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Toyota wants you to meet an 'obsessed' hydrogen fuel cell engineer

Like a television-broadcasting company covering the Olympics, Toyota is looking to market its future in hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle production by taking the personal approach. In this case, the Japanese automaker is telling the backstory of Jackie Birdsall, an engineer at Toyota Technical Center who Toyota says is "obsessed" with fuel-cell technology. A Sacramento native, Birdsall is responsible for testing fuel-cell vehicles and making sure hydrogen stations fill the tanks of the cars in a "reasonable" timeframe. Long a gearhead, she attended Flint, MI's Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute) and, among other places, worked for the California Fuel Cell Partnership before joining Toyota in 2012. Her first car was an '87 Camry. That's one personal side of Toyota's hydrogen push, and shows another way Toyota is introducing the world to this new powertrain (see also: winter performance). The nitty-gritty is made up of things like working with FirstElement Fuel Inc. on a hydrogen-refueling network in California. As for its fuel-cell sedan, which was displayed in FCV prototype form at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January and is due next year, Toyota said it expects the car to have a full-tank range of about 300 miles and a five-minute refueling time. That's if Ms. Birdsall has anything to say about it. Check out Toyota's press release about Birdsall below. Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution A healthy obsession leads Jackie Birdsall and TTC to the forefront of history The word she keeps using is "obsessed." Jackie Birdsall became "obsessed" with cars when she was a teenager. That made her "obsessed" with the history of auto icons like Henry Ford and Lee Iacocca. In 2003, she did an internship with Daimler-Chrysler, leading to an "obsession" with hydrogen fuel cell technology. And now, as an engineer at Toyota Technical Center, Birdsall is "obsessed" with bringing fuel cell technology to the masses. But perhaps you need to be obsessed when you're trying to change the world. After all, revolutions don't blossom from complacency. Leading an alternative fuel revolution is just what Birdsall and her partners on the Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle team are doing. Collectively, they're finding tangible ways to reduce fossil fuels in the automobile world and figuring out how hydrogen fuel cells can be useful and affordable. In 2015, that obsession will bear fruit when Toyota's FCV hits the markets in California, Japan and Europe.

Toyota expands Takata airbag inflator recall

The Basics: Toyota will recall 198,000 examples of the 2008 Corolla and Matrix and the 2008-2010 Lexus SC430. The Problem: The vehicles contain Takata's dual-stage inflators in their front passenger airbags, which could rupture in a crash. Injuries/Deaths: None reported in this population of vehicles. However, experts believe Takata's inflators have links to at least ten fatalities. The Fix: Dealers will replace the part with a newly manufactured one. If You Own One: Toyota will notify owners about the recall by first-class mail in March and will send a remedy letter in June when the parts are ready. TOYOTA EXPANDS TAKATA AIRBAG SAFETY RECALL TORRANCE, Calif., March 2, 2016 – Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. today announced that it is expanding two of its recalls involving Takata front passenger airbag inflators. This will add model years of certain vehicles previously recalled and will cover all remaining dual-stage front passenger inflators of a particular type, as a precautionary measure. Approximately 198,000 Model Year 2008 Corolla and Corolla Matrix and Model Year 2008-2010 Lexus SC430 vehicles will be added to the recalls. The involved vehicles are equipped with a Takata-produced dual-stage front passenger airbag inflator which could potentially be susceptible to rupture when deployed in a crash. All known owners of the affected Toyota / Lexus vehicles will be notified by first class mail. Dealers will replace the airbag inflator or the airbag assembly with a newly manufactured one at no cost. Information about automotive recalls, including but not limited to the list of involved vehicles, is subject to change over time. For the most up-do-date Safety Recall information on Toyota, Lexus or Scion vehicles, customers should check their vehicle's status by visiting toyota.com/recall and entering the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). Safety Recall inquiry by individual VIN is also available at the NHTSA site: safercar.gov/vin. For any additional questions, customer support is also available by calling Toyota Customer Service at 1-800-331-4331, or Lexus Customer Service at 1-800-255-3987. ###

Toyota Supra and BMW Z5 coming in 2018 from Austria

A German automaker and a Japanese one get together to jointly develop a new sports car. So where do they build it? In Austria, of course! This according to a newspaper based in Graz, where contract manufacturer Magna Steyr is also based. BMW and Toyota have reportedly been working on a joint sports car program for a while. Toyota's version is expected to revive the Supra name and spirit, while BMW's is to replace the aging Z4 roadster and potentially wear a Z5 badge. Details are still up in the air – or on tight lockdown – but we can expect both to feature six cylinders mounted up front, driving the rear wheels through a proper manual transmission. Now Kleine Zeitung reports that both versions will be built on their behalf by Magna Steyr, and that they'll launch in 2018. The contract manufacturer already builds the Mini Countryman and Paceman for the BMW Group, but the Paceman is being discontinued, and the next-generation Countryman is slated to be moved in-house – following the lead of the Porsche Boxster/Cayman and Aston Martin Rapide. Though the Graz facility still builds the Mercedes G-Class and is soon slated to begin manufacturing for Jaguar Land Rover, the Mini crossovers' departure leaves Steyr with leftover capacity. BMW intends to fill some of that with assembly of the 5 Series sedan, but the joint sports car project ought to fill in the rest. This would mark the first time that Magna Steyr would build a car for Toyota – or any Asian manufacturer for that matter, after a previous contract with Infiniti fell through. It wouldn't be the first time the two have collaborated, though: the Kleine Zeitung report indicates that the FT86 Open concept (in the gallery below) was built by the Austrian workshop, which has expertise in crafting convertibles as well. Steyr has done the roof assemblies for the Mercedes SLK and Opel Astra TwinTop, as well as complete production of the Porsche Boxster and Saab 9-3 Convertible, to name just a few. Expect BMW's version to offer some sort of folding roof mechanism, but it's too early to speculate on the prospect of a convertible Supra. Related Video: Featured Gallery BMW Z5: Spy Shots Related Gallery Toyota FT-86 Open Concept: Geneva 2013 View 13 Photos News Source: Kleine Zeitung via Automotive News Europe - sub. req.Image Credit: Copyright 2016 AOL BMW Toyota Convertible Coupe Performance bmw z5