recall or further investigation into an alleged unintended acceleration problem in the 2006-2010 Corolla. Following months of analysis, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was unable to find a mechanical defect to cause the issue. If there had been a safety campaign to fix the vehicles, it could have affected 1.69 million cars, according to NHTSA. The incident that prompted the investigation occurred in June 2014 when a driver was pulling into a parking spot. The 2010 Corolla allegedly lurched forward under braking and hit an unoccupied Jeep, according to The Detroit News. No one was injured. The owners had the vehicle examined by a Toyota dealer, and it found no problems. They then filed a petition with NHTSA to open a deeper investigation. NHTSA took the family's Corolla and tested it for over 2,000 miles, according to The News. The agency couldn't replicate the problem and found the brakes were capable of keeping the vehicle from moving at full throttle. In their petition, the owners also submitted 143 other unique complaints of this issue in the Corolla, but the Feds found that most of these incidents were due to driver error where the gas or both pedals were accidentally pressed. After taking all of this into account, "NHTSA has concluded that further investigation of the issues raised by the petition is not warranted," the agency wrote in its report. You can read the entire, 23-page explanation for yourself in PDF format, here. INVESTIGATION Subject : Low-speed surging Date Investigation Opened: SEP 19, 2014 Date Investigation Closed: APR 29, 2015 NHTSA Action Number: DP14003 Component(s): VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL All Products Associated with this Investigation Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) TOYOTA COROLLA 2006-2010 Details Manufacturer: Toyota Motor Corporation SUMMARY: The Agency received a petition on September 11, 2014 requesting an investigation into, "low-speed surging in the 2006-2010 Toyota Corolla [vehicles] with ETCS-i, in which the brakes fail to stop the vehicle in time to prevent a crash." NHTSA conducted a technical review of the material cited and provided by the petitioner, material Toyota submitted in response to a NHTSA formal request, interviews with complainants and manufacturer representatives, as well as the results of testing of the complaint vehicle.

Toyota to start production of hydrogen vehicles in December

Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell vehicle will be in showrooms sooner than planned, the Japan Times reporting that production will commence in mid-December with the sedan following "by the end of this year." No reason was given for the new timeline; Toyota has been saying all along that we'd see it in 2015.
The company is said to be "considering" production volume of "dozens of... vehicles per month" at a "likely" price of eight million yen, which is $78,030 US. That is well in line with the numbers thrown around last year, when the target was somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000. Then late last year, during our first drive of the FCHV mule, we wrote that "the official quote... [is] that a price of 'less than 10 million yen is ideal.'"
That alleged $78K is a sizable sum to be one of the early adopters on the hydrogen fuel cell wagon train, but with things moving around so much - and with Toyota publicly citing hydrogen fuel cells as the future - there's plenty of reason to be cautious about that number.

Toyota FT-1 Concept presents a future we want to live in [w/videos]

Toyota has brought its A game to the 2014 Detroit Auto Show, showing off the striking FT-1 Concept. Short for "Future Toyota," the FT-1 is, we're imagining, the supposed Supra Concept we reported on early in December.
Penned by the Calty Design Research team, the FT-1 draws inspirations from the FT-HS and the Lexus LF-LC concepts from 2007 and 2012, respectively. We certainly see a bit of Lexus LF-A in the design, while there's more than a hint of Formula One in the FT-1's pointed nose.
"Our team was heavily influenced by Toyota's sports car past, especially Celica and Supra, and we sought to capture some of that history. It is an aggressive, track-focused sports car concept with a presence that has been amplified for shock and awe," said Alex Shen, Calty's Studio Chief Designer.