Consumer Reports Cars Blog: Toyota

Toyota

November 20, 2009

Toyota takes on IIHS Top Safety Picks

Just days after its public shouting match with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over sudden acceleration claims, Toyota is now arguing with the nation’s top private safety organization, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

On Wednesday, the IIHS released its list of Top Safety Picks for 2010. This year the Institute added a new roof strength test to its requirements for cars to receive the rating. That demanding criteria dramatically shortened the 2010 list.

In its press release announcing the results, IIHS called out Toyota for having no vehicles that qualified.

In response, yesterday Toyota called IIHS’s new methodology “extreme and misleading.” In a statement, Toyota Vice President of Public Affairs Irv Miller said, “There are 38 Toyota, Lexus, and Scion models, and only three were tested for roof strength by IIHS: Camry, RAV4, and Yaris.” He said all Toyota products meet government standards for roof crush. The new IIHS test for roof strength is much tougher than the government standard, which NHTSA looking to make more stringent.

Later yesterday, Russ Rader, an IIHS spokesman, essentially told Toyota to put up or shut up. He is quoted in the New York Times stating that all automakers were invited to nominate vehicles to be tested (and reimburse IIHS for the test.) “We don’t think there are automakers who would miss the opportunity to have their vehicles tested if they thought they met the criteria. We can only assume the [manufacturer’s other] vehicles would not do well for roof strength.”

While Toyota still has among the most reliable and fuel-efficient car lineups Consumer Reports has tested, the bloom may be coming off the company’s rose. While its cars generally do well in most safety measures, this pattern of blasting the messenger isn’t helping its public image, an image that is increasingly under attack.

Over time, the IIHS is expected to test more vehicles for roof strength. The test is performed by pressing a metal plate against one side of the roof at a constant speed. To earn a Good rating, a vehicle must withstand a force that is four times the vehicle’s weight before compressing five inches. This tough new test adds another dimension to the Top Safety Picks.

For information on how vehicles perform in government and IIHS crash tests, see the safety tabs in the model overview pages, available to online subscribers.

Watch more than 300 crash tests videos to see how vehicles perform in frontal offset and side-impact tests.

—Eric Evarts

November 18, 2009

Toyota safety recall notices arrive in owners’ mailboxes

Late September, Toyota Motor Sales issued advice online for Lexus and Toyota vehicle owners to remove their floor mats pending further investigation into sudden acceleration complaints. As promised, the automaker has sent notifications by mail detailing the risks and corrective measures for owners.

The impacted vehicles identified by Toyota include:

2005 - 2010 Toyota Avalon
2007 - 2010 Toyota Camry
2004 - 2009 Toyota Prius
2005 - 2010 Toyota Tacoma
2007 - 2010 Toyota Tundra
2007 - 2010 Lexus ES350
2006 - 2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350

FloorMatRecall_2 An “interim” notice received by a Consumer Reports staff member lists the specific, factory-approved mats for their Prius. (A sample letter can be view as a pdf.) It advises “Only install floor mats designed specifically for the model and model year.” The multi-page letter provides instructions for identifying the floor mat part number (located on the bottom of the back side of the mat) to confirm appropriate fitment.

The letter warns not to stack mats. This is particularly important with the approach of winter, as many motorists want to install all-weather mats. Such mats are designed to better hold water and debris, and therefore are generally thicker. As with all mats, again, only install models specifically designed for your vehicle.

A key concern is that a mat may interfere with the accelerator or brake pedal. These pedals should move freely without touching a mat.

The bottom-line advice from Toyota is to “take out any removable driver’s floor mat and not replace it… until the campaign remedy is ready and implemented on your vehicle.”

Toyota will notify owners as soon as a remedy is available. And as we have reported separately, there is an indication that they are looking beyond the floor mats to a possible change to the accelerator pedals. (Read: “Toyota may address gas pedals in acceleration recall.”)

Be prepared in case of sudden acceleration on a Lexus, Toyota, or model from any other brand by reading these steps from Toyota, and our test-based advice:
Putting a car in Neutral might save your life
Putting stuck floor mat survival strategies to the test

For more information, visit Toyota.com/floormats.

Learn about safety technologies in our car safety section.

—Jeff Bartlett

November 13, 2009

Top-selling cars in 2009 yields some surprises

It’s been a tough year so far for automakers. Many manufacturers are posting large declines in sales compared to last year. However, some individual vehicle models are making strides. Reuters recently put together a list of the top-selling vehicles through October 2009 and it holds some surprises.

