Nice New Toyotas

The car manufacturer Toyota is not having a good year so far is it? And it’s only February! Several million Toyota cars had been warned and then recalled about a floor mat issue that caused the gas pedal to get caught. Then the recall was expanded to more models and years plus the public was informed it was more than a floor mat issue; it was mechanical.

Why did Toyota wait so long to tell the public the truth? By waiting to divulge that it wasn’t floor mats, but a mechanical part in the gas pedal they may very well have caused more injuries and lives to be lost. At least now they seem to be doing the right thing by getting all the cars in and fixed. But does this action come too late to restore the public’s confidence in Toyota?

By first saying the problem was a floor mat, and then identifying the problem as the gas pedal while expanding the recall, many Toyota owners have to be wondering if their car is safe or will it be recalled as well. Is Toyota sitting on another mechanical failure without telling anyone?

Well, it’s not looking to good because the Toyota Prius is the next Toyota car with problems showing up. There have been rumors and stories floating around the Internet that the new 2010 Toyota Prius has braking issues. Toyota states they have already fixed the problem in the cars on the production line, but they aren’t ready to do a recall yet. Why aren’t they doing a recall? Are they waiting for fatalities to pile up, as the case with the sticking gas pedal?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration isn’t very amused by Toyota’s handling of these recalls, and has issued a formal inquiry in to the 2010 Toyota Prius braking issues. The N.H.T.S.A. has only received 124 complaints but that number will no doubt climb much higher once more Prius owners realize that the braking system is indeed faulty and they aren’t crazy.

This is really turning into a public relations nightmare. Toyota has always been known for safety and reliability, but that is now turning rapidly into distrust and fear. The completely lack of concern over consumer’s lives, consumer’s that bought their cars, is chilling. Yes you’ll lose money in a recall, but aren’t human lives more important than money? I shudder to think at the answer Toyota would give at the moment.

The problems first arrived with a single, car crash that took place in southern California last August. Toyota has this week called two separate recalls covering over 7.5 million cars! Now they are forced to stop all sales of eight of Toyota’s best selling models which will cost the company and its dealers a minimum of $54 million a day in lost sales. Toyota is known for its great quality, and wonderful reputation. How did the worlds largest and most profitable automaker find itself at the center of the biggest recall since the Firestone Tire recall in 2000.

The first recall, covers 4.2 million Toyota and Lexus models, owners are to remove the floor mats from their cars and place them in the trunk, or to have the floor mats zip-tied in place by a Toyota dealer. The recall covers many models and year including:

* 2005 to 2010 Avalon
* 2007 to 2010 Camry (not including Camry Hybrid)
* 2008 to 2010 Highlander
* 2009 to 2010 Matrix
* 2004 to 2009 Prius
* 2005 to 2010 Tacoma
* 2007 to 2010 Tundra
* 2009 to 2010 Venza
* 2007 to 2010 Lexus ES350
* 2006 to 2010 Lexus IS250
* 2005 to 2010 Lexus IS350
* 2009 to 2010 Pontiac Vibe

The second recall covers 2.3 million cars which together account for over 50% of Toyota’s sales. Affected models include:

* 2005 to 2010 Avalon
* 2007 to 2010 Camry
* 2009 to 2010 Corolla
* 2010 Highlander
* 2009 to 2010 Matrix
* 2009 to 2010 Rav4
* 2008 to 2010 Sequoia
* 2008 to 2010 Tundra

In addition, all 2009 and 2010 Pontiac Vibes, which are mechanically identical to the Matrix and built in the same plant, are also affected.

Toyota Prius Battery Problems

The Toyota Prius battery is an excellent powering device. It has numerous advantages over the other leading products for supply of power. However, there are certain problems which are noticeable and quite prominent in many cases. Some of the familiar and mass experienced Toyota Prius battery problems are:

- The battery from Toyota has to be charged once every two weeks to maintain performance and to prevent discharge, in the event the vehicle is idle for a longer period than two weeks.

- The car some times, as reported by some owners, goes dead. The car battery simply breaks down without a reason.

