More problems for Toyota

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Land of the smelly onion
Faulty engines now, and apparently the Lexus HS250 is the new Ford Pinto:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20100701/AS.Japan.Toyota/

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday about 270,000 cars sold worldwide — including luxury Lexus sedans — have potentially faulty engines, the latest quality lapse to hit the automaker following massive global recalls of top-selling models.

Japan's top-selling daily Yomiuri said in its evening edition that Toyota will inform the transport ministry of a recall on Monday. The paper cited no sources.

Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said the company was evaluating measures to deal with the problem of defective engines that can stall while the vehicle is moving. He would not confirm a recall was being considered.

The automaker has been working to patch up its reputation after recalling more than 8 million vehicles worldwide because of unintended acceleration and other defects.

Of the 270,000 vehicles with engine problems, some 180,000 were sold overseas and the rest in Japan. They include the popular Crown and seven models of luxury Lexus sedans.

Toyota said it has received around 200 complaints in Japan over faulty engines. Some drivers told Toyota that the engines made a strange noise.

Homma said there have been no reports of accidents linked to the faulty engines.

The automaker's shares dropped 2.3 percent to close at 3,010 yen in Tokyo on Thursday.

U.S. authorities recently slapped Toyota with a record $16.4 million fine for acting too slowly to recall vehicles with defects. Toyota dealers have repaired millions of vehicles, but the automaker still faces more than 200 lawsuits tied to accidents, the lower resale value of Toyota vehicles and the drop in the company's stock.

In the aftermath of the recalls, Congress is considering an upgrade to auto safety laws to toughen potential penalties against automakers, give the U.S. government more powers to demand a recall and push car companies to meet new safety standards.

Toyota said last week it will recall 17,000 Lexus luxury hybrids after testing showed that fuel can spill during a rear-end crash.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Link to Lexus recall story:

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/toyota-recalls-hybrids-over-fuel-leak-problems-21775.html
 
Homma said there have been no reports of accidents linked to the faulty engines.

:lol: I like how they have to clarify this now.

"Toyota recalls a billion cars over wonky Toyota badges"
"A spokesman said the badly stuck-on badges have not yet caused any violent firey deaths"
 
Anything that gets the HS250 off the road is fine with me. Feel bad about Toyota, though.

In the aftermath of the recalls, Congress is considering an upgrade to auto safety laws to toughen potential penalties against automakers, give the U.S. government more powers to demand a recall and push car companies to meet new safety standards.

:nervous:
 
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I like how you made sure to copy that last bit.

new safety laws?

great, more dead weight on a car is just what we need...
It sounds to me like the new "laws" will only affect the governments ability to force a recall, not actually add more safety measures to the cars.

Of course in the end it will end up causing both.
 
So first the media totally destroys Toyota's image, then Toyota's greatest test driver dies in an accident, and now they have to deal with yet another blow. Them poor chaps!
 
So glad to hear that Toyota had nothing to do with that :)

"So first the media totally destroys Toyota's image"
 
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