As Toyota sought to contain the fallout from a California sudden-acceleration case involving a Prius, another driver’s out-of-control Prius slammed into a stone wall in New York on Tuesday.
A 56-year-old woman was pulling out of a driveway when her 2005 Prius “shot” across the road, Harrison, N.Y., police said. The driver, who was not immediately named, suffered minor injuries, but the impact sent “some pretty big boulders” fairly far, said Anthony Marraccini, acting police chief.
That Prius is among the 2004-2009 models recalled by Toyota for floor mats that could jam the gas pedal, but Marraccini said the floor mat has been pretty much ruled out since it was tied to the seat base with plastic ties. Police have taken the car for further analysis.
The new Prius incident came as Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rushed investigators to San Diego to analyze the 2008 Toyota Prius involved in

  MANHEIM has predicted 2010 will be a positive year for used car retailers as the recovery continues.
However, it has also warned car dealers to start preparing now for future challenges in the used car market.
Weak registrations in 2008 and 2009, it explained, will limit the use car pool in 3 to 4 years’ time.
The firm has put a figure on the cost of the recession for a 7-year period starting in 2008. This, it says, will be a reduction of 5.75 million new and used car sales. This will be split 2.5 million new car sales lost, and 3.25 million used car sales.
The new car figure equals a whole year of lost car sales, says Manheim! What’s more, even by 2014, it doesn’t reckon the market will have recovered to 2006 levels.
Despite there being more used car sales lost, Manheim is more positive about the second-hand market.
‘Typically there are over

  Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius kept its top spot in Japan’s auto market in February for the ninth-straight month despite a recall of the flagship model earlier in the month.
Toyota sold 27,008 third-generation Prius gasoline-electric hybrids in February, according to data released Thursday by Japan’s Automobile Dealers Association, supported by tax breaks and government subsides designed to spur demand for fuel-efficient cars.
The strong sales came despite Toyota announcing on Feb. 9 a recall of 199,666 of the fuel-efficient vehicles in Japan to upgrade anti-lock braking system software, part of a series of massive global recalls that have tarnished the automaker’s reputation for quality.
The buoyant February sales figures partly reflect deliveries of vehicles ordered in the autumn, as customers were forced to wait due to robust demand, a spokesman at the JADA said.
Dealers have said demand remains strong for used models of the 2010-model Prius because car buyers can

  Shuttered General Motors dealers hoping to get their business back should stay near the phone. General Motors is in the process of calling 661 dealers targeted for shutdown to offer them their franchises back, company executives said Friday afternoon.
That represents more than half of the dealers who lodged an arbitration appeal last month to fight their planned termination.
In May, as the Detroit giant worked its way through bankruptcy, GM notified 2,000 dealers that they would lose their franchise license in October 2010. But Congress demanded that the company give dealers an appeal process, and 1,100 of those targeted for shutdown met last month’s deadline to file for arbitration in an attempt to regain their license.
The arbitration hearings will take place over the next three months, but GM’s initial review of the applications convinced it to go ahead and offer more than 600 dealers their franchise back, the company

  St. Louis Motorsports employee Adrian Hill has been charged with careless and reckless driving after posting multiple high-speed test drives on YouTube - some at over 150 MPH.

Recently, Chesterfield Police, Missouri, discovered multiple super car videos posted all over YouTube. During one of the videos the driver incriminates himself by stating “That was 150” while at the wheel of a new Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SV. He had just accelerated rapidly in the slow lane of Highway 40 and was bragging about the dangerous speeds. He later states, “Sexy. Aggressive. And in your face.” Our question…what was he thinking?
Chesterfield police arrested the driver within hours of gathering the evidence in the case. “At those kinds of speeds a close call, as anyone can tell you, could be in a minute, in a second, or in a split second,” says Lt. Steve Lewis.
Lt. Lewis says that the videos are just

