CHICAGO (Xinhua) — Toyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday it is recalling about 550,000 vehicles worldwide, including 420,000 in the United States, for a potential steering problem.

In the United States, the automaker is recalling 283,200 Toyota brand cars, including the 2004 and 2005 Camry, Highlander, Sienna and Solara, the 2004 Avalon and the 2006 Highlander HV. Its recall of 137,000 Lexus vehicles includes the 2004 and 2005 ES330 and RX330 and 2006 RX400h.

There is a possibility that the outer ring of the crankshaft pulley may become misaligned with the inner ring, causing noise and/or illumination of the discharge warning light, Toyota’s U.S. unit said of the problem in a release.

If this condition is not corrected, the belt for the power steering pump may become detached from the pulley and the driver may notice a sudden increase in steering effort, according to the company.

Toyota has received a total of 79 reports about the defect dating back to 2007, said company spokesman Dion Corbett. There have been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the problem, he said.

The recall affects 447,000 vehicles in North America, as well as 38,000 in Japan and another 25,000 in Australia and New Zealand. In Europe some 14,000 vehicles are being recalled, in addition to 10,000 in the Middle East and 14,000 in Asia outside Japan.

In the United States, Toyota will send an owner notification, advising owners to make an appointment with an authorized dealer to have their cars inspected once replacement parts have been produced in sufficient quantities. If needed, parts will be replaced for no charge, the company’s American sales unit said.

In the meantime, if an abnormal noise is heard coming from the engine compartment, the owner is asked to make an appointment with any Toyota or Lexus dealer to have the vehicle inspected for this condition, the company said.

Cologne (dpa) – Toyota will compete in next year’s 24 hour Le Mans race with a hybrid racing car, the company’s motor sport division based in Germany has announced.

“We want to write a new page in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as in the FIA World Endurance Championship, through our use of hybrid technology,” said Tadashi Yamashina, the Toyota Motor sport chairman.

The racing car will be fitted with an electric-petrol powertrain built in Japan, while the car’s chassis will be designed, developed and produced by Toyota Motor sport based in Cologne, Germany, the carmaker said.

Toyota returns to Le Mans, one of the world’s hardest endurance races, for the first time since 1999, when it fielded its GT-One cars.

TOKYO (AP) — Honda has developed a new fuel-efficient motorcycle engine that will be showcased in a scooter that goes on sale globally next year.

Honda Motor Co. said Monday that the new engine for 125-cc scooters is 25 percent more fuel efficient than similar conventional ones.

Honda says it targets people who use scooters to commute to work not only in Japan but also in Southeast Asia and other nations.

Honda has a strong motorcycle division that has helped drive growth and profits during tough times for automakers. Rival Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. don’t have such businesses.

JAKARTA (Xinhua) — Indonesian Industry Minister MS. Hidayat said on Tuesday that Toyota Motor Corp. plans to make Indonesia, a fast growing car market, as its production base.

The plan came as the firm planned to add 337 million U.S. dollar investment for building a new factory in Indonesia.

Minister Hidayat said that products to be produced in Indonesia would be exported to other countries.

“They (Toyota) want to make Indonesia as the base of their production for exports,” Hidayat said after accompanying Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with President Director of Toyota Motor Corp Akio Toyoda at the State palace.

Previously Toyota has committed to investing 385 million U.S. dollars in Indonesia, Akio said that the firm would soon materialize it.

During the meeting with the president, Akio asked for a new seaport to support the shipments of vehicles, said Hidayat.

“They (Toyota) ask for a seaport facility for shipping products not only to overseas but also to other provinces,” he said.

According to Hidayat, the new factory and other projects would be built in Karawang of West Java province and Cikarang and Cibitung of Jakarta and were targeted to start production in 2013.

President Yudhoyono welcomed the plan and said that the government had already included sea ports facilities and roads into the government long-term development plan, according to Johny Darmawan, president director of Astra Motor, who also attended the meeting with the president.

“The president said that it all has been in the plan, it will build a big sea port,” he said.

The director said that Toyota has seen Indonesia as a potential car market. Emerging middle class and growing wealth have partly boosted car demand in Indonesia with a population of over 240 million.

Indonesia’s car market has been growing fast. Last year the country’s car sales hit a record of 765,000 units, or 58 percent higher than that in the previous year.

The strengthening of rupiah and moderate interest rate (6.75 percent) have also factored on the hike of car sales in the country, according to the local automotive association.

The car sales are forecast to grow to about one million units in coming years.

