GRtak
Forum Addict
that is Toyota fail. If they don't pay for the full repairs that the recall repair made, then they will be getting sued.
(CNN) -- Toyota has agreed to pay more than $32 million in penalties after two federal investigations that faulted the Japanese automaker for its handling of recent auto recalls, the U.S. Transportation Department announced Monday night.
The fines -- $16.375 million in one case, and $16.05 million in another -- are the steepest allowed by law, the department said in a statement. They come amid on ongoing investigation that Toyota did not comply with federal requirements when it came to reporting safety defects to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The penalties are on top of the $16.375 million fine that Toyota paid last April, for failing to notify the safety officials within five days of learning of the "sticky pedal" effect, which caused some of its cars to accelerate with no way to slow down.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood applauded the settlement, saying he expects "Toyota to work cooperatively in the future to ensure consumers' safety."
Steve St. Angelo, Toyota's chief quality officer for North America, also issued a statement saying his company was "pleased to have resolved these legacy issues."
"These agreements are an opportunity to turn the page to an even more constructive relationship with (federal safety authorities) and focus even more on listening to our customers and meeting their high expectations for safe and reliable vehicles," he said.
The announcement is the latest in a string of recent setbacks for Toyota.
Its sales for November were down 3.2% from one year ago, slightly more than analysts predicted and down 11.1% from October. Those results have left the automaker mired in third place in terms of U.S. sales.
Also in November, Toyota announced a "limited service campaign" to fix cooling pumps on 378,000 Toyota Prius hybrid cars in North America. And a federal judge in California tentatively ruled that dozens of Toyota vehicle owners who filed a class-action lawsuit against the automaker over alleged mechanical defects can proceed with their case.
The lawsuit is the first major U.S.civil action against Toyota since the automaker recalled millions of vehicles stemming from "sudden unexpected acceleration" and brake defects.
In the lawsuit, Toyota car owners say their vehicles lost significant value as a result of the recall as well as federal investigations stemming from thousands of consumer complaints, which led a $16.3 million civil penalty issued by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
Even before the Prius recall, Toyota had announced recalls of more than 8 million vehicles since the second half of 2009. The latest major recall was in August, affecting about 1.33 million Corolla and Matrix vehicles built from 2005 to 2008 and sold in the U.S. and Canada.
Goldman Sachs Japan isn't exactly painting a rosy picture for the future of Toyota. The investment group says the automaker isn't recovering from the automotive implosion as quickly as its competitors. As a result, the predictions regarding the company's return to pre-sales-collapse figures have been toned down. Goldman Sachs Japan now says that while it fully expects to see car sales eclipse the previous average growth rate of 2.6 percent per year, jumping to eight and nine percent from 2010 on, Toyota is only expected to see its pace swell by three percent.
Why so slow? According to GSJ, the problem is that Toyota sales have grown soft in Europe, the U.S. and even Japan. While the company is still at the top of the sales charts on its home turf, it's also facing operating losses that are expected to continue on into the near future. Meanwhile, sales in Europe have fallen off from 1.284 million units in 2008 to 858,000 in 2010. Likewise, in the U.S., sales are down by 30 percent in 2010 compared to just two years ago. Head over to Wards to see a full breakdown of the GSJ study.
As difficult as the past few years have been for the U.S. auto industry, automakers and analysts alike continue to hope for a better future. 2010 has been a vast improvement over 2009, with sales up 11 percent. Even better, the last three months have seen sales rise above an annualized rate of 12 million cars and trucks, and analysts see 2011 sales approaching 13 million units.
Nearly all automakers have benefited from customers' renewed faith in the economy, but few have fared as well as Ford. The Blue Oval has seen sales rise by 21 percent so far in 2010, and the Dearborn, MI-based automaker appears destined to reclaim its spot as the number two automaker in the States. Ford analyst George Pipas points out to The Detroit News that the automaker has seen two consecutive years of market share increase for the first time since 1993, going from 14.2 percent in 2008 to an expected 16.8 percent for 2010. At the same time, Toyota has seen its share shrink to 15.2 percent due in part to the recall of 6.75 million vehicles in the U.S. alone and over 10 million cars and trucks globally. Should sales trends continue, Ford will overtake Toyota in sales for the first time since the Japanese automaker wrestled away the number two spot back in 2007. General Motors remains at the top of the U.S. sales food chain, stabilizing its market share at 19.3 percent despite shedding four brands during bankruptcy.
