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Toyota expands airbag recall to 2.27M vehicles worldwide

Was your Toyota inspected under the company's recall campaign for faulty airbag inflators last year? You might have another trip ahead to have it repaired again. The automotive giant says that it found "the involved serial numbers provided by the supplier were incomplete, and did not include all of the potentially involved inflators," according to its official announcement. That means more replacements are needed.
Toyota's April 2013 inflator recall covered the Corolla, Matrix and Tundra from the 2003 and 2004 model years, the Sequoia from 2002 to 2004 and the Lexus SC 430 from 2002 to 2004. At the time, the company said it would need to inspect about 510,000 vehicles in the US but only expected to replace around 170,000 inflators.
However, the latest announcement increases that figure to about 766,300 vehicles in the US. Toyota spokesperson Cindy Knight told Autoblog that the new amount is the combination of owners who need to have their vehicle looked at again and those who didn't come in for the initial recall. The company learned about the problem when Takata, the supplier, provided it with an improved list of the faulty part's serial numbers. According to The Detroit News, the latest recall affects about 2.27 million vehicles from them worldwide. Knight said owners would receive notification of the problem around the end of the month but repairs would come in phases because the automaker doesn't have all of the necessary parts at the moment.

Full-size trucks are the best and worst vehicles in America

You don’t need me to tell you that Americans love pickup trucks. And the bigger the truck, the more likely it seems to be seen as an object of desire. Monthly and yearly sales charts are something of a broken record; track one is the Ford F-Series, followed by the Chevy Silverado, RamÂ’s line of haulers, and somewhere not far down the line, the GMC Sierra. The big Japanese players fall in place a bit further below — not that thereÂ’s anything wrong with a hundred thousand Toyota Tundra sales — and one-size-smaller trucks like the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado have proven awfully popular, too. Along with their sales numbers, the average cost of new trucks has similarly been on the rise. Now, I donÂ’t pretend to have the right to tell people what they should or shouldnÂ’t buy with their own money. But I just canÂ’t wrap my head around why a growing number of Americans are choosing to spend huge sums of money on super luxurious pickup trucks. Let me first say I do understand the appeal. People like nice things, after all. I know I do. I myself am willing to spend way more than the average American on all sorts of discretionary things, from wine and liquor to cameras and lenses. IÂ’ve even spent my own money on vehicles that I donÂ’t need but want anyway. A certain vintage VW camper van certainly qualifies. I also currently own a big, inefficient SUV with a 454-cubic-inch big block V8. So if your answer to the question IÂ’m posing here is that youÂ’re willing to pay the better part of a hundred grand on a chromed-out and leather-lined pickup simply because you want to, then by all means — not that you need my permission — go buy one. The part I donÂ’t understand is this: Why wouldn't you, as a rational person, rather split your garage in half? On one side would sit a nice car that is quiet, rides and handles equally well and gets above average fuel mileage. Maybe it has a few hundred gasoline-fueled horsepower, or heck, maybe itÂ’s electric. On the other side (or even outside) is parked a decent pickup truck. One that can tow 10,000 pounds, haul something near a ton in the bed, and has all the goodies most Americans want in their cars, like cruise control, power windows and locks, keyless entry, and a decent infotainment screen.

Japan's Prime Minister likes Toyota FCV's pickup, zero emissions

Japan's prime minister has a lead foot, apparently. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently had a photo op with Toyota's first production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, even getting behind the wheel for a spin (no chauffeur for him, so much respect on our part). His primary impression was that the car had great pickup, before settling on the more politically correct view of noting the vehicle's lack of emissions. In the 87-second video below, we can see the prime minister's appreciation of the car's performance as Toyota Motor Corp. Managing Officer Satoshi Ogiso dutifully rides shotgun. Abe also noted that he was "cheering" for the car's success. And he will apparently do his part there. The Japanese government will provide incentives worth about $20,000 per vehicle, bringing down its out-of-pocket price to less than $50,000 from about $69,000. Toyota in June announced pricing on the sedan, which will start sales next spring. The car can go 435 miles on a full tank from a hydrogen refueling station, wherever those can be found. Recent reports claim Toyota will name the model Mirai, which means "future" in Japanese, though the company hasn't made any official announcement. In the present, at least, it is making Japan's leader happy. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Related Gallery Toyota FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) Hydrogen Concept View 24 Photos News Source: Toyota Green Toyota Hydrogen Cars prime minister shinzo abe