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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.

Toyota recalls 1.37 million more vehicles for Takata airbags

Toyota is expanding its passenger-side Takata airbag inflator recall campaign by an additional 1.37 million vehicles in the United States. The models covered under this broadened recall are the 2003-2007 Corolla, Matrix, and Lexus SC430; the 2005-2006 Tundra; and the 2005-2007 Sequoia. In total, Toyota says that this expansion brings the number of its vehicles covered under the Takata inflator recall in the US to 2.915 million. For these latest models, owners will be notified by mail soon. The move is similar to a recent decision by Honda to broaden its recall list. As with millions of other vehicles covered under these recalls, it's possible for exposure to moisture to cause the inflator to ignite too quickly in an airbag deployment. This can cause shrapnel to be sprayed at occupants. At least seven deaths have been potentially linked to these ruptures worldwide. TOYOTA EXPANDS TAKATA AIRBAG SAFETY RECALL TORRANCE, Calif., June 16, 2015 – Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. today announced that it is expanding its recalls involving Takata front passenger airbag inflators. Based on recent information from Takata and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Toyota will recall approximately 1,365,000 additional 2003-2007 Corolla and Corolla Matrix; 2005-2006 Tundra; 2005-2007 Sequoia; 2003-2007 Lexus SC430 vehicles. This brings the total number of Toyota and Lexus vehicles covered by Takata recalls in the U.S. to approximately 2,915,000. In the involved vehicles, the front passenger airbag inflators could potentially be susceptible to rupture when deployed and seriously injure vehicle occupants. "Toyota's focus remains on the safety and security of our customers, and we will continue to respond promptly to new developments so we can resolve issues for them as quickly, conveniently and safely as possible," said Dino Triantafyllos, chief quality officer, Toyota Motor North America. Multiple investigations into the root cause of the potential for inflator rupture are taking place, including by Orbital ATK, an independent engineering firm commissioned by an industry-wide joint testing initiative comprised of the ten automotive manufacturers conducting Takata-related recalls. All known owners of the affected Toyota / Lexus vehicles will be notified by first class mail to return their vehicles to a Toyota / Lexus dealer. The dealer will replace the airbag inflator with a newly manufactured one.

Lexus designers create lunar transport concepts

NASA is working to put human back on the moon by 2024, the idea being to use it as a way station for the eventual colonization of Mars. Since those humans won't want to moonwalk everywhere, they'll need new transportation — the battery-electric Lunar Rover the Apollo astronauts left up there probably won't start. Designers at the European Advanced Design Studio for Toyota and Lexus created a few potential, and yes, fanciful, craft for getting around our satellite for Document Journal magazine's The Lunar Design Portfolio. The artwork joins a collection of articles by culture critics, philosophers, architects, and more about the issues confronting humanity's return to the mistress of tides. Out of the seven concepts, the Lexus creation chosen to appear in the issue is Karl Dujardin's Zero Gravity, which turns the automaker's spindle grille into a single-seater moto-like hovercraft capable of doing 310 mph. The Bouncing Moon Roller by Julien Marie attaches a wheel-like stabilizer to a gyroscope cell protected by a flexible graphene nanotube bubble meant for hopping over the terrain, whereas the Lexus Lunar Cruiser by Keisuke Matsuno serves land and sky by having wheels that can flip out 90 degrees to serve as ducted fans powering a drone capsule. Jean-Baptiste Henry's Lexus Cosmos isn't for the surface at all, with a Lexus mothership and Moon Explorator capable of solar system travel. The glass construction of the observatory in the Moon Explorator allows "group experience contemplation [of] Zero G," and there's even a "space swimming pool." The Mothership awaits a role in the next installment of A Space Odyssey, a glossy habitat for whatever life forms succeed humans. Astronauts might be able to launch from the mothership in the Lexus Lunar Mission craft designed by Yung Presciutti, using wings shaped like spindle grilles. Because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy even in space, the Lexus Lunar is a 6x6 "massive transport vehicle designed to explore and discover the moon safely," meaning it can haul a few Moon Racers — both of which are also Presciutti's work —  a different kind of single-seater craft made to "jump, climb, race, and discover" the light and dark sides of the moon.