6/7/2010

U.S. safety regulators say recall covers five models in the U.S.

Associated Press



DETROIT - Chrysler is recalling nearly 600,000 minivans and Jeep Wranglers because of brake or wiring problems that could create safety issues, the company and federal regulators said Monday.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on its website the automaker is recalling 288,968 Jeep Wranglers from the 2006 through 2010 model years due to a potential brake fluid leak.

It also is recalling 284,831 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans from the 2008 and 2009 model years because a wiring problem can cause a fire inside the sliding doors.

Neither problem has caused any crashes or injuries, according to Chrysler Group LLC.

On the Jeeps, the front inner fender liners can rub against the brake fluid tubes and cause a leak. NHTSA says the leak could lead to a partial brake loss.

The minivans can have improperly placed wires that can come into contact with sliding door hinges. That could cut through the insulation and in rare cases cause a fire inside the door, Chrysler and NHTSA said.

Chrysler will notify owners and dealers about the repairs, which will be made free of charge. The recall is expected to start later this month.

The Wranglers affected by the recall were made from May 15, 2006 through Aug. 9, 2010, according to NHTSA. The minivans were made from February 2007 through September 2007.

2/1/2010

Toyota says dealers will begin repairing faulty pedals this week


Automotive News -- February 1, 2010 - 12:01 am ET UPDATED: 2/1/10 8:12 a.m. ET
Lentz to customers: "We have let you down."

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. has developed a dealer remedy to fix faulty accelerator pedals in 2.3 million recalled vehicles and will start repairs this week.

Toyota is already shipping the parts to U.S. dealers and training them on how to conduct the fix. The remedy involves reinforcing the pedal assembly to eliminate the excess friction that causes pedals to stick, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. said in a statement today.

“We deeply regret the concern that our recalls have caused for our customers and we are doing everything we can -- as fast as we can -- to make things right,” Toyota Motor Sales President Jim Lentz said in the statement.

Toyota's fix involves installing a steel reinforcement bar into the gas pedal's friction device, a mechanism that controls the pedal's return to the idle position after being pushed down. “In rare cases, the pedal sticks, leaving the throttle partially open,” Toyota said.

The actual repair will take about 30 minutes, and Toyota said it will cover all costs associated with the work. Drivers shouldn't notice any change in the feel of the pedal, the company said.

The announcement covers a fix for 2.3 million vehicles Toyota Division recalled on Jan. 21. Last week Toyota suspended deliveries of the models in advance of a production shutdown scheduled for this week.

A solemn Lentz apologized to customers in a video on Toyota's Web site. He said that some Toyota dealerships would be open 24 hours to fix the recalled vehicles.

"Toyota has always prided itself on building high quality, durable products that customers can depend on," said Lentz, dressed in a dark suit and sitting before a brown backdrop. "I know that we have let you down."

"We are redoubling our efforts to make sure that this does not happen again," he said.

Toyota had also scheduled a conference call with reporters at 11 a.m. EST to discuss the recall and the dealer remedy for the pedal mechanism, made by supplier CTS Corp. of Elkhart, Ind.

Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100201/RETAIL05/100139986/1147#ixzz0eICXyLZl

1/31/2010

Hans Greimel Automotive News -- February 1, 2010 - 12:01 am ET

In 2007, Toyota began receiving reports that the accelerator pedal in Tundra pickups — a 2007 model is shown above — was slow to return to the idle position after being depressed. Toyota modified a lever that helped control pedal movement and thought the matter would end there. It didn’t.

TOKYO -- Long before the high-profile deaths, the lawsuits, the record recalls and the government reprimands, engineers at Toyota Motor Corp. began noticing red flags.

What they were on to eventually would explode into the company's worst-ever quality crisis.

It was March 2007, and engineers were getting strange reports about the pedals in Toyota Tundra pickups. Sometimes, the accelerator was slow to return to the idle position after being depressed.

They decided excess moisture caused swelling of the friction lever, a mechanism that controls the pedal's movement. Engineers changed the material and moved on.

In late 2008, more complaints came in -- this time from Europe.

Drivers of the Aygo and Yaris small cars, by then equipped with the new friction lever, said their pedals were sticking, too. Toyota lengthened the lever and changed material again.

In each case, Toyota wrote off the problem as a rare one-off or a driveability, not safety, glitch.

But that assessment changed last fall, when more cases popped up in the United States and Canada. It took from October 2009 to Jan. 21 -- nearly four months -- for the world's biggest automaker to pinpoint the same problem and recall 2.3 million possibly defective vehicles.

As chronicled in Toyota's Jan. 21 Defect Information Report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the buildup to the pedal recall was years in the making.