Toyota Motor Corp. revealed the new generation of its bestselling Camry sedan and said it would lower the price to compete with Hyundai’s Sonata and the increasingly stiff competition in the mid-size sedan segment of the auto industry.

Toyota dropped the base price of its core LE Camry model by $200 to $22,500.  The more luxurious XLE model fell by $2,000 to $24,725.

The automaker, which is working to reverse a several year slide in market share, also introduced a new hybrid Camry, which it said will get 43 miles to the gallon in city driving and 41 MPG in combined driving.

The new hybrid is targeted at the popular Ford Fusion hybrid and new hybrids from Hyundai and Kia.  The price will start at $25,900, about $1,100 less than the previous generation.

Toyota said the new generation Camry will have a sportier drive with tighter suspension and handling.  It also will include 10 airbags to protect the driver and passengers.

The car will go on sale in October and will be the seventh iteration of the Camry and the first redesign of the sedan since the 2007 model year. It is expected to do well. The research firm IHS forecasts that the new version will sell 350,000 to 380,000 vehicles during its first year.

The Camry’s market share in the mid-size car segment so far this year is 13.8%. This is down from a share of 16.5% in 2010 and a peak within the last decade of 18.8% in 2009, according to Edmunds.com. Despite the slide, the Camry remains the bestselling passenger sedan in America.

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– Jerry Hirsch

Twitter.com/LATimesJerry

Photo (top) : The new-generation Toyota Camry. Credit: Jerry Hirsch / Los Angeles Times

Photo (below): 2012 Camry. Credit: Toyota Motor Corp.

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TOKYO (AP) — Toyota’s electric-gasoline hybrid car technology will be utilized to help ease power shortages in Japan’s disaster-struck northeast, part of a set of measures the automaker hopes will underline its commitment to the region.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will donate emergency power supply systems linked to its Prius hybrid cars to prefectures (states) in the Tohoku region ravaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The systems will be fitted to about 40 of the automaker’s Prius hybrids. Hybrid vehicles can be used to store and generate electricity because it is partly an electric vehicle that runs on a high-quality battery.

Toyota’s hybrid technology has already been helping in quake-affected areas, which suffered massive blackouts, as an emergency source of electricity.

The automaker said the positive reviews for its Estima hybrid minivan, which comes with regular electrical outlets to plug in and run household appliances for up to two days, are prompting it to make it available as an option for the Prius within a year.

Toyota also announced Tuesday that it will set up a manufacturing training school in the northeast, hoping to send home the message it remains committed to making cars in Tohoku and Japan overall despite mounting obstacles.

Fears are growing that Toyota and other major manufacturers may move production abroad after the tsunami and earthquake left key suppliers in a shambles, disrupting production.

Another setback are the meltdowns at a nuclear power plant, which is crimping the electricity supply and forcing manufacturers to cut back on electricity use.

Recruiting for the new technical school for high school graduates and employees of Toyota affiliates in the northeast will start in July next year. The first class for 10 to 30 students will begin in April 2013, the world’s largest automaker said in a statement.

Toyota also said it will donate 300 million yen ($3.8 million) for educational help for children, many who lost their parents in the disaster, and another 3 million yen ($38,000) to support the arts in Tohoku.

Last week, Toyota announced it was consolidating its operations among Tohoku group companies, and strengthening research and development in the region to make it Toyota’s third production center in Japan — after its headquarters in central Japan and Kyushu, southwestern Japan.

One vehicle set to be produced in northeastern Japan is a small hybrid that’s a key part of Toyota’s lineup of green vehicles, according to the automaker.

Other Japanese automakers are also eyeing renewable energy as a business opportunity, taking advantage of the power-generating feature of green cars.

Nissan Motor Co. is testing a super-green way to recharge its Leaf electric vehicle using solar power. Honda Motor Co. already has solar panel

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Toyota City, Jul 19, 2011 (JCN Newswire via COMTEX) –
Focus on enhanced social-contribution activities, strengthened commitment to local manufacturing and electricity-supplying hybrid vehicles

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today unveiled an initiative for supporting revitalization of Japan’s Tohoku region (northeastern Japan), which was the region hardest hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11.

The initiative, under TMC’s Kokoro Hakobu Project, aims to establish a framework for continuous support, reflecting TMC’s desire to bring more than temporary allocations of human resources and material resources to the recovery effort.

While the Kokoro Hakobu Project, which launched in June, has already enabled diverse recovery activities, the new initiative broadens the project with enhanced social-contribution activities, a stronger commitment to Tohoku manufacturing, and the

provision of hybrid vehicles as auxiliary sources of electric power.