- Service is not up to the mark and the service guys are not always ready to help.

- Batteries are powerful yet very surprising as no one knows when it is going to become discharged and it will die without warning.

These are the some very common Toyota Prius battery problems faced by the Toyota users.

Any problems faced by users within the warranty period are taken care of by Toyota themselves but after that it can be very costly to pay for the battery replacements and services.

There are options to fix your battery in the event you are not under warranty. Most of them will cost you anywhere from $1500 for a used battery and around $3800 for a new one. The best option which will save you a lot money is the guide to re building your battery.

This is the best solution for your Toyota Prius battery problems. The problematic batteries can be either disposed off and a new battery can be built or the old battery can be used and rebuilt to a fresh one. The best fact about the guide for Toyota battery problems is that it offers one of the best methods for recycling your old car battery instead of buying a new and costly one.

Why would you pay high for a new battery for your old car? When there are scopes for making use of the old battery in the best possible way and there is no need to spend a lump sum on the Toyota Prius hybrid batteries.

Keep in mind you do not have to rebuild these batteries yourself if you do not have the time or don’t like this type of work. There are many local mechanics which will rebuild the battery for you when you provide the guide for them. This option will cost a little more than building the battery yourself however it usually will only cost you about $500 dollars to get your Prius back on the road.

You can carry out the research work as I did however I would like to offer solutions for the Toyota Prius battery problems you may be having, as I am getting good results from my own rebuilt battery. I was able to rebuild it myself for only a few hundred dollars.

Stephen R Williams

What is the average span of the Toyota Prius battery life?

There hasn’t been a for sure answer found on the estimated life of the Toyota Prius hybrid battery. There are people who are not getting longevity with their Toyota Prius battery life. Before this started to happen it was found they can run for over 200,000 miles and for about nine years.

The Toyota Prius battery life does last longer compared to the others because of the fact that they get only 60% charged. This also offers scope for regenerative braking. Normally the system usually offers the battery to vary its charge level by a maximum of 10- 15%. Therefore the battery is never allowed to get fully charged.

In the US the entire hybrid system has a warranty of 8 years for 100,000 miles and it does include the Toyota Prius battery life. When you live in California, you can get a longer lasting warranty for your Prius battery. They offer a warranty of 10 years or 150,000 miles.

According to Toyota they have not made a single replacement of their battery till date.

Toyota’s nickel metal hybrid batteries are expected to last for 150,000 miles while other brands are estimated to last for only 36,000 miles or three years. This estimation of the Toyota Prius battery life has been based on the laboratory bench testing.

Statements regarding the Toyota Prius battery life by Toyota say the life of their Prius batteries is not determined by the time. Rather they are calculated depending upon the mileage. It has proved to be worthy of 180,000 miles quite easily. But they also state that some Prius batteries sold, already are running for more than 200,000 miles without having any problems.

The expectancy of the Toyota Prius battery life is about eight years and you can expect them to last for nine years without any wear or tear. After eight years it might need some replacements. Those who face problems regarding their battery are suggested to try out all the options which are easily available to them. We have found 3 main options you can consider,

* You can buy a brand new battery from a dealer. This will set you back between $3000 and $4000 for something Toyota should have never let happen.
* You can check out eBay there are some people are selling Toyota Prius batteries for half the cost of the Toyota dealers. They are usually ranging from $1500 to $2500. This can be risky because you will not know how much were and tear or how many miles the battery will have on it.
* The best option I have found was on the internet. You can find a guide on the internet which will show you how to rebuild your own Prius battery using just regular old tools you would have in your garage. Some people feel this is a not a task they can handle. They can still save money using this option. There are shops other than Toyota dealers which will actually use the Prius Guide you provide for them and will rebuild the battery for you. This option is a lot cheaper than any of the above options because in most cases you can have your battery rebuilt and your Prius back on the road for about $500 dollars.

For more information on the Prius battery guide you will find it at the link I have posted below. Check out the guide it may be what you are looking for and you will keep a lot of money in your pocket and not Toyota’s.

