2006 Toyota Camry Le 2.4l One Owner on 2040-cars

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Lexus NX will be produced in Canada

OTTAWA/MONTREAL — Toyota Motor Corp will build its Lexus NX luxury crossover vehicle at a Canadian plant starting in 2022, the company said on Monday, a decision that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said demonstrated the value of the country's international trade agreements. The plant will invest hundreds of millions of dollars to produce the Lexus NX and its hybrid version at the factory in Cambridge, Ontario, "supplying the entire North American market," Trudeau said in a presentation with Fred Volf, president of Toyota's Canadian unit. Citing Canada's trade agreements with Mexico, the United States, Europe and Asia, Trudeau said: "We have preferential trade access to two-thirds of the global economy. In fact, we're the only G7 country that has free trade deals with every other G7 country." Trudeau, who faces a tough re-election contest in October, said the plans by Toyota, one of the world's largest carmakers, will help guarantee 8,000 jobs and the factory. The announcement is a "counter narrative" for Canada's automaking industry following recent bad news from other automakers, said Flavio Volpe, president of the Toronto-based Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, especially in the province of Ontario. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said in March it would cut a shift at its Windsor assembly plant, leading to 1,500 job losses, and General Motors said last year it would shut its Oshawa factory by the end of 2019. Plans to assemble the NX in Canada "means that Toyota's Canadian manufacturing operations are here to stay," Volf said, adding that the cars are "the most technologically advanced and the most in-demand cars in the Toyota-Lexus global lineup." On Sunday, Trudeau hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Ottawa. Both touted the benefits of a Pacific trade deal that U.S. President Donald Trump walked away from. Trudeau said he had discussed the project to build the Lexus NX in Canada with Chief Executive Akio Toyoda on April 1. "When we last chatted just a few weeks ago, we discussed the potential of this new Lexus mandate," Trudeau said.

Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, Toyota Tundra flunk IIHS headlight test

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety put pickup truck headlights to the test and found that the majority of them were equipped with subpar units. The 2017 Honda Ridgeline was the only truck to earn a rating of "good." The large pickup truck test was comprised of the: 2016 to 2017 GMC Sierra, 2017 Nissan Titan, 2016 Ram 1500, 2016 to 2017 Chevrolet Silverado, 2016 to 2017 Ford F-150, and 2016 to 2017 Toyota Tundra. The Sierra's headlights earned a rating of "acceptable," the headlights found on the Titan and Ram 1500 were found to be "marginal," and the ones on the Silverado, F-150, and Tundra were rated as "poor." IIHS claims the F-150 was the most disappointing out of the large pickup trucks as both its halogen and optional LED headlights failed to provide adequate visibility during testing. The Ridgeline (which earned a "good rating"), is usually considered a midsize or small truck, though IIHS included it in the field of large pickups. The headlights on the 2016 Chevrolet Colorado, 2016 GMC Canyon, 2016 Nissan Frontier, and 2016 to 2017 Toyota Tacoma, which made up the small pickup truck group, all earned a rating of "poor." The IIHS claimed the Colorado had the worst headlights of any truck that was tested, as the base vehicle's units were only able to illuminate up to 123 feet in front of the car. The Ridgeline's headlights, for reference, were able to illuminate up to 358 feet in front of the vehicle. To conduct its test, the IIHS utilizes a special tool to measure how far light is projected out of the headlights in different driving situations. The trucks' headlights were tested in a straight line and in corners, while vehicles with high-beam assist were given extra praise. The headlights on the pickup trucks also mimic the testing that was done on small SUVs and cars earlier this year. Next year, automakers will need to fit their vehicles with headlights that earn a rating of either good or acceptable to earn the IIHS Top Safety Pick+. Related Video:

Toyota settles first wrongful death suit related to unintended acceleration

Toyota's sales seem to have rebounded from the unintended acceleration issues from 2009 and 2010, but the automaker is far from done dealing with this situation. Following a settlement worth up to $1.4 billion for economic loss to affected vehicle owners, Toyota has settled rather than going to trial in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from an accident in Utah in 2010 that left two passengers dead. This isn't the first case in which Toyota has settled, but it was the first among a consolidated group of cases being held in Santa Ana, CA.
According to The Detroit News, this case was scheduled to take place next month, and it was for a November 2010 incident in which Paul Van Alfen and Charlene James Lloyd were killed in a Camry when, based on findings by the Utah Highway Patrol, the accelerator got stuck causing the car to speed out of control and hit a wall; the terms of the settlement were not announced.
The article says that while Toyota will settle on some cases, it doesn't plan on settling on all of them as it still wants to be able to "defend [its] product at trial." This will probably be the case in suits claiming that software for the drive-by-wire accelerator was the cause of an accident in a Toyota or Lexus vehicle. The question of whether or not the electronic accelerator played any role in this problem has been a hot-button topic since the beginning. Toyota has issued recalls in the past to attempt to prevent unintended acceleration caused by trapped floor mats and faulty accelerator pedals, but it also says driver error was to blame in some instances.