Enhanced Social-contribution Activities

The prefectures most affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, have each established or are planning to establish educational-assistance funds for children, many of whom lost parents to the disaster. TMC will donate 100 million yen to each such fund (for a total of 300 million yen).

TMC will also donate 3 million yen to funds dedicated to supporting recovery through artistic and other cultural activities. In addition, it will add Tohoku venues to its Toyota Master Players concert series featuring 30 leading musicians from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and to the Toyota Community Concerts showcasing Japanese amateur orchestras. It will also sponsor other musical events and other activities in Tohoku in the spirit of revitalization.

Strengthened Commitment to Tohoku Manufacturing

TMC announced plans on July 13 for positioning Tohoku as its third production center in Japan, following the Chubu region (central Japan) and the Kyushu region (southern Japan). It also announced that three TMC subsidiaries that operate in Tohoku – Kanto Auto Works, Ltd., Central Motor Co., Ltd. and Toyota Motor Tohoku Corporation – are to begin discussions on consolidation, with the resulting entity specializing in compact vehicles and functioning as a semiautonomous unit that will handle the entire range of vehicle manufacturing, from RD to production, as well as procurement and production related to engines and other vital components.

One of the vehicle models to be produced in Tohoku will be a highly anticipated small hybrid vehicle that will be a core member of TMC’s lineup of environment friendly vehicles.

With an understanding that developing human resources is essential to quality manufacturing, and to strengthen manufacturing in Tokoku, the new company will have a technical school on its premises that will provide one year of training to graduates of Tohoku technical high schools and employees of Toyota-related companies in the

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By Moira Herbst

NEW YORK |
Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:46pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Toyota Motor Corp lawyers could appeal a previous ruling allowing consumers without sudden-acceleration claims to join litigation before a Santa Ana, California, court.

The ruling by Judge James Selna allows Toyota’s attorneys to appeal the May decision to the Ninth Circuit. The original decision allowed consumers who had not experienced unintended acceleration to nonetheless join a planned class-action lawsuit seeking economic damages.

If Toyota files an appeal, the Ninth Circuit will decide whether it will hear the issue. Selna’s court in Santa Ana is overseeing hundreds of cases against the Japanese automaker related to safety problems.

Toyota said it was gratified by the ruling.

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Marc Seltzer expressed confidence that if the Ninth Circuit takes the appeal, the court’s decision will be affirmed.

The decision follows a setback for the plaintiffs last month, when Selna ruled that Toyota owners outside California who seek to recover losses from their vehicles’ value cannot pursue their claims under California law. California consumer protection laws are more favorable for plaintiffs than those of most other states.

Toyota owners have argued that their vehicles lost value because the company failed to disclose and fix problems with electronic throttle control systems, causing the vehicles to unexpectedly surge forward. Toyota disputes this claim.

Toyota has in recent years recalled millions of vehicles for gas pedal and floor mat problems that owners have linked to unintended acceleration.

The case is In re: Toyota Motor Corp Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 10-ml-02151.

(Reporting by Moira Herbst; additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

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Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., today announced that Lexus intends to conduct a voluntary safety recall of approximately 39,000 2003-2007 Model Year LX 470 vehicles to address a steering shaft condition. No other Toyota or Lexus vehicles are involved in this safety recall.

This action follows an announcement made by Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan on July 29, 2010.

Lexus has determined that the construction of the steering shaft on involved LX 470s is such that the snap ring on the shaft may disengage when the vehicle experiences an unusually severe impact to the front wheels, such as striking a deep pothole. If the snap ring becomes disengaged and the steering wheel is then repeatedly turned to the full locked position, the steering shaft may disengage over time.

Lexus is not aware of any accidents related to this condition.

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Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., today announced that it intends to conduct a voluntary safety recall involving approximately 373,000 2000-2004 Model Year Toyota Avalons sold in the United States to address the possibility that the vehicle’s steering lock bar could break under certain conditions. No other Toyota or Lexus vehicles are involved in this recall.

This action follows an announcement made by Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan on July 29, 2010.

Because of improper casting of the steering lock bar, which is a component of the steering interlock system, there is a possibility that a minute crack may develop on the surface. Such a crack may expand over a long period of repeated lock and unlock operations, and eventually the lock bar could break. If this occurs, the interlock system may become difficult to unlock when stationary.

If the vehicle while being driven is steered to the right with sufficient lateral acceleration, a broken and loose lock bar may move toward the steering shaft. If the engagement hole in the shaft happens to line up at the specific time the broken lock bar has moved, this could cause the steering wheel lock bar to engage, locking the steering wheel, and increasing the risk of a crash.

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