plus 3, Two Harbors Auto Repair Up In Flames - Northland's NewsCenter

Two Harbors Auto Repair Up In Flames - Northland's NewsCenter
Toyota unsure of length of shutdown; GM pounces - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Nebraskan fought in famous battles - Omaha World-Herald
Toyota's Recall Will Test Customer Loyalty - Time

Two Harbors Auto Repair Up In Flames - Northland's NewsCenter

Posted: 27 Jan 2010 11:57 AM PST

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Toyota unsure of length of shutdown; GM pounces - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted: 27 Jan 2010 12:33 PM PST

Updated: Jan. 27, 2010 2:31 p.m.

There is still no word on how long Toyota's production will be shut down as a result of an apparent faulty part associated with accelerators on some of the company's most popular models, a company spokesman said.

The company's customer call center has been flooded with calls from owners of the vehicles that Toyota has recalled, said spokesman John Hanson.

He said that automaker does not know how long U.S. production and sales will be stopped.

Japan's Toyota announced late Tuesday it would halt sales of some of its top-selling models to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause unintended acceleration. Last week, Toyota issued a recall for the same eight models affecting 2.3 million vehicles.

Accelerators sticking "is a very rare occurrence," Hanson said.

The company took the action to alert customers to a potential problem and said if they notice anything unusual or different with the accelerator on their vehicle, they should call a Toyota dealer immediately.

"A stop sale doesn't mean stop driving," Hanson added.

Russ Darrow of the Darrow Automotive Group in southeast Wisconsin, said technicians at his Toyota franchise in West Bend have been told to prepare to work around the clock if necessary to make the repairs to the recalled vehicles once Toyota identifies what repairs need to be made.

"It's a waiting situation," Darrow said. Right now, dealers across the country are making sure the models in question - new and used - aren't inadvertently sold and also fielding calls from customers about the vehicles.

"We value safety and consumer confidence above anything else," Darrow said.

He also credited Toyota with taking what he called the "unprecedented" step of halting production, saying the company put safety ahead of profit and sales goals.

Darrow is chairman of the American International Auto Dealers Association, which represents dealers of import brands including Toyota.

Wisconsin has 23 Toyota dealerships, with seven of those in metro Milwaukee.

Toyota is suspending production at six North American car-assembly plants beginning the week of Feb. 1.

The suspect parts are made by a U.S. supplier, CTS Corp., based in Elkhart, Ind., and the problem part was manufactured at its plant in Ontario, Canada, according to a report Toyota gave the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week.

"We at CTS have no knowledge of any incidents, accidents or injuries that have resulted from this," said Mitch Walorski, a spokesman for company.

Walorski said there were eight warranty claims related to sticky pedals among millions of vehicles equipped with the part since 2005.

"We are working with their engineers and are actively working to support Toyota," Walorski said.

Meanwhile, General Motors pounced on the situation, launching a marketing campaign directed at Toyota owners.

GM will offer no-interest loans for as long as 60 months for purchase of a new GM model with a Toyota trade-in, said Steve Hill, general manager of retail activities for the Detroit-based automaker.

The program runs until the end of February.

At Ford, "We are looking at the situation, but we're not announcing any programs," said Robert Parker, a spokesman for the Dearborn, Mich.-based company.

Hyundai, South Korea's largest automaker, decided against any Toyota-related incentives.

"We discussed doing a program aimed at Toyota and decided it wasn't appropriate," said Chris Hosford, a Hyundai spokesman. "Knowing that some Toyota customers might be looking for models that they can't get and consider ours, we are taking steps such as making sure our dealers have adequate supply. But we don't want to jump on this thing like a vampire."

Toyota says it first received reports in March 2007, of gas pedals being slow to come back in the Tundra pickup, and fixed the problem in February 2008.

Toyota has said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries due to the pedal problems associated with the recall but could not rule them out for sure.

"The condition is rare, but can occur when the pedal mechanism becomes worn and, in certain conditions, the accelerator pedal may become harder to depress, slower to return or, in the worst case, stuck in a partially depressed position. Toyota is working quickly to prepare the correction remedy," according to a statement on the company's Web site.

