Toyota Calls It Quits

“Make Your Own Goddamn Cars” says Company Officials

Toyota announced today they have decided to pull out of the US and move all operations to China. “That’s where the action is anyways,” said Saguro Izanami, head of US public relations for Toyota. “You want perfect cars, get the Pope to make them,” she continued. “We’re getting pretty sick and tired of Americans blaming their lousy driving on us.  We’ve put just about everything in our cars we can think of to help bonehead drivers negotiate the highways and byways. Now you want us to drive the things for you too? Screw that. We’re outta here.”

Toyota’s announcement is, in part, a response to a class action lawsuit registered in Peoria last week. The lawsuit alleges that Toyota is responsible for several million speeding tickets handed out to Americans over the last several years. Plaintiffs point to recently identified accelerator problems in several models as the primary cause of the law breaking. “We are a nation of laws,” said lead litigator, Rusty Johnson. “Americans have always held the speed limit as a sacred trust and would never knowingly or willingly exceed it. When GM was the number one car company we never had  these speeding problems. Toyota should be held accountable for these egregious actions that have made our nation’s highways less safe.” Said driver and co-plaintiff Walt Randley, “I started out in Chicago on a business trip to St. Louis. I couldn’t keep my Camry under 80 the whole way no matter how hard I tried. Got three tickets even though I explained to the officers it wasn’t my fault. Next time I’m getting a Ford.”

Secretary LaHood directs Toyota to the nearest exit

“Thanks a lot you bunch of whiners,” said a dismayed Karyn Van Pleble, head of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. “Toyota is, or was, one of our main employers. Couldn’t you have just kept your big mouths shut. I guess we go back to selling fried chicken now. That should help the nation’s obesity problem.”

Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, addressed the nation advising drivers to “get the hell out of those Jap cars, pronto. Those bastards still haven’t gotten over WWII. I’ve been expecting something like this ever since we kicked their asses at Okinawa. If people had just bought American this never would have happened.”

Third generation Toyota head Akio Toyoda expressed regret that he had to deal with this problem. “In Japan, I am worshiped as a God. In America, my name is misspelled. I shouldn’t have to put up with this shit.”

[Via http://shipinthenight.wordpress.com]

Toyota's Gas Pedal Problem

What do you guys think about the Toyota recall.I personally never liked Toyota cars.This just gives me more  reasons not  to buy one.This is their second recall in only a little while.Hopefully their won’t be a third.Toyota’s Ceo, Akio Toyoda, went to a meeting and then drove away in an Audi.Personally I think Toyoda has been irresponsible.He went into hiding for a week ignoring his company’s problems. Toyota’s solution is to use a shim in the gas pedal so that it doesn’t get stuck.

[Via http://carfanatica.wordpress.com]

Random Thoughts on Current Events

Some are asking whether or not the U. S. government is bullying Toyota to enhance GM’s and Chrysler’s market share.  The obvious answer:  of course it is.  Any owner of a corporation’s equity that does not exploit an opportunity to gain market share is guilty of negligence.  Government ownership of shares in the two companies constitutes a self-evident, transparently cynical, and unseemly conflict of interest, but given that ownership, it’s got to protect its stake and advance its competitive position.

The Baptist missionaries in Haiti have been formally charged with kidnapping today.  Just goes to show ya:  no good deed goes unpunished.  And this:  policy and procedural law are efficient means by which bureaucrats divest themselves of the responsibility that comes with the reasonable exercise of discretion.

qb

[Via http://qbsblog.wordpress.com]

Toyota filling “shit quality” gap left by declining US auto industry

What is the Japanese word for lemon?

Prius throws it’s hat into the “dangerous at any speed” ring with it’s break troubles.

The 21st century has not been kind to the car, and when Japanese workmanship starts to unravel, it’s like the 4 horsemen are galloping over it’s grave.

If Toyota goes under, it’s all frogs and locust from this p

oint on kids.

[Via http://sixpondmeadow.com]

Does Stefanovich know something we don’t?

It’s been a rather bizarre day when it come to Stefan Grand Prix – the mysterious Serbian outfit chasing a place on the F1 grid for the 2010 season.

This is the team headed by Zoran Stefanovich, a man who has been linked with a move into F1 in the past, and was one of the outfits rejected by the FIA when it announced Campos Meta, Manor GP (now Virgin) and USF1 as new additions to the grid for this season – with Lotus joining at a later date.

Stefanovich lodged a complaint with the European Union over the selection process for 2010 back in July after it became apparent that his team had missed out, but has since pushed ahead anyway with plans to enter the sport.

A deal with Toyota was done when the Japanese marque quit the sport, and SGP has now revealed that the Stefan S-01 – basically what would have been the 2010 Toyota – will run at Portimao for the first time later this month. No drivers have been named, but Kazuki Nakajima, thanks to his links with Toyota, looks well placed to be one of the two drivers present.

