Toyota recalls more than 6.5m cars over steering and seat problems



  Toyota is recalling more than 6.5m cars worldwide to fix a variety of problems, including faulty steering wheels and seats.

The company said there had been no reported accidents or injuries relating to the problems identified. Some 27 Toyota models are affected, including the Corolla, RAV4, Hilux, Yaris, Tacoma, Urban Cruiser and Scion xD.
The global recall tally is a huge blow to the world's biggest selling carmaker that has seen its reputation battered by a string of damaging recalls.

Since early 2012, the company has recalled around 20m vehicles and sold 18.7m. The latest recall is not even the biggest in a single day: in October 2012 it was forced to call back 7.43m cars, mostly the Yaris and Corolla models to fix faulty window switches.

Toyota's reputation has not fully recovered since a faulty accelerator pedal led to it taking 10m cars off the road in 2009-10. The company later admitted the faults were caused by over-hasty expansion, and last month was fined $1.2bn (£720m) by US regulator over an investigation into misleading statements the company had made about safety problems with its cars.

"Each announcement puts another dent in Toyota's efforts to recover its reputation and resurrects questions about the impact of its strategy of rapid expansion on previously enviable standards of design and production quality," said Peter Shervington, an associate specialising in product liability and recall at Eversheds law firm.

More responsive?

David Bailey, a car industry expert at Aston Business School in Coventry said Toyota was being more responsive after being "badly scarred" by not being seen to respond fast enough to the pedal problems in 2009-10. "The scale of the [current] recall is a big one but if they can identify a fix and communicate it to customers, customers aren't going to be too bothered."

Most of the affected cars in the current recall are in North America, with 825,000 in Europe (35,000 in the UK), and 300,000 in Australia, where the recall affects the Hilux "utes" and Yaris city cars.

In the UK, the recall affects some 25,000 RAV4 and Hilux models bought between June 2004 and December 2010; these cars have a faulty connection from the steering wheel to the airbag, meaning that a certain turn of the wheel could cause the airbag to deactivate. "If connectivity is lost, the airbag warning light will illuminate on the instrument panel and the driver's airbag may be deactivated," the company said. In the US, that problem affects 1.3m vehicles, including certain models of the Corolla.

Toyota has also found a problem with the sliding mechanism in the front passenger seat of some models of the Yaris and the Urban Cruiser – sold in the US as the Scion xD – meaning they could break with repeated use. "Should the spring break, the seat may not lock into its adjusted position, and could move in the event of a crash," the company said.

This problem with the seat mechanism affects 10,263 UK-registered vehicles built between January 2005 and August 2010.

Toyota said the recall figure rises to 6.76m when the some models of the Pontiac Vibe and the Subaru Trezia are taken into account. The Pontiac Vibe, a General Motors model, is involved because Toyota and GM made cars at the same plant in California and the recalled model is the same as the Toyota Matrix. Subaru is partly owned by Toyota, and the model was the same as the Toyota Ractis.

The company said it would contact customers in the coming weeks to make an appointment for the free repairs. Drivers can check if their vehicle is affected by using a registration number search function on the Toyota website.

GM under-fire too

The latest recall comes one day after General Motors was accused of "a culture of cover-up" by a US senator for failing to own up fast enough to faulty ignition switches implicated in 13 deaths.

For full story visit :

 http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/09/toyota-recalls-over-6m-cars-worldwide

Theory Test Fee To Be Reduced by £6.

        Theory Test Fee To Be Reduced by £6.

The cost of theory test could be cut by 25%, saving learner drivers £14.5m a year. The plan would see the cost of a car driving theory test fall by £6 in October this year, taking the cost of theory test from £31 to £25, with a further cut of £2 planned in October 2015.

The consultation follows the government’s commitment to reduce the cost of motoring. The proposal also sets out reductions in motorcycle, bus and lorry theory tests.

You can have say Here.

                

Father killed By Police, while chasing Illegal Driver

13 March 2014

    Chloe Sutton said she and her family wanted answers about how her father James Sutton died

Police pursuing a disqualified driver ran down and killed a pedestrian on Wednesday night. The officers  were searching for the a motorist, reportedly seen at the wheel of a vehicle, when their car hit James Sutton at a junction near the sea front in Hastings, East Sussex.