"In the event that a driver experiences an accelerator pedal that sticks in a partial open throttle position or returns slowly to idle position, the vehicle can be controlled with firm and steady application of the brakes," the statement said. The brakes should not be pumped repeatedly, the statement said. "The vehicle should be driven to the nearest safe location, the engine shut off and a Toyota dealer contacted for assistance."

Toyota owners who have questions or concerns should contact Toyota at (800) 331-4331.

Besides the safety concerns, dealers must also grapple with the impact of a production halt coming off 2009, one of the worst years ever in the auto sales business.

"The recession and the credit crisis are bad enough," Darrow said. "Nobody needed this."

"Every dealer is concerned about inventory because they are stopping production," he added. "The whole sales chain for 50% of their models stops."

He added: "This is unprecedented."

The automaker said the U.S. sales suspension includes the following models: the 2009-2010 RAV4; the 2009-2010 Corolla; the 2007-2010 Camry; the 2009-2010 Matrix hatchback; the 2005-2010 Avalon large sedan; the 2010 Highlander crossover; the 2007-2010 Tundra pickup; and the 2008-2010 Sequoia large SUV.

The Associated Press and Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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Nebraskan fought in famous battles - Omaha World-Herald

Posted: 27 Jan 2010 11:22 AM PST

Bill Brooks was a 23-year-old Marine Corps pilot on June 4, 1942, the day he spent 80 minutes in a fierce air battle over Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean.

He piloted a Brewster F2A-3, also known as a "Brewster Buffalo," a plane that was no match for the speed and agility of Japanese Zeroes.

Four cannon holes the size of volleyballs scarred his plane. Bullet holes — 72 in all — pocked it. Bullets flew into his cockpit and over his shoulders before lodging in the instrument panel.

They also blew out the tires because the plane's wheels had failed to retract fully after take-off, according to the pilots' logs filed after the battle. Brooks took shrapnel in his leg and was awarded the Purple Heart.

The Allied victory at Midway Island marked an important turning point in the Pacific campaign, but the toll was grim.

Only eight of the 25 pilots in Brooks' squadron survived. Just two of the 25 Brewster Buffaloes that took off in the morning could be flown afterward.

Brooks also flew in the historic Battle of Guadalcanal a few months later.

Asked if he was scared either time, he would respond, "I was too busy to be scared."

William Vincent Brooks died Jan. 19 at Papillion Manor. He was 91 and had congestive heart failure, said his son-in-law Bruce Belgum of Omaha.

"He was so humble about it," Belgum said of Brooks' military accomplishments.

Brooks, who grew up in Falls City, Neb., worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. He quit his studies at Peru College to enlist during World War II. Later, he returned to college to finish his bachelor's degree, and he earned a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma.

After the war, he and his family moved to Bellevue.

He managed the Firestone Tire Store in south Omaha before owning full-service gas stations and an auto repair shop.

In the 1950s, Brooks built the first self-service carwash in Nebraska, Belgum said.

To get financing, Brooks drove his banker to Kansas City to show him a self-service carwash. The bank lent Brooks the money.

Brooks helped found Bellevue's Chamber of Commerce, Bellevue College (now Bellevue University) and Midlands Hospital.

He also served on the Sarpy County Board for 12 years.

Survivors include his wife of 68 years, Jane, of Bellevue; daughters Marsha Congdon of Omaha, Ann Brooks of Austin, Texas, and Sara O'Neill of Omaha; and seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services were held Saturday at Bellevue Memorial Chapel.

Contact the writer:

444-1165, sue.truax@owh.com

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Toyota's Recall Will Test Customer Loyalty - Time

Posted: 27 Jan 2010 11:57 AM PST

A brand new Toyota RAV4 is displayed on the Toyota of Marin sales lot January 21, 2010 in San Rafael, California.

