Auto Trends

Toyota Landcruiser Rollover, originally uploaded by alco_dl500b

The rumors have been flying recently, leaving a trail behind them indicating that Toyota may be in a wee bit of trouble. Well, as if lagging sales and plateaued corporate development weren’t bad enough, Toyota is facing a series of lawsuits according to Automotive News.

Former Toyota Lawyer, Dimitrios Biller, is set to step into court with evidence that Toyota was withholding incriminating documentation for hundreds of liability suits, involving among others, rollover accidents. The basic gist of Biller’s lawsuit, is during these other product lawsuits, Toyota was ordered by the court to present information towards each individual case that they either purposefully held back or had destroyed.

An example of this type of cover-up, offered by CBS News, is claims (lawsuits) that Toyota’s roof internal standard does not meet government regulations. Toyota repeatedly testified that a standard for their roofs did not exist, while Biller claims many of their cars and vehicles just plain flat did not meet the standards. The New York Times added that Biller has suggested that Toyota concealed the results of rollover crash tests, stating that they failed to meet the requirement of a 2-inch space above the head of the crash-test dummy.

Toyota claims that Biller does not have a leg to stand on and is counting on his sorted past of mental conditions and lack of evidence to weaken his case beyond just getting out into a couple of news story. Biller on the other hand intends to take the case all the way, claiming that the mental breakdown he suffered was due to the pressure that he was given by upper suits to keep quiet or his career with Toyota would be ended rather unpleasantly. Biller worked with Toyota from 2003 to 2007, before receiving a nice $3.7 million severance package.

The news of Toyota’s resistance to follow courts orders, has prompted a Texas vehicle safety lawyer to revisit and refile 15 lawsuits (six years old) against Toyota last week, which could be the first of many more as evidence surmounts. Toyota has requested that any of the documents held by Biller be withheld from the public eye (seal the case), but the court has yet to decided whether or not it will grant them this request or not, and they probably won’t make a final decision until later this month..

And so now await the final verdict…

Source: Automotive News

YOKOHAMA Tuner Grand Prix 2006 / 2, originally uploaded by jcd2007

And the oranges come out on top, since the apple oil infused rubber just fell off the wheel! (Well, I don’t know that for sure, but they might have)

Bridgestone maybe thinking about using dandelions to formulate their rubber tires, but Yokohama isn’t about to be out-greened, so they are considering using orange oil. Well, more than just considering. They have currently been testing out their new orange infused tires on a Porsche GT3 on the Sebring International Speedway… and they have reported that the tires are functioning beautifully!

The Advan ENV-R1 tires, as they will be called, are manufactured from a process that infuses orange oil into the tire, thus reducing the necessity of petroleum by about 10 percent. This technique is nothing really new, as Yokohama had actually first looked at the possibility of orange oil as a substitute back in the 80’s. Of course back in the 80’s the green movement was secluded to a couple hippies held up in Volkswagen van in the California area, so the technology was never really developed too far.

Today, however is a different story and companies are gaining new environmental strategies in order to gain the acceptance of a changing government and consumer. With that said, Yokohama promises that these tires are no gimmick and actually offers improved handling characteristics, due to a softening of the rubber, which improves their overall grip on the road.

We can expect to see the consumer testing of the ENV-R1 tires as early as this coming June. So far the Toyota Prius is a guaranteed test candidate for the new tires and several other hybrids have also expressed an interest. There is no word yet on the ultimate longevity of these tires, but we do know that once they have used up their useful life, they can be recycled much easier than the traditional type of petroleum tire.

These sound like pretty cool tires, but what I am curious to know, is would the air be cast with the fragrant essence of oranges upon laying out an over 2-minute long burnout on Youtube… hmm!

Source: Wired

Let me start this post off by saying that I completely agree with the fundamentals of technology to introduce greater safety into our lives. But at what point do we lose the even more fundamental action of owning up to our own responsibility to keep others safe.

Apple has reported that current navigational systems on the market are unsafe due to the fact that drivers can access the functions and features during the operation of their vehicle. To remedy this situation, they are designing a tattle-tell system that will disable the basic features of a GPS while the driver is in operation of the vehicle.

They are thinking that the system will work in a variety of ways. For one it will be equipped with a variety of sensors used to determine if the vehicle is currently being driven. These could include anything from transmission, engine, or wheels sensors, etc. There is also talk of interior sensors to determine the presence of a passenger.

Apple assumes that a passenger should be able to safely operate a GPS while the driver is driving, so another set of sensors would then be needed to determine from which seat directions were being given. To accomplish this, a vehicle would be equipped with seat belt sensors, seat sensors, and an overhead infrared detectors to determine if first of all, there was even a passenger present.

Once the passenger was identified, the systems next line of defense would be a sensor within the touch pad used to determine the exact angle of the finger pressing the keys to determine if it is in fact the passenger running the commands or the driver trying to trick the system. If the system sensed the drivers finger, it would immediately shut down.

Further down the line of technology Apple could implement fingerprint, voice recognition, and iris (eye) detection technology to give only the proper individuals permission to use the navigational device period.

Does anybody else see a few problems with this. Whatever happened to purchasing something, then using it by the rules of your own free will. That is why for the time being I think I’ll stick with my trusty Ghetto Navigational System (a map), which can be found in just about any gas station or grocery store (at least for the time being).

Ghetto GPS Navigation, originally uploaded by periodicdesign

Such a sophisticated device (as the one shown above) allows me full access whenever I need it, I never hear one peep out of it, and the only safety feature I need… is my own responsibility to keep others safe around me while operating my vehicle. What a revelation!

Source: AppleInsider