Safety experts say Toyota had ample opportunity to act sooner.

"They let this thing go way out of control and didn't deal with it early like they could have," said Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a consumer advocacy group and auto safety consultancy in Rehoboth, Mass.

In many cases, it will be a jury deciding whether Toyota failed to act.

The company is besieged by lawsuits brought by people saying they were injured -- or had relatives killed -- in a runaway Toyota Motor vehicle. Key to the cases will be what Toyota knew and when.

One case was filed Jan. 22 by Los Angeles attorney Michael Kelly. He accuses Toyota of trotting out floor mat and pedal recalls to cover up deeper problems with its electronic throttle control system.

"First they said aftermarket carpets were causing the pedal to stick. Then they said it could occur with Toyota carpets. Now they're saying they want to change the gas pedal," Kelly said. "The bottom line is when you step on the brake, it should stop."



Unprecedented crisis

It's all part of Toyota's escalating emergency. The pedal recall followed a devastating 4.3 million vehicle recall last fall related to floor mats that was Toyota's biggest ever in the United States. And just last week, the carmaker added 1.1 million cars to its expanding fix list.

Toyota says the pedal and floor mat recalls are unrelated. But both recalls aim to stamp out the possibility that a Toyota product will suddenly bolt on a driver without warning.

"People are suspicious that Toyota knew about the problems before because of the timing of the recall," a Toyota official close to the recall concedes. The official requested anonymity due to the nature of the ongoing investigation.

"But there was no intentional delay," the official said.

The first new complaints about sticking pedals came to Toyota's attention in October after it had decided to recall floor mats, the person said. In October and the next three months, Toyota was recovering parts, trying to duplicate the problem, conducting engineering analyses, he said.

Toyota has no reports linking the pedal problem to accidents and ultimately judged the immediate risk of sudden acceleration was lower from the pedal than from the floor mats, he said.

Last year's floor mat recall was intended to address cases in which the carpets interfere with the accelerator and jam it into an open-throttle position, causing run-away speeding vehicles.

Kane's Safety Research & Strategies has tallied 2,057 sudden acceleration incidents involving Toyotas since 1999, with 725 resulting in crashes. A total of 18 people were killed and 304 injured, by its count.



Long history

Toyota and Lexus accounted for 41 percent of all sudden acceleration complaints industrywide for the 2008 model year -- more than Chrysler, General Motors, Honda and Nissan combined, according to a December study by Consumer Reports.

As recently as last month, Toyota officials had been saying floor mat entrapment was the main cause of the mounting complaints. But the Jan. 21 recall to fix sticking accelerator pedals broadsided customers and dealers and pointed to more serious troubles.

Indeed, complaints of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles stretch back at least to 2004, when NHTSA investigated 2002-03 Toyota Camrys, Camry Solaras and Lexus ES 300s for possible throttle control problems. NHTSA concluded at that time that there was no defect trend.

But similar allegations persisted, along with more accidents. In 2007, Toyota pinned the problem on all-weather floor mats interfering with the accelerators. The result was a recall of the factory carpets in certain 2007 and 2008 Lexus ES 350s and Toyota Camrys.

Another safety campaign launched in 2009 targeted sudden acceleration in 2004 Sienna minivans. But this time, the problem was a floor carpet cover that if not replaced properly after repair could also jam the gas pedal and lead to sudden acceleration.

"Toyota has known that its vehicles suffer from unintended acceleration since May 2003, when the first consumers began demanding that NHTSA investigate this problem," Safety Research & Strategies says in its Safety Record Blog.

Kane's research indicates there are multiple causes for sudden acceleration, ranging from mechanical interface to unidentified electronic defects. But many incidents can't be explained by either the floor mats or the pedal mechanism, suggesting lingering unidentified defects, he says.



War room

The causes and consequences of problems aren't always clear.

Toyota believed the 2007 complaints about sticking accelerators were limited to the Tundra, according to the NHTSA report. And the European problems in the Aygo and Yaris were isolated in right-hand- drive cars with a particular configuration of the heat duct and accelerator pedal. Warm air from the heater could induce condensation on the friction lever, thereby causing it to stick, Toyota said.

The man at the eye of the storm is Toyota's top quality troubleshooter, Managing Officer Hiroyuki Yokoyama. In consultation with Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki, Yokoyama is the one making the final call on whether to launch a recall or not, insiders say.



Needed: '50-hour workday'

The quality division war room at the Toyota City headquarters is in crisis mode, with one insider saying, "We need a 50-hour workday to handle this situation."