Do you have a dead Toyota Prius Battery and need to know how to fix it? Well, I am sure that you have done some research and know that without warranty from Toyota, the replacement cost for new cells is upwards of $5000. This method is way too expensive isn’t it? Well there are a couple of methods that you can choose if you do not want to pay $5000 to Toyota to completely replace your hybrid batteries (HB).

Purchase Rebuilt Hybrid Batteries From Private Mechanics Online
One way to cut your costs is to buy a rebuilt HB online from private mechanics. There are many websites that offer to sell you rebuilt battery cells online. One of the most common places to look for these rebuilt HB’s is on eBay or Amazon.

However, you may still end up paying 1000’s of dollars for these rebuilt cells as it takes time, labor and new parts to completely rebuild a hybrid battery.

So is there no way to avoid paying 1000’s of dollars to fix your dead batteries? Well actually, there is one more route that you can take if you want to fix your car without breaking your wallet…

Save $5000 By Rebuilding Your Dead Cells Yourself With The Prius Hybrid Battery Repair Guide
If you want to avoid paying 1000’s of dollars to drive your Prius, it is highly recommended to use the repair guide. Using a repair guide is the best economical way to start driving your Prius again!

This repair guide is created from very experienced mechanics that have been fixing and repair dead hybrid batteries for many years. They have taken this knowledge and have created a step-by-step guide with detail pictures to show you how to fix the dead cells yourself for a fraction of the price.

Want to check out this guide for yourself? Visit: Prius Battery Repair.

As you know, replacing your dead hybrid batteries can cost you up to $5000. If you want the cheapest and best option to fix your dead cells, it is highly recommended to use the Prius Hybrid Repair guide.

Don’t want to spend $5000 on new batteries? Visit: Fix Hybrid Batteries.

The Japanese automaker, Toyota, has already been inundated with 138 private class-action lawsuits, 100 of them including personal injury and wrongful death cases in the United States that have stemmed from questionable safety standards. The company now faces an additional dilemma of whether to accept a record fine of $16.4 million US that could cast an admission of ‘wrong doing’ on their part, adding more negative publicity to the company’s quickly tarnishing reputation. The proposed fine is the most the United States government could issue. Toyota has until April 19 to accept or decline.

Toyota has found itself in a world of trouble after the US Transportation Department found them guilty of hiding a dangerous defect and failing to alert regulators quickly enough to the safety issues. These defects were found on some of Toyota’s best selling models such as the Camry and Corolla. The company has recalled more than six million US built vehicles and more than eight million world wide due to acceleration and breaking problems in multiple models. 270,000 vehicles have been recalled in Canada over sticky break concerns; 3,300 of them in the Prius hybrid.

The US Transportation Department felt that Toyota had failed to live up to its legal obligations when 70,000 pages of records were provided from the company showing that Toyota knew of the safety default with sticky breaks in more than 2.3 million vehicles back in September of 2009, but failed to issue a warning until the following January. They are accused of knowingly hiding a dangerous defect from US officially and not taking appropriate action to protect the millions of driver and families who bought their vehicles. Under US law, automakers have five days to notify NHTSA if a determined safety defect exists.

The second largest fine ever issued to an auto manufacturing company was back in 2004 when GM was slapped with a hefty $1 million fine for not responding quickly enough to a recall on almost 600,000 vehicles that had windshield wiper failure.

It may be easier for Toyota to just pay the fine as opposed to fighting and continuing to bring negative attention to its products. The company has already announced that it appointed a new chief quality officer for North America and has given the North American office a greater role in making safety related decisions. The vehicles in question are the 2007-10 Camry, 2009-10 Corolla, 2009-10 Matrix, 2005-10 Avalon, 2010 Highlander and 2007-10 Tundra. To date, 52 deaths have been related to the malfunctioning breaks.

If you too have been in an accident and have been overwhelmed with financial stress, private financial institutions can help. They offer bad credit loans for vehicle repairs to clients who will not traditionally qualify at banks. Applications can be found on line, 24-hours a day.

