1994 Toyota Tercel, No Reserve on 2040-cars

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Toyota's Bob Carter says seat heater stop-sale due to inconsequential compliance error

Last week, Toyota let it be known that a number of its more-popular vehicles were subject to a "stop-sale" order due to faulty seat heaters on these vehicles. No injuries were reported, but the problem affected a lot of models, including the 2013 and 2014 Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Avalon Hybrid, Sienna, Corolla, Tacoma and Tundra. Toyota originally said 50,000 vehicles were involved, but Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, knocked that down to 30,000 during an interview at the Chicago Auto Show this week and said that the problem is not going to have a big impact on Toyota's sales. "It's an important situation but it will have a very minor impact on February sales," he told AutoblogGreen. "Dealers will start receiving new heating elements this week and then we have a process to take out the heating element that was put in and exchange that for the new fabric. It's very simple. It's a quick repair." Quick in this situation means about three hours to swap out the heating elements in two seats, according to Toyota's John Hanson. Since the Avalon also has heated rear seats, that car will require a total of six hours in the shop. Hanson said there was no official timeline for when the exchange program would be completed, "but new vehicles are arriving at some dealerships with the new seat heaters already installed." With a fix already in place, Carter would not comment on whether a recall is likely, saying only, "I'm not the expert on that. We're working with the NHTSA and ultimately it's their decision. We believe it's an inconsequential compliance error that was made by one of our suppliers and we're going to correct it." Featured Gallery 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid: Review View 23 Photos News Source: Toyota Green Chicago Auto Show Toyota AutoblogGreen Exclusive Hybrid camry hybrid bob carter

Toyota fires bullets into hydrogen fuel tanks, shoots down EV supporters

Many gearheads will remember that the 1970s-era Dodge Dart's claim to fame was that its motor was so durable (though not necessarily powerful) that one could shoot bullets into the engine block. Decades later, Toyota has taken a page out of that testing process. "Personally, I don't care what Elon [Musk] says about fuel cells." With some industry members and analysts questioning both the viability and durability of hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles, Toyota executive Bob Carter, speaking at the Automotive News World Congress this week, says the Japanese automaker went all Clint Eastwood on the fuel tanks of a fuel-cell prototype. Carter says that bullets from a small-caliber gun bounced off the carbon-fiber tanks, and that .50-caliber bullets barely made dents. The shoot-out motif kept going when Carter name-checked executives from Tesla, Nissan and Volkswagen in saying that he didn't care if other automakers question the future of fuel-cell vehicles. As you can see in the prepared text of Carter's speech below, he said, "Personally, I don't care what Elon [Musk], Carlos [Ghosn] or Jonathan [Browning] say about fuel cells. If they want to 'plug in and tune out' other technologies, that's fine." After debuting it in Tokyo late last year, Toyota showed off its FCV fuel-cell concept vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show this week as it get ready to start sales "around 2015." The car has a 300-mile range and should be priced somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000. Autoblog drove Toyota's fuel-cell prototypes last year, and you can read our impressions here. 2014 Automotive News World Congress- Bob Carter January 14, 2014 As prepared for: Automotive News World Congress Tuesday, January 14, 2014 Bob Carter, Senior Vice President, Automotive Operations, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. _________________ Thanks, Keith and good afternoon everyone. You know, I've been in the car business for more than 30 years, but I'm more excited about it now than EVER before Why? Because for the first time in Toyota's history, we did something here we've NEVER done before. We shocked people by unveiling two great looking, fun-to-drive cars that blow a hole in the theory that Toyota only builds "appliances". Just yesterday, we unveiled Toyota's newest concept, the FT-1 sports car. I'm already getting people asking me when they can get their hands on one. The FT-1 represents the latest in our heritage of sports cars like the 2000GT, Celica, Supra and most recently, the FR-S.

2014 Toyota Corolla shows its new Euro-spec nose [w/poll]

After tons of teasing, Toyota finally unveiled the all-new 2014 Corolla in the wee hours of the - at least to those of us here in the Midwest. The fresh new face of the US-spec car takes a number of cues from the Camry and Avalon sedans, and in S trim with the large alloy wheels and blacked-out front fascia, we'd even venture this is the most boldly styled North American Corolla to date (faint praise as that may be).
Of course, our friends in other markets will also be getting fully updated versions of the Corolla as well, and here, we're getting our first glimpse at the European-spec car, complete with a very different front fascia that, at least in this trim, seems to take a more conservative design approach. A quick poll of the Autoblog staff shows that we're torn as to whether or not we prefer this European look to our North American-specific car, but at least in the sporty-ish S trim, we think the Americans may have got the better end of the deal.
The Euro-spec Corolla actually shares a lot of its design with its larger platform-mate, the Auris, a car that we don't - and likely won't - get in the States. Inside, the European Corolla looks basically the same as the NA car, and while market-specific engines and specifications haven't been released yet, it's expected that the Corolla will share much of its dirty bits with the European Auris, as well.