In an unprecedented move, Toyota also stopped U.S. sales of eight models equipped with the faulty pedals. The company has spun that move as a pre-emptive safeguard to protect consumers.

But federal law requires such action.

And U.S. Transportation Department officials gave a different explanation.

In a widely reported interview with WGN radio in Chicago, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said: "The reason Toyota decided to do the recall and to stop manufacturing is that we asked them to."

LaHood continued: "We were the ones that really met with Toyota, our department, our safety folks, and told them, 'You've got to do the recall.' "



Early signs of trouble:
A timeline of Toyota's sudden-acceleration woes March 2004: NHTSA opens investigation of 2002-03 Toyota Camry, Camry Solara, Lexus ES.
July 2004: NHTSA closes investigation without finding defect.
Aug. 2005: NHTSA opens investigation of 2002-05 Camry, Solara, Lexus ES.
Jan. 2006: NHTSA closes investigation without finding defect trend.
March 2007: NHTSA opens investigation into Lexus ES for floor mat interference.
March 2007: Toyota starts investigating sticking pedals in Toyota Tundra pickup.
Sept. 2007: Toyota recalls all-weather floor mats in the Lexus ES and Camry.
Jan. 2008: NHTSA opens investigation into 2006-07 Toyota Tacoma pickup.
April 2008: NHTSA opens investigation into 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan.
Aug. 2008: NHTSA closes Tacoma investigation without finding problem.
Dec. 2008: Toyota investigates sticking pedals in the Toyota Aygo and Yaris.
Jan. 2009: Toyota recalls Sienna minivans to fix floor carpet covers.
Aug. 2009: Crash of runaway Lexus ES 350 kills 4 in California.
Oct. 2009: Toyota begins recall of 4.3 million floor mats.
Jan. 2010: Toyota recalls 2.3 million cars for faulty pedal mechanism, suspends sales of 8 nameplates.
Jan. 2010: Toyota adds 1.1 million vehicles to floor mat recall.

Source: Safety Research & Strategies Inc., Center for Auto Safety



Wider worries

In an interview with Automotive News last month, Yokoyama said quality has suffered in recent years for several reasons, including the company's rapid increase in production, a proliferation of model types and the introduction of more electronic controls.

Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda admitted as much after taking office last June. "I don't think we were wrong to expand," Toyoda said then. "But we may have stretched more than we should have."

The recalls come just as the U.S. market shows signs of recovery. And rivals are looking to leverage Toyota's missteps to steal sales and market share from the Japanese juggernaut.

Analysts say the recalls will hurt Toyota financially. The company is expecting its second straight year of red ink for the fiscal year ending March 31. And it returned to operating profit in North America only in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 after four straight quarters of losses.

Toyota's weeklong production shutdown starting today, Feb. 1, could cost Toyota $450 million in lost sales, reckons Kurt Sanger, an auto analyst with Deutsche Securities in Tokyo. Then the company has to foot the bill for fixing the floor mats and the pedal mechanism.

"It could be the difference between an operating profit and a loss," says Sanger, who had been forecasting Toyota to eke out a full-year operating profit of ¥38 billion (about $424.7 million).

Toyota's long-standing reputation for quality and service could be the bigger casualty.

"Toyota has to be more candid," says Chris Richter, an auto analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Tokyo.

"Right now they're not reassuring the public. They're scaring the public."



Kathy Jackson contributed to this report Read more: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100201/OEM01/302019910/1290#ixzz0eIFnVwTg

10/30/2009

Cash for clunkers, residential growth spur consumer spending



October 29, 2009 - 11:00 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter for the first time in more than a year as cash-for-clunkers and other government stimulus programs helped lift consumer spending and home building, fueling an unexpectedly strong advance.

Signaling the end of the worst recession in 70 years, the U.S. Commerce Department today said the economy expanded at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September period, snapping four down quarters with its fastest growth pace since the third quarter of 2007.

The report, which followed improving third-quarter corporate earnings, lifted stock markets around the world.

Growth was generally broad-based, with solid gains in consumer spending, exports and home construction. But it was also driven by government programs like the popular clunkers incentive for new auto purchases and an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers.

The auto discount program ended in August and the home tax credit is due to expire next month, although Congress is working on a plan to extend it.

Stripping out auto output, the economy would have expanded at only a 1.9 percent rate in the third quarter.

"Better than expected GDP is confirming that the Great Recession has ended," said Kevin Flanagan, fixed-income strategist for Global Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley in Purchase, New York. "The question going forward is, is this more of a statistical recovery or are we going to get some meaningful momentum on a sustained basis?"

