Toyota Avalon News

Sexagenarians Rejoice! Your Ride Has Arrived Have you seen the TV commercials for the 2011 Toyota Avalon? One particular 30-second spot sticks out. It's shot through a 1960's filter and features an old-fashioned voiceover, cheesy elevator music and an airline pilot driving the big Toyota sedan on a cloud with a pretty flight attendant in the passenger ...

Toyota Motor Corporation's recall woes have resurfaced today with official word that the company will recall some 373,000 second-generation Toyota Avalon models built between the 2000 and 2004 model years. According to the Japanese automaker, the full-size sedans' steering lock bars can crack, eventually leading to a break. If that failure occurs, the ...

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has just announced that a total of three new Toyota vehicles have been given Top Safety Pick awards. Both the 2011 Toyota Avalon and 2011 Toyota Sienna were awarded the institute's highest ratings in front, side, rollover and rear crash tests. The 2010 Lexus RX also nabbed a Top Safety Pick nod. All of the ...

We've seen demonstrations that show how to stop a vehicle experiencing unintended acceleration before, but this newest video from Consumer Reports demonstrates just how crucial a brake override function can be in stopping a throttle gone wild. CR engineer Jake Fisher lines up a pre-recall 2010 Toyota Avalon and a post-repair Camry to compare and ...

Toyota has officially announced pricing for the updated 2011 Avalon which made its public debut at this year's Chicago Auto Show. Additionally, pricing has been released for the Sienna with Auto Access Seat, which is the first factory-installed power access seat available in a minivan. The Avalon, which goes on sale later this month, starts at $32,245, ...

Toyota has been getting hammered on Capitol Hill and on the showroom floor, but the Japanese automaker isn't going to take the punishment sitting down. To spur sales during this time of crisis, Toyota is betting big on incentives that included 0 percent financing and leases under $200 on its most popular products. Effective immediately, Toyota is ...

"This is not a safety recall." Toyota is making it perfectly clear that this latest limited service campaign involving V6-powered vehicles sold over the past few years is not, in fact, a safety recall, as it does not have the potential to harm drivers. What's happening, however, is the rubber portion of the oil supply hose for the VVT-i actuator has the ...

Consumer Reports may be ready to offer a vote of confidence in Toyota, depending on the outcome of the Japanese automaker's current Congressional Hearings on Toyota Safety here in the United States, says CR Senior Director David Champion. At the end of January as news was starting to pile up regarding reported cases of unintended acceleration and the ...

It's Chris² as both Shunk and Paukert join Dan and for Episode #166 of the Autoblog Podcast this week. First up, as usual, is the Autoblog Garage, housing a Suzuki Grand Vitara and a Kia Soul this week. From there, we take a quick trip through the Chicago Auto Show's highlights. The 2011 Ford Edge, Toyota Avalon, Honda Odyssey concept, and Hyundai ...

The recall of over eight million vehicles has Toyota in the crosshairs of the world media, and all that negative attention is predictably hurting the Japanese automaker's U.S. sales. A report from Breitbart claims that Toyota is stopping production at its Georgetown, Kentucky Camry and Avalon plant for four days to keep output in line with demand. ...

Perhaps the only 'surprise' at this year's Chicago Auto Show thus far has been the appearance of Toyota's refreshed-for-2011 Avalon sedan. According to this morning's presentation, even the automaker itself debated postponing its introduction in light of its present woes. Looking to make the best of a bad situation (and among a string of ...

Toyota is in the beginning stages of a new voluntary recall that affects 2.3 million vehicles. The recall involves accelerator pedal mechanisms that could stick due to wear and cause unintended acceleration, though it is technically not related to an earlier, larger recall to fix floor mats on certain Toyota and Lexus models that could also cause ...

Toyota has announced a new voluntary recall of approximately 2.3 million vehicles to correct "sticking accelerator pedals" on eight specific Toyota models. The recall includes late model versions of the RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Tundra and Sequoia (follow the jump for the list of vehicles including model years). This recall is ...

Late last month, Toyota announced that it would begin its biggest recall action ever, summoning 3.8 million cars and trucks back to its dealers to combat "pedal entrapment" by cutting down the accelerator pedals of customer cars to avoid them getting hung-up on floormats, resulting in "unintended acceleration." Although Toyota plans to eventually ...

Toyota has announced that it will recall some 3.8 million cars and trucks to reshape and/or replace their accelerator pedals. The action is the result of fears that loose floormats may cause the accelerator pedal to stick, increasing the risk of an accident. The recall will be the largest in the Japanese automaker's history, and it will cover a wide range ...

Toyota's 2010 lineup will receive a suite of aesthetic, performance, and safety changes and minor price bumps, beginning with the FJ Cruiser. ToMoCo's chunky 'ute gets engine mods that include dual VVT-i and roller rocker arms, returning 19 more horsepower and one additional mile per gallon, with a price increase of just $360. At the other end, the 2010 ...

With the U.S. market's pronounced shift away from body-on-frame SUVs towards crossovers and tall wagons, you could be excused for thinking that Toyota would be content to let its 4Runner wither away to dust. After all, the midsize SUV has been toiling away essentially unchanged since an updated 2003 model went on sale in 2002. But apparently, that isn't the ...

Sales of the bulbous Lexus SC 430, one of the vehicles that kick-started the current hardtop convertible fad in the U.S., have slowed so significantly that Toyota's luxury brand has reportedly canceled its replacement. The four-place, V8-powered, rear-wheel-drive vehicle never fit well into any specific niche, as it boasted neither the sportiness of the ...

Toyota is serious about the safety of its customers, and the Japanese automaker is thinking outside the box to keep its elderly drivers on the road. To help keep the AARP demographic up to the rigors of daily driving, Toyota has hooked up with Professor Ryuta Kawashima of "Brain Age" fame, to create a driving experience that helps sharpen the mind. Among ...

So, running down the list of vehicles that Toyota has applied their hybrid drivetrain to we find the Camry and Prius, which are both midsize cars based on interior volume. Toyota has made larger hybrid cars, but only for the Lexus brand, and they did not focus so much on fuel economy as much as on performance. So, what are the chances that large car ...