The crash in Santee that claimed four lives in August raised the profile of the issue with the public, Toyota, and federal regulators. California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor was at the wheel of a Lexus ES 350 sedan on Highway 125, when the vehicle inexplicably accelerated to speeds exceeding 100 mph. According to a 911 call of the incident, Saylor was unable to stop the Lexus before it crashed and burst into flames, killing him, his wife, daughter and brother-in-law.

This, however, is not the only fatal crash resulting from sudden unintended acceleration in Toyota and Lexus models. Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., has reported at least 16 fatalities and 243 injuries in crashes involving Toyotas that have been attributed to sudden unintended acceleration. In total, there have been more than 2,000 complaints of sudden unintended acceleration in these vehicles, culled from litigation and consumer-reported complaints to the automaker and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Toyota has tried to lay all the blame on floor mats, launching a recall last month affecting approximately four million Toyota and Lexus vehicles. But the evidence suggests that the causes of these uncontrolled acceleration events are likely more complex, involving computer, electronic, and mechanical systems.

"For years, Toyota Motor Corporation has dismissed complaints of sudden acceleration as being the driver's fault," said McCuneWright attorney, David Wright. "But neither driver error nor floor mats can explain away many other frightening instances of runaway Toyotas. Until the company acknowledges the real problem and fixes it, we worry that other preventable injuries and deaths will occur."

Toyota's first response should be immediate changes to their control systems, so drivers can safely stop a sudden unintended acceleration event, Wright said. Toyota's current design does not allow drivers to easily put the vehicle in neutral, apply the brakes, or just turn off the ignition. NHTSA recently highlighted this problem in a Vehicle Research & Test Center report. It noted that Toyota and Lexus drivers could be stymied in an emergency situation because:

    --  the ignition button on vehicles with a keyless ignition system must be
        depressed continuously for three seconds when the vehicle is moving
        before it will turn off the engine;
    --  the neutral gear position is difficult to find because it requires the
        driver to move the shifter both laterally and vertically; and

    --  when the throttle is in the open position it requires a brake pedal
        force of 150 pounds to stop the vehicle, five times more than the 30
        pounds required when the vehicle is operating normally.

In addition, Toyota vehicles are not equipped with a brake-to-idle failsafe, which many other manufacturers already incorporate in their designs. This failsafe brings the engine to idle when both the throttle is in the open position at the same time the brake pedal is being depressed.

"We think this lawsuit is necessary to save lives," Wright said. "Along with other individual lawsuits, the press, consumer groups, and the government, it is our goal to force Toyota to make these changes."

SOURCE McCuneWright, LLP

Even though Toyota raised its vehicle sales projections to 7.03 million vehicles from 6.6 million, it still represents a 7% decline from over 7.5 million vehicles the company sold in the last fiscal year.

Toyota cut in half its expected fiscal year loss to 200 billion yen (USD$2.2 billion), down from 450 billion yen (USD$5 billion).

Executive Vice President Yoichiro Ichimaru said, "We continued to make improvements in our reductions in fixed costs... In addition, demand-stimulating measures by governments worldwide have contributed to our revised targets."

Write to Chip Brian at cbrian@tradethetrend.com

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The automaker had planned cost reductions totaling 900 billion yen (US$9.9 billion) in the current year ending March 31, 2010, as an emergency measure against the severe business slump. But in the April-September half alone, it made roughly 700 billion yen in cost cuts.

The turnaround in auto demand also helped Toyota improve its bottom line.

The Prius hybrid enjoyed strong sales in Japan, while car sales in China and other Asian markets grew. As a result, Toyota's consolidated auto sales, which include Daihatsu Motor Co. (TSE:7262) and Hino Motors Ltd. (TSE:7205), came to 3 .13 million units in the first half, beating its projection by 100,000.

Even so, Toyota still has far too much output capacity. It forecasts that group sales will reach 7.03 million units in the current fiscal year. Subtracted from the group's total annual production capacity of roughly 10 million units, this indicates excess capacity of around 3 million units -- the equivalent of total output capacity at Nissan Motor Co. (TSE:7201).

Toyota plans to idle some production lines around the world to shrink its output capacity by around 1 million units. But this will not change the fact that overcapacity is weighing on the automaker.