Officials from the Federal Reserve -- the U.S. central bank -- meet next Tuesday and Wednesday and will sift through the economic tea leaves to try to determine whether a sustainable recovery is building. They are widely expected, however, to keep stimulative monetary policies in place for some time.

Consumer spending, which normally accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, surged at a 3.4 percent rate in the third quarter, the fastest advance since the first quarter of 2007. Spending had fallen at a 0.9 percent pace in the previous quarter.

8/17/2009

August 22 & 23, the Outlaw 10.5 field pounds the pavement at Lebanon Valley Dragway in East Nassau, NY. Come out and support the Cromwell Automotive Racing Team and all local racers.

This event features a 16 car, qualified field with single eliminations. This is a nationally televised event with practice and qualifying on Saturday and elimination rounds on Sunday.

For more information, click here dragway.com

We'll see you when the smoke clears...

7/4/2009

Happy Independance Day! Cromwell Automotive wishes each and every American, especially those who serve us both domestically and overseas, a Happy Birthday and thank you for everything you do to protect our freedoms.

5/26/2009

Come out to the Claddagh House in Higganum, CT every third Saturday for Cruise Nights. Classics, Muscle Cars, Bikes, Trucks! Come on out, enjoy good people, fast cars, and great wings.

5/1/2009

APRIL U.S. AUTO SALES

GM improves, Toyota slips as industry decline eases

Sales fall 34%; SAAR rises again, to 9.5 million

Chrissie Thompson
Automotive News
May 1, 2009 - 12:02 pm ET
UPDATED: 5/1/09 4:37 p.m. ET

Ford, Honda and General Motors posted their smallest sales declines of the year in April, while Nissan and Toyota had their largest, as the U.S. industry improved from depressed levels of February and March.

Drops of 33 percent at Ford Motor Co. and GM were in line with analysts' forecasts, as was American Honda's 25.3 percent slide. Nissan North America's 37.8 percent fall and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.'s 41.9 percent tumble were steeper than forecasts.

For the second straight month, no automaker posted a sales increase. The April total slipped to 819,817 U.S. light vehicles, down 34.3 percent from a year earlier and the smallest percentage drop since October. Autos sold at a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 9.5 million units, below analysts' projections but another increase from February's 9.1 million rate, which was a 27-year low.

"Reports that the light-vehicle sales rate could reach 10 million units turned out to be somewhat exaggerated," Ford sales analyst George Pipas said today during a conference call.

Daimler AG's sales fell 30.7 percent, including a 49.9 percent plunge for Smart minicars. That marked the first setback this year for the Smart brand, introduced in January 2008. Subaru, one of the few automakers to post a sales increase through March, fell 6.7 percent in April for its sharpest decrease this year. The Honda Accord was the best-selling vehicle in the United States, unseating Ford's F-series pickup.

Ford outsells Toyota

Ford's sales had dropped more than 40 percent in each of the first three months of the year. Its April performance included a 36.9 percent slide at Volvo. Sales of its traditional Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models fell 31.3 percent. Ford Motor outsold Toyota Motor Sales for the first time since March 2008.

Ford executives said the sales pace degraded in the final week of the month. Pipas attributed the slowdown in part to the "CNN effect." He said uncertain customers stayed away from showrooms because of reports about turmoil at Chrysler and at General Motors.

Chrysler posted a 48.1 percent decline for April, a day after filing for bankruptcy. GM is at risk of filing within a month, when it's due to show the White House auto task force that it merits additional U.S. rescue loans.

The month's results "fell a little short of our expectations, and we believe it was because of more turbulence in the minds of the consumer as to what was going on," said Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. sales and marketing.

April marked the 18th straight year-over-year sales drop. Analysts predict a sales recovery in the second half of the year, as the United States struggles to climb out of a recession that's also in its 18th month -- the longest since the Great Depression.

Sales to individual customers "continued at about the same selling rate as February and March," said Mark LaNeve, GM's North American sales chief, in a statement. GM's better results were "largely driven by a return to more normal volumes of fleet sales," the company said. GM's retail sales fell 45 percent.

At Chrysler, co-President Jim Press said a 66 percent decline in fleet sales was the biggest drag on April numbers. Retail sales fell 39 percent, he said.

Consumers poised?

Sales that have hovered between a 9 million- and 10 million-unit rate this year are signs of stability, said GM sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni.

"Consumers could be poised to start spending some money," he said. "They're taking a wait-and-see attitude."

Earlier this week, the Conference Board, a market information group, reported that its consumer confidence index had increased to 39.2 in April from 26.9 in March. That's still down from 62.8 in April 2008. As a reference, the board says the level of consumer confidence in 1985 was 100.