Toyota Motor Corp., struggling to contain the damage from continuing controversy over unintended acceleration in some of its cars, has elected to halt sales indefinitely of eight models, including the Camry, America's best-selling automobile, and the Corolla, the practical compact model on which the Japanese automaker built its reputation for quality and durability. As part of its effort to address sticking accelerators, it will also recall 2.3 million vehicles.

Carmakers call back vehicles for repairs all the time, but Toyota's efforts to address the complaints, coming on the heels of its 4.2 million car recall in November to address similar issues, were described by the automotive website Edmunds.com as unprecedented. "Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company," says Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president and general manager. "This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized. We're making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible." (See the 50 worst cars of all time.)

Toyota officials also note that since the fall, the company has been conducting an exhaustive review of factors that might have contributed to the growing number of unintended acceleration cases filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pinning down the cause of unintended acceleration is extremely difficult, automotive engineering experts say, because laboratory tests may not be able to replicate unusual situations that arise in real-world driving.

Some analysts compared Toyota's decision to suspend sales of several popular models to Johnson & Johnson's 1982 decision to sweep packages of Tylenol off shelves after some were found to have been criminally tainted with poison after being shipped to stores. Tylenol's market share plunged from 35% to 8%, though it soon recovered, and J&J was applauded for its quick response. But a recall in the car business, with its five-figure price tags, independent dealers, layers of financing and intense competition, is more complex than a package-medicine recall. (See the most exciting cars of 2010.)

The halt to sales is forcing Toyota to suspend production at five plants, idling more than 20,000 workers and leaving 1,200 Toyota dealers sitting with roughly 250,000 unsold — and for now, unsalable — vehicles worth nearly $50 billion. Jesse Toprak, an analyst with TrueCar.com, says Toyota will probably have to help the dealers finance the inventory as the sales freeze continues.

Financing inventory, however, is only one part of the equation. Consumers have more choices now; the competition has gotten much tougher. Also, consumers are much less loyal to brands, so the negative impact could be more severe. "Toyota is big enough to survive, but this hits them at the core. The recovery plan coming out of this mess is going to be critical," says Toprak, who suggests that Toyota will probably have to spend heavily on advertising and incentives to restart sales when the problem is finally identified. (See the most important cars of all time.)

Toprak believes Toyota's problems could prompt consumers to take a second look at American brands such as Ford and Chevrolet, and also boost Korean nameplates such as Hyundai and Kia, which have lineups that closely match Toyota's. Even European luxury makers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which have been eclipsed by Toyota's Lexus brand, could benefit, he says.

Toyota officials insist that the company's reputation for quality, reliability and durability, which is at the heart of Toyota's brand appeal to consumers, will survive. Judging from the automaker's new advertising campaign — which extols the reliability and durability of the company's vehicles and notes that 80% of the Toyotas sold in the past few decades are still on the road — company executives are clearly concerned about the fallout from sharply rising recalls. Another sign of their anxiety: the automaker is stepping up plans to make some expensive safety options, like electronic stability control, standard in all its vehicles. (See the history of the electric car.)

Toyota hasn't tallied how much the recall will cost, Yoshimi Inaba, the company's top executive in the U.S., said after a speech in Detroit. But he said Toyota is committed to using the recalls as an opportunity to impress customers with the company's service. "It is an opportunity to prove ourselves to them," he said.

Inaba also noted that Toyota continues to invest heavily in research and development, spending more than $9 billion in 2009, "with emphasis on safety and on the environment." Nevertheless, Toyota faces significant challenges from both Volkswagen AG and a re-emergent General Motors Corp. as it struggles to keep its standing as the world's top automaker. Both Volkswagen and GM are in a better position to cash in on growth in key emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group. (See pictures of American muscle cars in movies.)

Inaba said Toyota plans to launch 10 new products this year, beginning with the redesigned 2011 Sienna minivan and later with the official launch of a $375,000 Lexus supercar, the carbon-fiber LFA. Also, the Toyota Scion will expand its product line.

Inaba is probably digesting the reality that replacing GM as the world's top automaker hasn't been nearly as satisfying, or as durable, as he had once hoped.

See TIME's exclusive photos from the Haiti earthquake.

See the top 10 everything of 2009.

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