Mr Sutton, a 46 years old father from St Leonards, died at the scene, despite efforts to save him. His daughter Chloe said ‘ He liked to drink and I expect he probably had a drink last night, and probably did not know what was happening. At least there’s some sort of relief knowing that he did not suffer’ . An investigation was launched after the accident. The illegal driver was never found.

Witness Chris Paraskeva said 12 police vehicles went to the scene where emergency teams tried to save the man.

Mark Norman the driver of the police car had been injured slightly by broken glass and had been suspended from driving duties while the IPCC conducted its investigation.

Smoking in cars carrying children is set to be banned

Smoking in cars  by driver or paggengers, carrying children is set to be banned after MPs overwhelmingly backed the plan in a free vote.

Shadow public health minister hails great victory for child health after vote which divided Conservative backbenchers

The House of Commons supported the plan, first put forward by Labour despite the misgivings of some cabinet members, including Nick Clegg over whether it will be too difficult to police.

Under the proposal the government will now have powers to introduce a new offence of exposing children to smoke in vehicles, with breaches of the law likely to incur a small fine.

David Cameron, who missed the vote, gave his personal backing to the idea, despite the government saying last week there was no need for the legislation.

For visitk story visit :   http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/10/mps-smoking-ban-cars-children

Black drivers are more likely to be stopped by police

                                   Stopwatch estimates five million unrecorded stops in one year.

Millions of cars are pulled over by the police every year without being officially recorded – and black drivers are significantly more likely to be targeted, figures reveal.

Although there is no official available data on the number of vehicle stops, researchers from Stopwatch, a coalition of academics and legal experts which monitors the use of stop-and-search powers by the police, used figures from the British Crime Survey to estimate that around 10% of adults in England and Wales are stopped in a vehicle by police each year.

"We estimate that there were approximately 5.5 million vehicle stops in 2010-11, approximately five million of which did not involve a search and therefore were not covered by the recording requirement," said a Stopwatch briefing document.

Research commissioned by the group based on British Crime Survey data between 2008 and 2011 also found that black people had reported higher levels of car stops  in the past year than white people and that "the disproportionality could not be explained by any other social or demographic factors". Rachel Taylor of the legal firm Fisher Meredith, who is a member of Stopwatch, said the practice of stopping cars without recording the incident using section 163 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 was alarming. It allowed officers to circumvent the conditions of reasonable suspicion that the driver is carrying an unauthorised weapon or drugs.

"This throws the power wide open to abuse, and research indicates that there are very high levels of racial disproportionality in its use," she said.

For full Story Visit : http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/feb/02/black-drivers-stopped-police

Google is under pressure to close private sites that charge

 

 

 

Google is under pressure to close private sites that charge :

      ·          £85 for driving licence ( driving )renewals that cost £24.50 at the Post Office,

      ·         £29 to apply for "Ehics" (European health insurance cards) that are issued free by the NHS;

      ·         £172 for UK passports that should cost £72.50.

      For full story visit  :  

        http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jan/30/tax-return-passport-health-copycat-websites

Driving licence records to go online

DVLA to launch a system that will allow insurers to check driving licence records online, making deception and mistakes less frequent. 

Also Insurance premiums for motorists may be cut by up to £15 a year after the government announced that all driving licence records were being put online as part of my lisence project .

The searchable database for individuals and companies to check speeding endorsements and other details could also bring down the cost of car hire.

Currently insurers are unable to check licence details when they sell policies, and so have to "price in" the risk that drivers either lie to them about endorsements to get a lower quote, or simply make a mistake.

But a system due to be launched by the DVLA in March will allow them to access the information through the gov.uk website using an individual's licence number, national insurance number and postcode.

The Association of British Insurers has estimated that honest motorists could save £15 on their premiums thanks to the data being put online.

Car hire companies will also have their administration burden reduced through being able to check drivers' details online rather than by phone.

The paper counterpart to the driving licence card is due to be phased out by 2015, and there will be an assisted service for those who find it difficult to use the internet.