  If you’ve purchased a used vehicle in the past, you may have first taken it to an automotive mechanic to have it checked out. That’s a great idea that can save you from “buyer’s remorse,” but there’s actually one other step that you may want to consider.
Many autobody or collision repair facilities also offer a “pre-purchase” check of used vehicles. This service, for which there may be a fee, can help determine if there is unrepaired or poorly repaired previous damage that could impact the vehicle’s value, safety or performance.
A qualified, well-trained collision repair facility can restore both the look and performance of even a badly damaged vehicle. In addition, well-trained collision-repair facilities will be able to determine if a vehicle that may seem shiny and new to the consumer is really hiding substandard or unsafe repairs.
In some cases, a used vehicle that looks like a great bargain is actually

  Toyota Canada today reported February sales of 12,693 Toyota and Lexus cars, trucks and SUVs – up 25.2% from a year ago. This included 902 Lexus luxury vehicles, up 26.2% from last year to establish a best ever February for Lexus. Sales of 11,791 Toyota models were up 25.2% vs. February 2009.
A number of models recorded best-ever February sales, as follows:
•Toyota Prius: 258 (up 55.4% from February 2009)
•Toyota Corolla: 2,906 (up 9.0%)
•Toyota Matrix: 1,602 (up 38.6%)
•Toyota Tacoma 4×4: 635 (up 75.9%)
•Toyota RAV4: 1,398 (up 11.7%)
•Toyota Venza: 1,048 (up 112.6%)
•Lexus RX 350: 412 (up 49.3%)
“We thank our customers for continued confidence in Toyota vehicles - vehicles that are reliable, safe and fuel-efficient,” said Yoichi Tomihara, President of Toyota Canada Inc. “We also thank our team members at our coast to coast dealerships for their quick and reliable work in servicing recall repairs and bringing peace of mind to our family of

  It’s a good month for car sales as people start getting their tax returns,
But finding that perfect, $2,500 ride is almost out of the question.
Art Garcia has been in the car business for 15 years.
He works with Warner Auto Sales and says right now the used car business is booming.
“Business is picking up we’re seeing you know right now, it’s tax season and a lot of people are coming in with their tax dollars and coming in and buying a lot of these used cars. We’re having one of the best months we’ve had here for a while,” Art Garcia said.
That tax cash is driving a 10 to 15% spike in sales.
In fact the company says it’s sold more cars this month than ever before.
Two cars were sold while Action News was on the lot.
“The shortest month of the year and we broke a record,” Art Garcia said.
Lots of sales,

  General Motors said on Wednesday that it would shut down Hummer, the brand of big sport utility vehicles that became synonymous with the term gas guzzler, after a deal to sell it to a Chinese manufacturer fell apart.
The buyer, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines, said in a statement that it had withdrawn its bid because it was unable to receive approval from the Chinese government, which was trying to put a new emphasis on limiting China’s dependence on imported oil and protecting the environment.
Tight financial markets also hurt the deal. When the commerce ministry did not bless the transaction, the well-capitalized Chinese banks became reluctant to lend money to Tengzhong, even though it tried to set up an overseas subsidiary to buy Hummer. That left Tengzhong trying to borrow money from Western banks that have been curtailing their lending even to established borrowers, much less a little-known company from western

  Sales at Tammy Darvish’s four Toyota dealerships in the Washington, D.C., area dropped more than 30% in February, but recalls were only one explanation.
Another major factor, Darvish said, was the weather — massive storms that dumped more than 40 inches of snow on the region.
“We lost at least five or six sales days,” said Darvish, who expects to sell fewer than 400 Toyota cars and trucks in February compared with more than 600 last February.
While those combined factors likely depressed February auto sales, industry experts are hoping for a rebound in March.
February sales are expected to be up 9% to 14%, but the overall performance is expected to be relatively low.
J.D. Power and Associates estimates that the seasonally adjusted annual selling rate, or SAAR, will fall to its lowest level in five months.
The SAAR indicates what sales would total for the whole year if demand remained constant over 12 months,