CARFCO – Car & Truck Repair Financing is one of the sole providers of vehicle repair loans in Canada. For more information visit our Car Repair Loan website. For more articles like this one, visit our Car blog.

Greetings fellow Toyota owners! Is your check engine light on? Do you have the famous p0440, p0441 or p0446 stored in your computer? Well you’re in luck! I am going to talk a little about this problem Toyota has been having, how to fix it, and how to prevent it from happening again.

Did you know that Toyota issued a Technical Service Bulletin issued for this problem? The Technical Service Bulletin simply goes into explaining that one or more of the above codes stored in the computer are due to an inoperative Canister Closed Vacuum Switching Valve. This TSB from Toyota allows the technician to quickly identify the problem so the tech can assign the correct fix. Or does it? Some of these Diagnostic trouble codes are fixed by replacing the Canister Closed Valve Vacuum Switching Valve (VSV valve) located on the air cleaner box, however most are not.

You see, all these codes are saying is that there is a leak in the Evaporative emission system. The evaporative emission control system prevents fuel vapors generated in the fuel tank from escaping into the atmosphere. These vapors are stored temporarily in the EVAP canister. When the vehicle is in operation, fuel vapors stored in the EVAP canister flow through the EVAP purge solenoid, purge port and intake manifold plenum to the combustion chamber and are burned in the combustion process. This increases gas mileage and decreases the emissions as well. The leak in the evap system could be anything from a loose or missing gas cap, to a stuck open purge valve.

This is where the diagnostics come into play. Many shops will just replace the vacuum switching valve as suggested in the TSB. But this may not take care of the problem. What many Toyota owners do not know, is that by topping of their tank after the gas pump has already stopped can cause serious problems in the evap system. When the gas tank is overfilled, the gas will actually back up and go into the evap system. Because the Evaporative Emission system is only designed to work with vapors, as soon as liquid gas enters the evap system, it starts to create problems immediately.

Another cause is when the charcoal in the Charcoal canister breaks apart and contaminates the whole system. This can happen with age as well as by overfilling your gas tank. The little charcoal bits will actually make their way from the rear of the vehicle by where the canister sits, to the front of the vehicle to the purge valve and the canister closed vacuum switching valve. When the computer opens and closes these valves, the charcoal bits will lodge into the all the valves in the system causing them to stick open when they are supposed to be closed. This is where the computer will recognize the leak in the evaporative emission system and flag your famous evap codes.

The fix: VSV valve. If the charcoal is breaking up in the canister, it will need to be replaced. It would be important to also replace the purge valve and canister vent shut valve as these are contaminated as well. Blowing compressed air through the lines will clean out any access derbies that will contaminate the system in the future.

So as you can see, this is a huge problem and Toyota is aware of it. Toyota has taken the right steps to fix this problem for the later generations models.

The Toyota Corolla is a terrific vehicle, but like any automobile, it can run into serious problems. Just one major problem with your Corolla may cost you thousands of dollars to repair if Toyota’s manufacturer’s warranty is not there to protect you. If you drive a Toyota Corolla, you should seriously consider getting a Toyota Extended Warranty to cover your vehicle.

The Corolla is among the best of the compact sedans sold in North America – reliable and economical yet comfortable and refined. The 2010 Corolla comes in five separate trim levels: Standard, LE, XLE, S, & XRS. The main powerplant is a 132 horsepower, 1.8 liter dual VVT-I engine, paired with a five speed manual or four speed automatic transmission. An added engine, available only in XRS models, is a 158 horsepower, 2.4 liter VVT-I engine with a five speed manual gearbox or new five-speed automatic. All Corolla models come standard with front, side-impact & side-curtain airbags, anti-lock brakes with brake assist, & whiplash protecting front seat active head restraints to keep occupants safe.

A Toyota Corolla Extended Warranty will protect you if your car runs into serious problems with the engine, transmission or any other important part. These repairs can cost thousands of dollars, so it is critical that your Corolla is protected. Toyota produces excellent cars and trucks, but any automobile has the potential of running into serious problems. The best way to give yourself piece of mind and protect yourself and your Corolla is to get a free quote on a Toyota Corolla Extended Warranty and see if an extended warranty is right for you and your family.