Ford had a fantastic 2010, and with the 2011 Explorer and 2012 Focus on their way to showrooms and continued momentum from cars like the Mustang, we're thinking 2011 will be a winner as well. Meanwhile, Toyota will need some fresh product in its showrooms if it hopes to re-engage Ford and take back its place in line. And it will be tougher than ever to steal sales from GM or Chrysler, as both companies have stabilized market share and have new product for 2011.
According to The Detroit Free Press, Toyota has agreed to settle the case in which four people died in a runaway Lexus to the tune of $10 million. The crash, which occurred in August 2009, killed an off-duty police officer, his wife, brother-in-law and daughter and set off a torrent of recalls and investigations into just how long the Japanese automaker had known about unintended acceleration issues. In this case, the accelerator was trapped by the wrong-sized floor mat, but Toyota would later recall vehicles not only with similar issues, but with pedals that could stick as well.
Originally, both Toyota and the plaintiffs wanted to have the results of the settlement sealed, though Superior Court Judge Anthony Mohr decided that the public had a right to know the details of the case, and that right outweighed arguments from both sides. As with the two civil penalties that Toyota has paid to the federal government for failing to notify safety officials of the problems in a timely manner, Toyota has not admitted any wrong doing by settling the case.
Dumb. The throttle in my Lexus stuck once under the floor mat. Is someone going to give me ten million dollars?
Dumb. The throttle in my Lexus stuck once under the floor mat. Is someone going to give me ten million dollars? No, I guess you only win that prize if you're too thick to turn the ignition off and slow down.
Welcome to fucking America, where stupidity pays.
Stupid American jokes are still funny?
If you had followed the thread, you would realize that one of the problems is that Lexus uses a push-button ignition that is difficult to shut down in an emergency.
Probably not, because you still look alive to me. Itsy bitsy distinction there.
Stupid American jokes are still funny?
And if they had been fit to operate a vehicle they'd have realized that the pedal next to the accelerator has enough retarding force to slow a car down even when the throttle is at full. Unless it was an LF-A in first gear?
I'm sure that an off-duty state trooper, in the roughly 30 seconds or so that the car accelerated before impact, never tried stepping on the brakes. Puh-leeze.
We all agree that the brakes generally SHOULD have enough force to stop a vehicle under full-throttle acceleration. That doesn't mean they actually DID in this case.
Are kilts comfortable to wear in the winter? I bet they get pretty drafty.
Being a police officer does not necessarily make someone more competent. In fact, being a police officer doesn't necessarily mean that someone isn't also a criminal. Some of these guys panic, some are criminals. Neither really belong in their jobs but, contrary to popular belief, there are veteran police officers that have no business being employed by a police department.
The fact that he was a police officer shouldn't really be considered. We generalize and think certain things about all kinds of people in all kinds of situations.
Lastrella: "We're on North 125 and our accelerator is stuck."
911 Dispatcher: "I'm sorry?"
Lastrella: "Our accelerator is stuck. We're on 125."
911 Dispatcher: "Northbound 125. What are you passing?"
Lastrella: "We're going 120. Mission Gorge. We're in trouble. We can't ? there is no brakes. End freeway half mile."
911 dispatcher: "You can't do anything like turn off your engine?"
Lastrella: "We're approaching the intersection. We're approaching the intersection. We're approaching the intersection."
Others in the car are heard saying "hold on" and "pray."
Lastrella: "We're on North 125 and our accelerator is stuck."
911 Dispatcher: "I'm sorry?"
Lastrella: "Our accelerator is stuck. We're on 125."
911 Dispatcher: "Northbound 125. What are you passing?"
Lastrella: "EEEVVVEEERRRYYYTTTHHHIIINNNGGG!!!"