The Ford F-150 pickup continues to secure the top spot even with a sales decrease of 23 percent in 2009 over the first ten months of 2008. However, not all pickups held their sales rank; the Dodge Ram drops from the 5th spot to 9th and the Toyota Camry bumped the Chevy Silverado down from 2nd to 3rd.

But the big news is the Ford Fusion. The Fusion was freshened for the 2010 model year and has achieved a number of accolades. The Fusion hybrid is the highest scoring domestic family sedan in Consumer Reports testing. Most versions of the Fusion have above average predicted reliability in our survey data. In sales, it has jumped 10 spots to reach the top 10. Further, it is the only model in the top 10 to show a sales increase this year--15 percent over last year.

Here is the list of the top 10 vehicles in sales and the change from 2008. Also, noteworthy is that all the models are recommended by Consumer Reports.

Click on each model in the chart below to see how they performed in our road test, and see their ratings for reliability, safety, and more.

Rank	Make & model	2009	2008	2008 rank	% change
1	Ford F-Series pickup	334,922	436,022	1	-23.2
2	Toyota Camry	285,069	379,270	3	-24.8
3	Chevrolet Silverado pickup	261,142	402,191	2	-35.1
4	Honda Accord	244,579	333,011	6	-26.6
5	Toyota Corolla	240,755	307,071	4	-21.6
6	Honda Civic	223,751	304,297	8	-26.5
7	Nissan Altima	169,435	241,529	9	-29.8
8	Honda CR-V	158,573	171,193	11	-7.4
9	Dodge Ram pickup	155,467	213,684	5	-27.2
10	Ford Fusion	148,045	128,381	20	+15.3

Also read: Flashy muscle cars are recession's hot ticket.

—Liza Barth

November 5, 2009

Toyota recall and investigation is not over, yet

It turns out the investigation into Toyota/Lexus sudden acceleration, which prompted the largest recall in the company’s history to remove floor mats that could interfere with the accelerator pedal, isn’t over.

On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied a petition to conduct an additional investigation into sudden acceleration, noting that the agency had previously investigated several similar complaints and that a new investigation was unlikely to draw any new conclusions.

Toyota quickly jumped on the news to proclaim that NHTSA had found no cause for the unwanted acceleration “other than the risk from an unsecured or incompatible driver’s floor mat.” (Original Toyota release.)

Yesterday, NHTSA rebutted that statement with a press release of its own, “correcting inaccurate and misleading information put out by Toyota,” and calling the floor mat recall “an interim measure, not a remedy.”

“This remedy does not correct the underlying defect in the vehicles involving the potential for entrapment of the accelerator by floor mats, which is related to accelerator and floor pan design,” the NHTSA statement says.

In the end, runaway acceleration can happen for lots of reasons. There is no substitute for knowing how to stop the car in an emergency, as we’ve detailed in a series of recent blog entries and tests.

No matter what brand automobile you drive, be sure to read "How to stop a runaway car: Don’t pump the brakes" and "Putting a car in Neutral might save your life." And the report "Owners of Toyota cars in rebellion over series of accidents caused by sudden acceleration" at ABCNews.com.

—Eric Evarts

November 4, 2009

2009 SEMA Show: Surfrider Toyota Camry hybrid CNG

SEMA-CNG-Camry Toyota partnered with Metal Crafters of Fountain Valley, CA, to convert the 2.4-liter gasoline engine in this Camry hybrid to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). The stock battery and hybrid system remains, and the powertrain is said to produce 170-hp total. Toyota claims a cruising range of better than 250 miles, and fuel economy of 33 mpg overall. This being SEMA and all, cosmetic changes include a lowered suspension, 20-inch wheels, body kit, and custom grille and rear bumper.

—Jim Travers

November 4, 2009

2009 SEMA Show: Kustomizing the Toyota Prius

Back in the 1960s, long before marketing types had the option of simply ignoring spell check as has become the norm today, George Barris was known as King of the Kustomizers.

The King was the guy behind a number of designs recognizable to millions today, including many car-spotters who weren’t yet born when George and his team created them, such as the original Batmobile.

George is still in business, and he and his team chose SEMA to show their take on a Toyota Prius. The car was here last year, too, but what makes his Kustom more interesting is that Toyota is showing their own customized Prius this year, and it’s just down the hall.

