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Impala crashes into Land Cruiser... to hide from a cheetah

What would you do if a wild animal jumped into your vehicle through an open window during an African safari? What if said animal was an impala being chased by cheetahs? Though the scenario seems unbelievable, that's just what happened to a group of tourists in Kruger National Park in South Africa, and it was all caught on video.
With the tour groups stopped, a motorist with a video camera handy happens to catch the unlikely sight of a herd of impalas (not that kind of Impala) jumping over the tarmac while being followed, quickly of course, by two cheetahs. The feline predators thought they had cornered one impala and were closing in for the kill when it jumped through the open window of a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado - South Africa's version of the Lexus GX. Fortunately for the occupants of said vehicle, the cheetahs did not follow.
A short while later, one of the occupants in the Toyota fearlessly opens a door to let the poor animal out. It must have been its lucky day, because the cheetahs didn't take pursuit. Check out the circle life get interrupted by this traffic jam in the video below.

Toyota recalls 690,000 Tacoma trucks for rusty leaf springs, fire risk

Toyota has announced that it will be issuing a recall of 690,000 Tacoma pickups from model years 2005 through 2011. The affected vehicles include both the four-wheel-drive model and the two-wheel-drive PreRunner (but not the standard 4x2 pickups), which may have a rather serious problem with their rear suspensions.
In some cases, corrosion and stress could cause one of the three or four leaves in the rear suspension's leaf springs to fracture. While the trucks can still be driven with a broken leaf, Toyota is concerned that it could move out of position and impact other components in the rear of the truck, with a particular focus on the fuel tank. Needless to say, but a piece of metal continuously impacting anything, let alone the fuel tank, is cause for concern.
As of this writing, there have been no reports of crashes, injuries, fires or deaths due to this problem, although that won't stop Toyota from informing all affected customers of the issue. Those 690,000 owners will need to report in to dealers for inspections and, if necessary, repairs.

Toyota launches Pixis Space; first kei cars are Daihatsus in drag

Toyota has announced that it will unveil its first-ever kei car to be sold under its recently launched Pixis sub-brand. The vehicle, called the Pixis Space, will make its official debut in late September. Based on the Daihatsu Move Conte, the Pixis Space will be sold at Toyota dealerships through what the automakers calls "Pixis stations." Yes, seriously.
After Toyota's version of the Daihatsu Move Conte makes its debut, the Japanese automaker will launch a Pixis-badged Daihatsu Hijet truck and microvan in December. By the end of 2012, Toyota says it will launch a Pixis version of the upcoming Daihatsu e:S - a vehicle that returns 70.6 miles per gallon (U.S.) as measured under Japan's JC08 test cycle.
In case you weren't aware, Daihatsu - Japan's oldest manufacturer of automobiles - operates under the control of Toyota. In other words, these Pixis machines are simply badge engineering at the kei level.