Six analysts surveyed by Automotive News and three dozen economists in a Reuters poll had predicted an average April sales rate of 9.8 million units.

The rate rose in April despite incentives declining about 4 percent from March levels to $3,031 per vehicle, according to Edmunds.com data. That's still up almost 30 percent from April 2008. Of the biggest automakers, Chrysler spent the most on incentives: $4,288 per sale.

Among GM's eight brands, the smallest drops came from the four it said this week it would keep: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Chevrolet declined the least: 26.7 percent.

Richard Truett, Jamie LaReau and Amy Wilson contributed to this report.

4/9/2009

Toyota to revamp U.S. operations amid slump, reports say
April 9, 2009 - 9:00 am ET

DETROIT (Reuters) -- Toyota Motor Corp. plans to announce a major overhaul of its U.S. operations, bringing sales, manufacturing and engineering under one powerful executive, according to reports in The Detroit News and The Wall Street Journal.

Yoshi Inaba, a former senior executive who left Toyota in 2007, was asked by the automaker this week to oversee most of the key aspects of the U.S. business, according to the reports published Wednesday and today.

The announcement of the overhaul, to be made in Japan, could come as early as Friday, the Journal reported.

Inaba is expected to be named president of Toyota Motor North America and will be based in New York, according to the Journal.

A Toyota spokesman in the United States was not immediately available for comment.

Toyota is struggling to turn around its U.S. business, which has long generated some of the company's biggest profits but has seen sales plunge amid the global economic downturn.

With the appointment of Inaba, credited with laying the groundwork for Toyota's fast growth in the United States over the past several years, Toyota is expected to bring him back to the company's board, the Journal reported.

As part of the reorganization, Toyota is expected to have its New York unit, Toyota Motor North America Inc., function as its full-fledged U.S. headquarters, bringing together responsibility for engineering, manufacturing and sales, the Journal said.

Inaba is also expected to succeed Yuki Funo as chairman of Toyota's U.S. sales and marketing arm in Torrance, Calif., the newspaper said.

4/3/2009

Chrissie Thompson - AutomotiveNews.com
April 3, 2009 - 12:43 pm ET UPDATED: 4/3/09 3:17 p.m. ET

Chrysler Financial today alerted consumers to a scam promising people $170,000 in lottery winnings if they write personal checks to expedite the payment process.

People all over the United States have received letters from the fake Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission in Canada announcing the lottery winnings. They also receive counterfeit checks that claim to be issued by DaimlerChrysler Financial Services and Chrysler Financial, the company said today.

The consumers are to use the checks to cover a service charge so they can receive the $170,000. But before the check clears, they are told to write a personal check to finalize the payment of their winnings.

The fake checks from Chrysler Financial never clear. And DaimlerChrysler Financial Services ceased to exist in August 2007, when Cerberus Capital Management LP took control of Chrysler from Daimler AG. So the consumers lose the money from the personal checks they've sent and never get the lottery money.

Yesterday a consumer alerted Chrysler Financial to the scam, Chrysler spokeswoman Amber Gowen said. She said the scam mimics another one in 2006 that also used Chrysler Financial.

Chrysler Financial is directing consumers affected by the scam to file consumer fraud complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.

3/14/2009

Can you believe it?

Cromwell Automotive is celebrating their 10th Anniversary. Come down and join us for the party with specials on parts and services.

For the month of April 2009, we will be offering a complete Lube, Oil, and Filter change for only $19.95! Check back or stop in for other promotions.

Coupon must be presented for special $19.95 Oil Change. Most Vehicles. Diesel, Synthetic, and some vehicles extra.

9/27/2008

By popular demand, we now carry the VP brand of Racing Fuels. With fresh, in stock pails of VP in seven different flavors we can quench your thirst for power. Available in both 5 and 55 gallon quantities.

4/4/2008

Cromwell Automotive has launched a new web site full of new and exciting information. Now you can make an appointment, get on our mailing list, and receive special coupons and promotions right off of our site. Come check it out...

1/28/2008

That's right, our new addition is complete. Within our newly expanded facility, we're still offering the same great service but now with even more possibilites. We have new equipment and even more room to take on any job. From the simple Oil and Filter change to complete Engine overhauls and performance work, we've got you covered. My heartfelt thanks goes out to each and every one of you, our customers, without whom, none of this would have ever been possible. Thank you.

11/21/2007

For those of you who plow snow, be it commercial accounts or just a couple of neighborhood driveways, keep us in mind for all of your plow's maintenance needs. From seasonal servicing to breakdowns, we'll keep you pushing green with in stock parts and knowledgable service technicians.