The announcement of that deal came hours after Stefan GP revealed a container of equipment was en-route to Bahrain ready for the first race of the year, even though the team doesn’t have a slot on the grid.

Which begs the question, does Stefanovich know something we don’t?

It’s a well known fact that two of the F1 newcomers are facing problems in preparing for the new season. Despite being one of the first to announce plans to enter the sport, USF1 has been surrounded by questions, with Bernie Ecclestone publically doubting if the Charlotte-based team will make it to Bahrain, a claim the team has denied. However, the news coming from the USA has done little to dispel those rumours, especially when it revealed its first driver would be Jose Maria Lopez – a man who hasn’t raced in single-seaters for three years and who is being funded by the Argentine government.

Campos also appear in trouble, with rumours that the team is in severe need of extra funding if it is to make it to Bahrain. A1GP boss Tony Teixeira has been linked with a deal, but given the issues to have affected the nation versus nation series, his potential involvement would raise serious questions from those to have lost out financially from A1GP’s failings.

Stefanovic appears to be hoping that one of those two teams is forced to give up on the F1 dream so his team can fill the void but his own outfit hasn’t signed up to the Concorde Agreement and can’t expect to simply fill any vacancy that may appear – F1’s rules simply don’t allow teams to come and go.

For a start, Stefanovic would need to undergo stringent financial checks and the fact that Mike Coughlan – a man at the centre of the spygate affair – is involved in the plans is unlikely to find favour with new FIA president Jean Todt.

But if Stefanovic doesn’t know something, why go to the trouble of doing the deal with Toyota and why ship equipment all the way to Bahrain for a race you aren’t even entered in?

Only time will tell…

[Via http://mattsalisbury.wordpress.com]

Toyota: Recall before fix was best way

NEWS
Toyota: Recall before fix was best way
February 2, 2010 2:56 a.m. EST

Nagoya, Japan (CNN) — The financial impact of recalling millions of vehicles for a gas pedal flaw is expected to be significant for Toyota, but the automaker thinks it made the right call in announcing the pullback before it had a fix in place, an executive said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki also said electronic problems in the cars were not responsible for the defect in the gas pedals, as some have alleged.

Sasaki, who is in charge of quality control at Toyota Motor Corp., said a recall usually results in a 20 percent drop in sales in the first month before purchases pick back up again.

In this case, he expects the impact will be bigger.

Toyota recalled 2.3 million cars in the United States and as many as 1.8 million in Europe. The recall involves eight models, several of which are not sold in the United States.

Sasaki also said he did not think the company’s rapid global expansion affected quality.

Toyota announced its recall on Friday, saying that the pedals in several models might become harder to press and slower to return when released. In the worst cases, they might become stuck in a partly depressed position.

On Monday, Toyota said it had developed a fix and is shipping the new parts to dealers.

The company risked confusing customers by announcing the recall before a fix, Sasaki said. But it was “the best way to go at the end of the day for the customer.”

The fix involves reinforcing the pedal assembly in a way that eliminates the excess friction that has caused the pedals to stick, the company said in a news release.

Toyota will begin contacting customers as early as this week to let them know when to bring in their vehicles for the fix. The automaker said it will cover all costs related to the repair, which will take about 30 minutes.

The recall in the United States affects Toyota’s 2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix; 2005-2010 Avalon; certain 2007-2010 Camrys; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia. The Camry Hybrid is not included in the recall.

CNN’s Kyung Lah contributed to this report. © 2010 Cable News Network, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

[Via http://dominicstoughton.wordpress.com]

Kobayashi will keep aggressive driving style

New BMW Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi

New BMW Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi has said that he does not plan to change his very aggressive driving style.

The Japanese driver impressed last year, even though he only drove in 2 races, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. His extreme driving style won him many instant fans, including myself. To put it this way, in only his second race, he got past the newly crowned world champion, Jenson Button.

Because he needed to perform well to get a seat for 2010, many people feared that he would become less aggressive. However, Kamui disagrees, saying:

“I don’t think it is something special for me, it’s just my style. I will keep like this, of course without crashing. It is my style and I won’t change.”

He also feels that he is better prepared this season:

“We come in to this season having enough time to prepare for it,” Kobayashi said. “The last two races [last year] I had no testing, so it was really difficult, but now I have so many tests and we can work with the car from the beginning of the season.”

Kobayashi said that he was unwilling to make predictions for 2010 before testing, but said:

“I will try to be the first Japanese driver to win, this is my ultimate goal. But at the moment it is too far away to think about that and I am just focused on my tests now.”

My analysis of his driving style staying is short and sweet: Yay!

[Via http://gforcef1.wordpress.com]