Toyota Produces 25 Millionth North American-Built Vehicle

GEORGETOWN, Ky., (Oct. 30, 2012) – Toyota celebrated the 25 millionth vehicle manufactured in North America today at a ceremony at its Georgetown, Ky., plant coinciding with the start of production for the all-new 2013 Avalon. The milestone vehicle – a Classic Silver Hybrid Avalon – represents 26 years of manufacturing, a direct investment of nearly $24 billion in North American operations and 365,000 jobs created in the United States.

“Toyota’s 25 millionth vehicle signifies the tireless work of thousands of Toyota team members, hundreds of North American supplier partners, and great dealers giving their best every day,” said Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. “We continue to evolve as a company thanks to their commitment to build the best vehicles in the market.”

Wil James, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc., the company’s largest manufacturing operation in North America, emceed the event. “This is a pivotal time in Toyota’s history,” James said to an enthusiastic crowd of manufacturing team members. “What better way to cap off 26 years of manufacturing excellence than with the all-new Kentucky- built Avalon, a shining example of what our customers have to look forward to in the future.”

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Coach
John Calipari also addressed the audience. Toyota’s Georgetown plant employs approximately 6,600 and builds the Camry, Camry Hybrid, Avalon, Venza, and manufactures 4-cylinder and V6 engines. Toyota’s North American production includes 12 models representing 70 percent of U.S. sales.

"We thank the millions of customers, some of the finest team members in the world, hundreds of excellent North American suppliers and our outstanding dealers who have supported us in reaching this milestone,” said Bill Fay, Group Vice President and General Manager, Toyota Division, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

 

(Courtesy of Toyota News Room)

Monday Maintenance Tip: Go easy when you are stuck

Go easy when you’re stuck

When stuck in mud or snow, don’t make the problem worse by damaging an expensive component. Gently rocking in an attempt to free the car is fine. But if it looks as though you’re really stuck, don’t keep at it. Throwing your car from forward to reverse repeatedly, as well as spinning tires at high speeds, can generate lots of heat and spell trouble for transmissions, clutches, and differentials. It may be cheaper in the long run to call the tow truck rather than risk big repair bills down the road. It’s a good idea to carry a traction aid in the trunk, such as sand, gravel, or cat litter.

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Toyota, teens, and teachers team up to promote safe driving!

Silver Spring, Md. (October 17, 2012) –  Toyota and Discovery Education today announced that the Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge and Toyota Teen Driver Educators’ Challenge are now open for entries. These challenges invite teens and their teachers to share their most creative ideas to help promote teen safe driving habits.  Entries for both programs are due by Feb. 14, 2013.

Motor vehicle crashes remain the number one cause of death for teens.  In fact, current research shows that 35% of all teen deaths are a result of car crashes -- more than cancer, suicide, heart disease and homicide combined. To address this challenge, Toyota and Discovery Education teamed up in 2010 to create Toyota Teen Driver, a comprehensive program and online destination providing safe-driving tools and resources to educators, students and parents.

Safe Driving Programs for Both Teens and Teachers

The Toyota Teen Driver Video Challenge encourages students to create and develop an original video describing what they can do in their communities to help make their peers and themselves safer drivers. The top ten videos will be chosen by a panel of experts for their originality and compelling content, followed by a public voting period on ToyotaTeenDriver.com to select the winner. The first, second and third place winners will receive $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500 cash prizes, respectively. In addition, Discovery Channel film crews will visit the top three students’ hometowns to hear their stories and capture their visions for safer driving for pieces that will air on ToyotaTeenDriver.com and additional Discovery online properties. The seven runners-up will each receive $1,000.  The Video Challenge is open to students in grades 9-12.

Recognizing that educators also play a key role in ensuring teens stay safe on the road, Toyota and Discovery Education have also opened applications for the 2013 Toyota Teen Driver Educators’ Challenge.  For this Challenge, educators are asked to create innovative action plans for keeping students safe on the roads. The grand prize winner will receive a 4 day trip for two to Washington, D.C., to attend a safe-driving conference and a $10,000 cash prize. In addition, that teacher’s school will be awarded a Virtual Driver Interactive simulator and a safe-driving assembly, led by Toyota Teen Driver experts.  The second place winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize and a driving simulator and safe-driving assembly for their school.

“At Toyota, we are deeply committed to the notion that everyone deserves to be safe,” said Patricia Salas Pineda, Toyota’s group vice president of National Philanthropy and the Toyota USA Foundation.  “We are glad to be working with Discovery Education to bring critical safety information to schools and students across the country.  This is an important commitment for Toyota and a vital part of our efforts to help ensure that drivers and passengers are safe at every phase of life.”

In addition to Toyota Teen Driver, Toyota’s work to help keep teens safe on the road includes: Toyota Driving Expectations, a free program for teens and their parents which provides hands-on, real world defensive driving experiences; groundbreaking safety research partnerships with major North American research universities through the company’s $50 million Collaborative Safety Research Center; and national teen safe driving partnerships with DoSomething.org and the National Safety Council.  Toyota also has a national program in place to help ensure safety for child passengers (Buckle Up for Life) as well as a major partnership with AARP to address driver safety for seniors.