Toyota is among the leading automobile brands in the world today. It is based out of Japan and is a huge manufacturer of cars. The company Toyota was originally set up as a textile firm, known as Toyota Industries. Two decades later, Toyota Motors grew out of this textile firm by Kiichiro Toyoda in the year 1937 as a subsidiary car manufacturing company.

Toyota cars are considered to be among the best and most successful automobiles. It is the brand that embodies the Japanese auto makers’ success story in the global market. It has remained a perennial leader in the market when it comes to customer satisfaction. The company has something called the Toyota Manufacturing System. It credits this system and process with its reduction in production cost, while improving its vehicle quality by removing defects. It is also the pioneer in the development of hybrid electric and petrol technology. This has helped the car maker reap the benefits as petroleum prices continue to increase worldwide.

Toyota’s main line business today remains design, production and sales of passenger cars. It even manufactures passenger trucks. The makers sell their car under the name of Toyota and Lexus, and in the US under the name of Scion Marques. Toyota continues to be among the most profitable car makers in the world and a record holder in terms of profitability among Japanese companies.

Toyota’s top management aims to make the company the largest automotive company in the world. It wants to ensure that it continues to gain market share and also remain as the largest investor in the automotive industry.

Being a market leader and visionary, Toyota is now developing a car that will be powered only by solar energy. Though, it will take a few years for the planned vehicle to hit the market, the company is working on it so as to ensure that it does not lag behind in the field of technology in the coming years.

Toyota auto makers realise that the competition is only going to get tough in the coming years. Every auto maker in the industry is working to become the market leader in this field. Thus, it is developing various new generation cars to maintain its leader’s position in the near future.

The most popular car brand on Earth, Toyota, is suddenly looking like chopped liver. How can that be? They just began the largest auto recall in history for uncontrollable acceleration problems. Now, their beloved Prius brand is having a brake recall on top of that. Has the automotive world gone mad? They had hoped it would all go away, but there were too many incidents and complaints which resulted in a call to action by the largest consumer of Toyota products, the United States.

Drivers are not prepared to have automobiles with accelerators that have a mind of their own. The results have been disastrous. Brakes can not save you because the engine will overpower your efforts to stop the vehicle. For the record, if this ever happens to you, the experts say to immediately put your car in neutral and guide it over to the shoulder. Then, turn the engine off. For my own experimental purposes, I turned our 1996 Camry engine off and tried to steer the car in a parking lot. You can not turn the steering wheel if the car is off because the power steering is not engaged, and the wheel is really impossible to handle.

I’ve always loved Toyotas. My wife had an ancient Corolla, and we still have the above-mentioned Camry, and a 1977 Toyota long-bed truck. It’s like a Timex watch: it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. That rusted out relic just won’t die. Luckily, none of them were included in any recall. They’re much too old and simple.

But, the main question is: can Toyota survive this nightmare? You’d think that in time, and if the recalls are handled properly, they will regain their status. But, what if there are more design flaws lurking in the wings? And, it has to make you wonder if other car brands have problems yet to be uncovered. I had to take our 1995 Ford Windstar van in for a recall fix, and that was only recently. Scary.

It seems that as the vehicles we drive become more sophisticated, relying on computers and advanced but much more complex systems, there are many more chances for things to go horribly wrong. You often hear mechanics complaining about how difficult the modern-day automobile is to fix, not only in expensive equipment needed to diagnose problems, but in regard to the know-how to fix them once a problem is determined.

Hopefully, this “Toyotapocalypse” will subside, and the Company and their consumers will be much the better for it. But, it will make you think twice before purchasing a Toyota for a while.

About the Author: Grant Brad Gerver is an entrepreneur and creative consultant for Filibi. Free Online Classified Advertising and Printable Coupons with a 70% twist. Come post your free ads with filibi today. “Gerv” is also a YouTube (gbgerver) blues singer-songwriter and guitar player who performs with The Buzzard Brothers. He’s a retired elementary school teacher who works in the mental health care field.