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Fewest vehicles ever found eligible for Most American survey

Once again, the most American car on the market is from an American brand. The Ford F-150 retained its number one spot in Cars.com's annual survey of the most American vehicles, trumping the Toyota Camry, which remains at number two.
Ford taking the top spot is small consolation, though, as the Detroit Three aren't too well represented here. General Motors scored a win at number seven, with the Chevrolet Corvette, while Chrysler squeaked in at number ten, with the Dodge Viper. Outside of those three vehicles, Toyota and Honda dominate the top ten.
What's most remarkable, though, is that there were so few cars available for this year's list.

Toyota recalls 250 vehicles in two separate campaigns

Toyota is keeping on top of things by issuing two, small recalls on 2015 model year vehicles. The first covers 230 examples of the 2015 Yaris. In the affected models, the bolts holding the rear axle bearing might not be tight enough. If one of these fasteners falls off, it could possibly damage the rear brakes, including the potential of a wheel locking up. The second, even smaller campaign covers just 20 units of the 2015 Tacoma TRD Pro pickups. In the examples delivered to Puerto Rico, they didn't have the correct placard to advise owners of the correct tire size and pressure on the B-pillar. Neither problem has resulted in any crashes, injuries or fatalities. As usual, affected owners will be notified by mail, and Toyota dealers will repair the issues free of charge to customers. Toyota spokesperson Cindy Knight tells Autoblog that those letters will go out in mid-March. TOYOTA RECALLS CERTAIN MODEL YEAR 2015 YARIS AND TACOMA VEHICLES TORRANCE, Calif., February 17, 2015 – Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., today announced it will conduct a safety recall of approximately 230 Model Year 2015 Yaris hatchbacks and approximately 20 Model Year 2015 Tacoma TRD Pro model pickup trucks. In the involved Yaris vehicles, the rear axle bearing bolts may not have been tightened sufficiently during vehicle assembly. If a bolt is loose and falls off during vehicle operation, the bolt could damage rear brake components, resulting in reduced brake performance or potential wheel lock up, which could increase the risk of a crash. The Tacoma TRD Pro model pickup trucks were distributed to dealers in Puerto Rico without the correct B-pillar tire placard indicating the tire size and recommended cold tire inflation pressure for the front and rear tires. An improperly inflated tire can increase the risk of a crash. Toyota is not aware of any crashes, injuries, or fatalities caused by either condition. Owners of the involved vehicles will receive a notification by first class mail. Toyota dealers will repair the vehicles at no cost to the owner. Detailed information is available at www.toyota.com/recall and by calling Toyota Customer Service at 1-800-331-4331. ### Featured Gallery 2015 Toyota Yaris View 12 Photos Related Gallery 2015 Toyota TRD Pro Series Tundra, Tacoma and 4Runner News Source: Toyota Recalls Toyota Safety Truck Hatchback

Legal approach in $1.2 billion Toyota settlement could impact handling of GM recall cases

In the past, if an automaker did something wrong, they were usually prosecuted by the US government through something called the TREAD Act. Short for Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation Act, it basically requires automakers to report recalls in other countries, along with any and all serious injuries or deaths, to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Failing to report or attempting to conceal anything when there's been a death or serious injury constitutes a criminal liability. The idea is that this setup puts the onus on manufacturers to keep NHTSA apprised of safety related issues before they become a problem in the US, thereby allowing the regulator to better protect consumers.
In theory, it sounds like a relatively airtight set of rules for dealing with misbehaving automakers. That didn't stop the US Department of Justice from ignoring TREAD in its prosecution of Toyota's handling of the unintended acceleration recall, though. The result of this new approach, which charged Toyota with wire fraud, was a $1.2 billion settlement. Now, the wire-fraud approach could be used for the expected case between the US government and General Motors, based on the statements of Attorney General Eric Holder, who specifically mentioned "similarly situated companies" when discussing Toyota.