“Discovery Education is thrilled to continue our partnership with Toyota to provide teachers, students and their families with creative and engaging resources to keep teens safe behind the wheel,” said Mary Rollins, Discovery Education vice president. “The Educators’ Challenge and Video Challenge, as well as the resources available on ToyotaTeenDriver.com, provide a unique opportunity for teachers and students to connect on and explore issues that transcend into their everyday lives.”

Courtesy of Toyota Newsroom

The Tundra Endeavour -- Mission Accomplished

Mission Accomplished! Now that is a pull!

A stock half-ton Toyota Tundra tows 145-ton Space Shuttle Endeavour across LA's 405 freeway. Watch it happen.

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The Tundra Endeavour: Pulled to an end

A Toyota Tundra half-ton pickup truck without any special modifications successfully towed the space shuttle Endeavour and custom-built dolly -- a combined weight of nearly 300,000 pounds -- across a bridge spanning the nation’s busiest freeway on Friday night, Oct. 12. The tow was a result of a 20-year partnership between Toyota and the California Science Center to raise awareness of the space program and continue public education through exhibits and events.

The shuttle’s 12-mile route over city streets to its new home at the California Science Center includes one passage over the 405 Freeway. The Tundra assisted in the transport of the Endeavour as it journeyed over the Manchester Boulevard Bridge—an area that required a lighter tow mechanism than other portions of the route for weight distribution purposes. Toyota did extensive testing and worked with the Sarens Group, a heavy lifting and engineering transport company, to develop a dolly to move the Endeavour over the bridge.

“We’ve partnered with the California Science Center since the early '90s as part of our ongoing commitment to inspiring youth in the fields of engineering, innovation and future technology, and we are honored to lend our support for this historic event,” said Michael Rouse, vice president of community affairs and philanthropy for Toyota.

The model selected was a stock 2012 Tundra CrewMax 4x4 with Toyota’s 5.7-liter iForce V8, producing 381 horsepower. All Tundra trucks are produced exclusively at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas in San Antonio. The truck used to tow the Endeavour was purchased from a Southern California Toyota dealer, with no modifications or special equipment added for the tow.

The Tundra was piloted by longtime Toyota professional driver Matt McBride. Riding along was Garrett Reisman, one of the astronauts aboard the orbiter when it traveled to the International Space Station in 2008. From start to finish, it took about five minutes to cross the bridge.

“I’m honored to be part of the space shuttle Endeavour’s final mission to the California Science Center,” said Garrett Reisman, an engineer and former NASA astronaut. “I appreciate Toyota’s support in helping bring this space icon home to the Southern California community.”

The Science Center has a popular working exhibit utilizing a Tundra that demonstrates the physics of leverage. The Tundra used to tow the shuttle will replace the existing truck when the Endeavour exhibit opens on Oct. 30, 2012.

Courtesy of Toyota Pressroom

Monday Maintenance Tip: Be patient during the break-in period

You’ve bought your dream car and now you want to make it last at long as possible in top condition. Here are some things to remember as you pull it out of the dealer’s lot:

• During the break-in period, typically the first 1,000 miles (1,600 km), keep your speed under 55 mph (88 kpm) or to the speed recommended by your car’s manufacturer.
• Avoid heavy loads on the drive train, such as towing trailers, and loading the roof rack or trunk with heavy construction materials.
• Do not allow your new car to idle for long periods — this is good advice for the life of your car, but especially during breakin. The oil pressure generated by doing so may not be sending oil to every part of your engine.
• Use only light to medium acceleration, keeping the engine rpms below 3,000 for the first few hours of driving.

(Courtesy of Reader's Digest)

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Teams Hustle to Complete their Builds for the Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge

TORRANCE, Calif., (Oct. 8, 2012) — Customizing a vehicle can often be broken down into a series of tasks that can then be scheduled and executed—at least until the clock runs out. Then all bets are off. And so it goes for the Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge teams with time to complete their ambitious builds coming to a close in about two weeks, just before voting begins on October 20. And just like a race car, these one-off rides must be ready to go when the green flag drops.

Kyle Busch's "Rowdy Edition" Camry is "getting close." Busch's team at Detroit Speed has extensively reworked the Camry's body with strong fender flares, a NASCAR-style splitter and front and rear belly pans to direct airflow under the car. All of these parts have been custom designed and fabricated by hand—a painstaking and time-consuming process. More recently, the team has been scrambling to finish custom interior touches with completely redone seats and a custom electronic entertainment package.