Barris-Kustom-Prius-f

The Barris Kustom sports a trademark metalflake paint job, in this case a green and gold that could be, well, right out of the ‘60s. Toyota opted for a more subtle look, a pale metalflake blue that might indicate a corporate desire to not get too crazy with the Prius faithful. No harm, no foul.

Both opted for custom wheels, but where George went down the eighteen-inch chrome road with hubs painted green, Toyota chose clear plastic discs over their wheels for less drag. Toyota also fitted clear curved panels over the A pillars they say further reduce drag, but no information was offered as to how much drag these accessories reduced. Looking odd is just a bonus.

Those A-pillar panels probably wouldn’t have worked for George, because he added scissors front doors to his Prius. No information as to what those doors might do or not do for drag was offered, either.

But hey, they’re cool. And green. And metalflake.

Could hybrids be the next great frontier for hot rodders?

—Jim Travers

Also see from the 2009 SEMA show:
Better than expected, future looks greener
Tire testing and the transformation of the tire industry
Our favorite modified Chevrolet Camaros
New iPhone apps for auto diagnostics
World's fastest Honda Civic circa 1976
All shades of green project cars
Surfrider Toyota Camry hybrid CNG
Hot rodders turning green
Auto aftermarket prepares for show time in Las Vegas

November 4, 2009

How to stop a runaway car: Don’t pump the brakes

Despite a massive recall by Toyota of 3.8 million vehicles to address sudden runaway acceleration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is still investigating the exact cause of this problem. They are concerned that the accelerator pedal getting stuck by the floor mat – the purpose of the recall - is not the exclusive cause, according to the New York Times.

Whatever the cause of unintended acceleration, the best defense is to know how to safely regain control of the car should it happen to you. In a previous post, we wrote that putting a car in Neutral might save your life. Our latest tests show that pumping the brakes at full throttle can make a bad problem even worse, as demonstrated this video from ABC News. (See the report "Owners of Toyota cars in rebellion over series of accidents caused by sudden acceleration" at ABCNews.com.)

A NHTSA report released this week points out that some drivers can “react by applying the brake pedal multiple times, depleting the braking system’s (vacuum based) power assist.

Testing theory at the track
We decided to find out just how quickly you could lose power brakes with a stuck throttle. Using our test track and several test vehicles, we accelerated to 60 mph and hit the brakes with the accelerator still floored. Once the brakes were applied, the vehicles began fighting us. The transmissions downshifted trying to maintain speed.

Instead of holding the brakes, we tried pumping them. This test confirmed that pumping the brakes is a really bad strategy. Power brakes rely on engine vacuum to provide additional brake pressure. At full throttle, the engine doesn’t generate any vacuum. So as soon as we removed and reapplied pressure to the brake pedal, the power assist disappeared and stopping the car became hopeless. “There was no way I could push hard enough on the brakes to slow the car down when the engine was fighting me,” said Sr. Automotive Engineer Jake Fisher.

Bottom line
The best strategy to stop a runaway car is to press and hold the brakes and shift into neutral. Modern cars have rev limiters, which will protect the engine from over-revving. Even if your car doesn’t, don’t worry about your engine’s life—worry about your own.

—Eric Evarts

November 3, 2009

2009 Annual Auto Reliability Survey: 10 best and worst models

Just because a model is reliable doesn’t mean it is recommended by Consumer Reports. Four out of the top 10 most reliable vehicles don’t perform well enough in our tests for us to recommend them. The opposite happens as well—some vehicles that score well in our testing are not recommended because they have below average reliability. Seven out of the 10 least reliable vehicles have high enough test scores to be recommended, but their poor reliability prevents them from reaching that recommended status. So, it’s important to look at both performance in our tests as well as reliability because a high scoring car isn’t always a smart purchase choice if it isn’t reliable.

Our 2009 Annual Auto Survey reveals the best and worst vehicles in reliability based on our subscribers’ experiences with 1.4 million vehicles over the past 10 years (2000-2009). Our data helps determine which used cars to choose as well as to forecast how the 2010 models will hold up.

The vehicles listed below are the top 10 most and least reliable new cars in our reliability survey. Models with an asterisk (*) are based on data of one model year only. Click on the vehicles below to visit the model overview pages to see how they performed in our tests and also view a more-detailed look at reliability broken down by 17 potential trouble spots. (Model overview pages are available to online subscribers.)

Most reliable vehicles, listed in order of Ratings score starting with the best score.