Currency fluctuations are another major uncertainty for Toyota's earnings .

Each 1 yen swing in the yen-dollar exchange rate has a roughly 25 billion yen impact on Toyota's annual profits. The firm sees a stronger yen depressing profits by 420 billion yen in the current fiscal year. This figure assumes that the yen will average 90 to the dollar and 130 to the euro in second half, so the actual impact would be even worse were the yen to strengthen.

Toyota has reported an operating loss of 136.8 billion yen for the April-September half and brightened its full-year projection to a 350 billion yen operating loss from the previously estimated 750 billion yen.

Based on this upgrade, the company sees its operating loss widening from the first half to about 213.1 billion yen in the October-March half.

Costs associated with the shutdown of a U.S. joint venture with the former General Motors Corp. are cited as a major reason Toyota is projecting a larger operating loss in the second half.

With Ichimaru admitting that the forecasts may be a little too conservative, many investors appear to believe that the actual results will be better. But this may hinge on the progress in streamlining efforts and on exchange rates.

(Nikkei) cg

"The Prius is the perfect choice for our first LTE-enabled vehicle," said Derek Kuhn, Vice President, Emerging Technology and Media Group, Alcatel-Lucent and ng Connect Program co-founder. "Recognized worldwide for its innovative design and hybrid capabilities, which support the technology leadership reflected in the LTE Connected Car, it is the ideal vehicle for this visionary project."

The ng Connect Program's LTE Connected Car concept vehicle offers a comprehensive menu of entertainment, infotainment and security services including video-on-demand, gaming, home control, advanced GPS navigation, as well as roadway and vehicle monitoring. Additionally, the Connected Car offers an in-car WiFi network supporting full utilization of all WiFi-enabled devices in the vehicle as well as connectivity to the cloud via LTE.

"When managing and working toward Toyota's long-term technology vision, our eye is always first and foremost on what we hear our customers desire in their vehicle," said Jon Bucci, Vice President, Advanced Technology Department, Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA, Inc. "With our current offerings in the market, we aim to deliver what our drivers want today. With the Connected Car concept, we are excited to help bring to life the vision of the next-generation automobile."

TMS' work with the ng Connect Program complements the company's initiatives in the area of automotive telematics and technology, including the recent launch of Lexus and Toyota's all-new services, Lexus Enform(TM) and Safety Connect(TM).

The LTE Connected Car was recently revealed during an ng Connect Program Technology Showcase in New York City on November 3, 2009. For more information about this concept vehicle and its next-generation features, and to view an interactive demonstration of the in-concept experience, visit: http://www.ngconnect.org/lteconnectedcar.

About Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion. Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of more than 1,400 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers. Toyota directly employs nearly 34,000 people in the U.S. and sold more than 2.2 million vehicles in 2008.

For more information about Lexus Enform and Safety Connect visit: www.Lexus.com/Enform, and www.Toyota.com/SafetyConnect.

About The ng Connect Program

The ng Connect Program is a multi-industry organization committed to the development and rapid deployment of the next generation of broadband services based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) and other ultra high bandwidth technologies. Founded in 2009, the ng Connect Program is supported by leading network, consumer electronics, application and content providers including 4DK, Alcatel-Lucent, Atlantic Records, BUZZMEDIA, chumby, Connect2Media, Creative Technology Ltd., dimedis, FISHLABS, GameStreamer, Inc., Gemalto, HP, Intamac Systems Ltd., Kabillion, Kyocera Communications Inc., LearningMate, MediaTile, QNX, R360, RebelVox LLC., Samsung, SIGNEXX, Total Immersion, Toyota Motor Sales, TuneWiki, V-Gate and Words & Numbers. For more information on the ng Connect Program, please visit: www.ngconnect.org.

Trademarks:

QNX, Aviage, Momentics, and Neutrino are trademarks of QNX Software Systems GmbH & Co. KG, registered in certain jurisdictions, and are used under license.

SOURCE: ng Connect Program

ng Connect 
Pamela Preston, +1-212-616-6001 
ppreston@breakawaycom.com 
or 
Alicia Mickelsen, +1-212-616-6002 
amick@breakawaycom.com 
or 
Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. 
Audra Ruzich, 310-468-5972 
Advanced Technology Department 
audra_ruzich@toyota.com