Getting a complex collection of custom-built electronics to work seamlessly in his "Tekked-Out Prius" seems to be keeping Clint Bowyer's RKM Performance Center team awake into the wee hours. It's loaded with hi-tech gadgets like side-view cameras that replace the mirrors, 45 feet. of fiber optic interior lighting and a 16-speaker stereo with six crossovers and dual amplifiers. Then there's the suspension which has dropped the Prius "lower than a Sprint Cup car." And, there’s certainly no lack of team spirit as their build will sport no less than 364 copies of the Toyota logo.
Alexis DeJoria's Pre-Runner Tundra concept has her Racer Engineering team working on virtually every aspect of the truck. Long-travel suspension (20 inches in the rear), an elaborate custom roll cage wrapped in leather, and a TRD-supercharged engine are all part of her design to make a serious off-road tool. The team is also squeezing in a JBL audio system and a specially-built fuel cell. It’s all more than enough to keep them busy right up to the due date.

Some builds are more ambitious than others, and Antron Brown's “DragQuoia” is a big concept that's challenging its capable builders. The "family dragster" idea means that whatever they do has to leave room for the family to ride safely and comfortably. And they're doing quite a lot. For starters, the Motorsports Technical Center team is lopping more than 2,000 lbs. off the factory curb weight. A TRD blower and nitrous coax the 5.7-liter V8 to pump out more than 650 hp for those "quick" runs to the supermarket. Massive 21.5-inch wide rear tires put the power to the ground, which in turn need big fender mods—inside and out—to keep the hot rubber bits contained in the wheel wells. Fortunately, Junior will have a comfortable perch in the back to view the scenery rushing by, secured with his own five-point racing harness. And between runs, he can watch his favorite DVD on the seat-back media player.

Every one of the Dream Build vehicle teams has the chops and experience to deliver for their driver. The simple question on delivery day may come down to this: Which team will be the least sleep deprived.

All four of the Toyota Racing Dream Build Challenge vehicles will be unveiled at the Toyota display during the company's press conference on October 30 at the 2012 SEMA Show. Fans can vote for their favorite team beginning on October 20 and may vote once per day through October 29.

Monday Maintenance Tip: Drive with care everyday

Being car considerate shouldn’t stop after the break-in. Drive with care every day and your car will reward you with longer intervals without repair.

• Do not race your car’s engine during start-up.This is a quick way to add years of wear to your engine, especially if it’s cold outside.
• Accelerate slowly when you begin your drive.The most wear to the engine and drive train occurs in the first ten to twenty minutes of operation.
• Warming the engine by letting it idle in the driveway is not a smart idea.The engine doesn’t operate at its peak temperature, resulting in incomplete fuel combustion, soot deposits on cylinder walls, oil contamination, and ultimately damaged components.
• Put less strain on your engine and automatic transmission by shifting to neutral at red lights. Otherwise, the engine is still working to push the car even while it’s stopped.
• Avoid driving at high speeds and accelerating quickly, especially when it’s very hot or very cold outside. Such driving behavior will result in more frequent repairs.
• Extend the life of your tires with careful driving. Observe posted speed limits. Avoid fast starts, stops, and turns. Avoid potholes and objects on the road. Don’t run over curbs or hit the tire against the curb when parking. And, of course, don’t burn rubber.
• When turning your steering wheel, don’t hold it in an extreme right or left position for more than a few seconds. Doing so can damage the power-steering pump.
• Consolidate your short driving trips. Most of the wear and tear — as well as the pollution your car generates — takes place in the first few minutes of driving. Doing several errands at once, during low traffic hours if possible, will keep your engine happier longer.

(Courtesy of Reader's Digest)

The Tundra Endeavour -- An Astronaut's Story

Experience the best ride off Earth as a former Endeavour astronaut shows you what it's like to be on the shuttle during take-off.

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A Unique New Car That Stands Out From the Crowd

Several years ago, car shoppers primarily concentrated their purchases on typical sedans, minivans and SUVs, as well as the occasional sports car. But in the last few years, a growing number of buyers are choosing niche cars not easily defined in any one traditional automotive segment. We've listed some of the top unique new cars that fill a special niche on the market for buyers looking to stand out from the crowd.

Toyota FJ Cruiser

Toyota's brawny FJ Cruiser isn't a traditional SUV in any sense, but that hasn't stopped buyers from showing a healthy devotion to the tough truck. Its reasonable starting price of around $27,000 including destination certainly helps sales, especially considering the FJ Cruiser boasts a powerful 260-hp 4.0-liter V6 and a long list of equipment. But we think most buyers like the FJ Cruiser for its bold, jungle-tackling styling and immense off-road prowess--two features uncommon on many of today's SUVs. And despite the FJ's popularity, the SUV will still stand out in a parking lot, especially in its eye-catching Army Green or Magma exterior finishes.

Courtesy of AutoTrader (Online)

Monday Maintenance Tip: Buy gas at reputable service stations

Ask whether the gas you buy is filtered at the pump and if the station has a policy about changing the pump filters regularly. If you get a song and dance, find another gas station. Some stations don’t have pump filters, making you more vulnerable to dirty gasoline. Other stations may not mix alcohol and fuel properly — or worse, water down their product. Find a station you trust and stick to it.

(Courtesy of Reader's Digest)