Least reliable vehicles, listed in order of Ratings score starting with the worst score.

For more details on our 2009 Annual Auto Survey including the full list of most and least reliable new cars by vehicle type, see our reliability report. Also, check out our guide to car reliability for more details on new and used car reliability, as well as owner satisfaction.

—Liza Barth

November 2, 2009

Gas-pedal inspection shows most do not pivot

Preliminary federal investigation into a highly publicized unintended-acceleration crash involving a Lexus ES 350 crash this past August is pointing toward incorrect floor mats as a significant factor. The cause of the crash is described as “very excessive speed” linked to the accelerator being fully depressed. (Read "More than floor mats: NHTSA report gives more details on Lexus crash.")

Toyota issued a recall on 3.8 million cars to have owners remove the floor mats from the vehicles. But the other part of the equation in the investigation is the accelerator pedal itself. An initial investigation of the crashed car found the rubberized plastic all-weather floor mat was fused to the rubberized plastic accelerator pedal in the fire that followed the crash (pdf). That mat wasn’t intended for the ES; rather it was a mat from an RX 400h.

The report also noted that the Lexus’s accelerator “is not hinged and has no means for relieving forces caused by interferences.” All gas pedals move up and down to control the engine speed, and most are hinged either at the top or the bottom. Some pedals also tilt relative to the arm they’re mounted on (though this has no effect on the throttle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) seems to imply that if the pedal had a second hinge, it might have been easier for the driver to get it unstuck from the floor mat.

Kia-Pedal-pivot

We checked our Auto Test Center parking lot to find how many cars had such a double-hinged pedal. Of 45 cars we checked, we found only the Kia Optima LX four-cylinder had a double-hinged pedal (show right)—our Optima EX V6 did not. In the LX sedan, the pedal was so high off the floor that it seems unlikely that an unsecured floor mat could reach it, as investigators suggest may have been the case in the Lexus crash. All other pedals checked in our lot were rigid, one-piece designs (see above), some hinged at the top, and some at the bottom.

We’re not sure whether the double-hinged design would help or not. But it seems an answer not many automakers are pursuing. For its part, Toyota says it is working on solutions that prevent the throttle from sticking, rather than those that would mitigate the effects of a stuck throttle.

—Eric Evarts

October 29, 2009

More than floor mats: NHTSA report gives more details on Lexus crash

It may not be just floor mats that lead to sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus models, which were factors in killed California Highway Patrolman Mark Saylor and his family this summer.

More information has come to light regarding Toyota Motor Company’s 3.8-million vehicle recall for sudden unintended acceleration. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a report about its inspection of the vehicle that suggests factors beyond the floor mats as potential culprits or complicating factors (NHTSA report pdf).

Highlights include:

According to the NHTSA report, the mats in the Lexus ES 350 that Saylor was driving were made for a Lexus RX 400h SUV, not the ES 350 sedan.
The gas pedal was fused to the mat in the fire that ensued after the crash. The gas pedal used a single hinge on the upper end, and it did not have a center pivot that might have made it easier to get the pedal out from under a floor mat. (To be fair, most accelerator pedals lack a center pivot – of 44 cars we surveyed in our parking lot, only the Kia Optima had a center hinge pivot.)

The Lexus that Saylor was driving had a keyless ignition, which uses a start/stop button to start and stop the engine. There is no traditional key to turn if you need to shut the engine off in an emergency. In the case of the ES 350, the button needs to be held for three seconds before it will turn off the engine if the car is in gear. Toyota says it considered this a safety feature to prevent the engine from turning off if the button were pressed accidentally. However, the report points out that Saylor was traveling at an estimated 100 mph—that’s the equivalent of traveling one and a half football field in three seconds.

The ES had a data recorder but its information has not yet been reviewed.

Brian Lyons, Toyota’s manager of safety and quality communications, says the company is looking at features to mitigate problems with stuck accelerators following the accident. “Our focus is on avoidance of the problem, rather than measures to mitigate it” in case the throttle becomes stuck, he says.

Bottom line:
As the investigation continues, we expect further insights to emerge from both federal departments and Toyota, especially once the event data recorder has been examined. In the meantime, Consumer Reports will continue to explore related issues, as we have done previously with our blog posts on floor mats and unintended acceleration survival strategies.

For now, our advice remains that moving the gear selector to neutral is the best option.

—Eric Evarts

Updated 11/3/09