RECALL ALERT: Toyota recalls nearly 170,000 Tundra, Sequoia, and Avalon vehicles

Photo: Toyota USA Newsroom.

Approximately 168,000 Toyota vehicles, including certain 2018–2019 Toyota Tundra pickups and Toyota Sequoia SUVs, as well as some 2019 Toyota Avalon passenger cars, are being recalled to address an airbag defect, the automaker announced today.

Citing “inappropriate programming,” Toyota states that the airbag electronic control unit (ECU) may erroneously detect a fault as the vehicle starts, potentially disabling one or more of the crash-detection sensors. If a crash occurs in these conditions, the result could be the failure to deploy of side curtain airbags, front and knee airbags, or both, increasing the risk of injury.

It’s ba-aaaack! Toyota’s motorsports program makes it official: Supra will return to the track in 2019 NASCAR season

Toyota Xfinity Supra. Photo: Toyota USA Newsroom

Toyota announced last week that the automaker’s official racing program will return the Toyota Supra to the track next year, with the debut set for Saturday, February 16, 2019, in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona.

Honda Wraps Up Dominating Motorsports Victory at Long Beach with Alexander Rossi

Race car driver Alexander Rossi and his Andretti Autosport Honda brought it home for Honda on Sunday, with a decisive victory for Honda at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Rossi, who led 71 of 85 laps, managed to fend off former series champion Will Power after a late-race caution bunched the field.

Starting from the pole, Rossi took the lead at the green flag and remained in command throughout the 85-lap event, surrendering the lead only as the field cycled through various pit stop strategies.  Although a late yellow flag bunched the field and eliminated his seven-second advantage, Rossi held off second-running Will Power over the final 10 laps, and built a 1.24-second lead at the checkers.

This victory was  Rossi's first of 2018 and his third career Indy car triumph. The win  moves him into the championship lead, with 126 points to Josef Newgarden's 104. With this event, Honda also has widened their lead in the IndyCar Manufacturers' Championship, with an unofficial total of 263 points to 193 for rival Chevrolet.

Hino—No, Not THAT Heino—Unveils New Line of Work Trucks

No, we're not talking about that Heino (left). We're talking

about Hino trucks. Photo credits Usien (left), posted in
Wikimedia Commons. Right: Hino Trucks website.

Ever heard of Hino? No, not Heino the German pop singer, who we have heard of. Ever heard of Hino Trucks?

Neither had we, until we ran across the recent announcement of the new 2018 lineup of work trucks from Hino Trucks, a Toyota division.

Hino Trucks unveiled its new line of trucks in a ‘big’ way at the 2018 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis, IN.  Carrying the name Hino XL Series, this all-new lineup rounds out Hino Trucks Class 7 product offering and launches them into the Class 8 market for the first time in the U.S. The Hino XL7 and XL8 models are powered by Hino’s legendary A09 turbo diesel 8.9-liter inline 6-cylinder engine boasting a B10 life of 1,000,000 miles. 

Toyota, Mazda Form Joint Venture to Manufacture New Mazda Crossover and Toyota Corolla in Alabama

Mazda Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation announced on Thursday that they have launched a new joint venture, Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, U.S.A., Inc. (MTMUS), to build vehicles in Huntsville, Alabama, beginning in 2021.

Toyota Forms New Company to Beef Up R&D in Autonomous Driving

Toyota has announced that they will open a new company in Tokyo in late march to boost technology development efforts for autonomous driving: the Toyota Research Institute—Advanced Development.

To enable the new efforts at TRI-AD, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin), and Denso Corporation (Denso) have concluded a memorandum of understanding on joint development of fully-integrated, production-quality software for automated driving. Going forward, the three companies will hold further discussions, aiming to conclude a concrete joint development contract.