Toyota HiLux 2009 News

A Federal Court case has been launched against unscrupulous importers of bogus brake pads as Toyota tries to locate the dodgy parts.

Toyota HiLux tops the list of Australia’s most stolen cars

Toyota issues its seventh recall in six months, doubles up on one from last year.

Toyota has issued a global safety recall on 6.58 million vehicles, with the impact hitting the popular Hilux ute, RAV4 SUV and Yaris small car.Statements issued by Toyota Australia today said that 179,000 of the Hiluxes built between April 2004 and December 2009 have been recalled for a defect that could see a cable between the steering wheel and  column sustain damage when the wheel is turned, activating the airbag warning light and preventing the driver's airbag from deployingA separate safety recall on 118,600 of the Yaris hatches and sedans built between June 2005 and May 2010 is to fix a defective seat track spring on the driver's and front passenger's seats. The statement says the spring can break and become stuck, giving the false impression that the seat is properly locked in place.In the meantime, the Yaris can still be driven but if there is any difficulty in locking the seats in position, owners should contact a dealer to arrange an inspection. The repairs will take about 1.5 hours for the five-door hatch and sedan, and about three hours for the three-door hatch in which the front passenger seat will also have to be removed.The number of RAV4s being recalled is not yet confirmed. Toyota says neither of the problems with the Hilux and Yaris have resulted in any accidents or injuries in Australia. Vehicle owners are being contacted by Toyota, but can get more information on the brand's campaign helpline on 1800 643 242. 

...some of the highest and most rugged mountains and temperatures ranging from 50C to freezing.In the end, the mighty Mini, loosely based on the All4 Countryman, conquered the 2012 Dakar Rally which began on January 1 and finished last Sunday. Five Minis started and incredibly five finished in the top 10, including first and second.Mini was the favourite before the event with its entries prepared by the successful Frankfurt-based X-Raid company, and a collection of champion drivers, including the victorious Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel who has now won four car titles and six times on a motorcycle.The Minis cost $1.1m each and, although based on the road going Countryman costing about $40,000-$60,000, they are much higher and wider, with 16-inch wheels and a carbon body. And instead of 1.9-litre four-cylinder engine, they have a three-litre, six-cylinder turbo diesel.The only standard parts are the lights, windscreen door handles taillights. The rest is pure prototype. VW pulled out this year after winning the past three rallies, including a trifecta last year, paving the way for another manufacturer to take over.Prior to VW, Mitsubishi dominated from 2001-07 for a combined total of 12 wins over 33 years with the 2008 rally cancelled due to terrorist threats. The following year the event shifted from North Africa to South America where it has retained "the spirit of Dakar" with its rugged terrain.This year's course was claimed to be the toughest yet with man and machine tackling high temperatures of 50C and stage six cancelled because of persistent snow storms over the Andes.Entry to this gruelling event is costly with some teams spending millions on car preparation and millions more with back-up crew, trucks and spares.VW made the most of its expensive victories with substantial advertising campaigns, in particular its promotion of the Amarok pick-up which was merely a back-up vehicle for last year's rally. But don't expect the same from Mini after its win at its second attempt.BMW Group Australia head of corporate communications Piers Scott points out that the five cars were part of a private team entry, not a factory team."Aside from the car, and obvious technical assistance, I don't think there is too much in the way of an official connection to the X-raid team, besides the fact that it is led by Sven Quandt, who obviously is a son of Herbert Quandt," he said.(Quandt was a German industrialist lauded for turning BMW from bankruptcy to profit.) "Therefore, I don't think there are any plans to shout about it too loudly, but it certainly sets the tone nicely for Mini's increasing involvement in motorsport."Mini was pushed throughout this year's rally by the Hummers of Nascar legend Robby Gordon and last year's winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, and single private entry of 2009 winner Giniel De Villiers in a Toyota Hi-Lux.While the big-money Mini entry caught all the headlines, the De Villiers entry gave Toyota a surprising and much-needed boost after a tough 2011 when it slipped from the world's top sellers in the wake of the tsunami in Japan and floods in Thailand.He finished third behind the Minis, even though his machine was made to comply with next year's Dakar engine specifications. Another surprisingly successful entry was the Great Wall SUV driven Portugal's Carlos Souza, who has raced for Mitsubishi, Nissan and Volkswagen. Over a 10-year period, except for a disappointing 2010 rally, Souza has never finished outside the top 10, with a best of fourth in 2003.He finished an amazing seventh and 4.5 hours behind. The result gives the Chinese manufacturer something to smile about after the disappointing two-star safety rating it scored in the Australia New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) last year for its utilities.Dakar officials this year limited the entries to 171 cars, 185 bikes, 33 quad bikes and 76 trucks. However, only 97 motorcycles, 12 quads, 78 cars and 60 trucks made it to the finishing line. Among those was Team Latvia's OSCar eO, the event's first electric vehicle.The OSCar eO has an "engine" bay filled with 52.5kWh of batteries and is powered by an electric motor nominally rated at 210kW with a top speed of 140km/h and range of 800km. Like GM's Volt, which will be available for sale in Australia later this year as a Holden, the OSCar eO has a back-up petrol generator that charges the batteries to extend the electric vehicle's range.In this case it's a 3.5-litre V6 Nissan engine. The vehicle finished 77th or second last, but at least it finished, which is always difficult in the world's toughest motorsport event. Expect to see more electrics vehicles competing in future.The Koreans starred, the Japanese mounted a comeback, and One Ford hit the headlines with an extended family of Focus-based newcomers that it is certain to make a big hit in Australia. But it was one car and the commitment of its company chief that made the most impact as America fought back on the opening day of the 2011 North American International Motor Show.The bike category was an arm wrestle between KTM teammates Cyril Despres of France and Marc Coma of Spain with three wins each. They exchanged lead at almost every stage and when Despres was stuck in the mud late in the rally it looked like Coma's fourth.However, the officials deleted the time delay because other riders were diverted from the obstacle and it came down to a tight finish with Despres the victor. Argentine brothers Alejandro and Marcos Patronelli won the quad section on their Yamahas, while Dutch teams took out the top two truck positions in Ivecos.DAKAR 2012 WINNERSCARS1 Peterhansel (Fra) Cottret (Fra) Mini2 Roma (Spain) Perin (Fra) Mini3 De Villiers (S Af), Von Zitzewitz (Ger) Toyota4 Novitskiy (Rus) Schulz (Ger) Mini5 Gordon (USA) Campbell (USA) Hummer6 Alvarez (Arg) Graue (Arg) Toyota7 Sousa (Por) Garcin (Fra) Great Wall8 Leal Dos Santos (Por) Fiuza (Por) Mini9 Ten Brinke (Hol) Baumel (Fra) Mitsubishi10 Holowczyc (Pol) Fortin (Bel) MiniBIKES1 Despres (Fra) KTM2 Coma (Spa) KTM3 Rodrigues (Por) YamahaQUADS1 Patronelli (Arg) Yamaha2 Patronelli (Arg) Yamaha3 Maffei (Arg) YamahaTRUCKS1 De Rooy (Hol) Iveco2 Stacey (Hol) Iveco3 Ardavichus (Kaz) Kamaz

Congratulations Ford Falcon

Congratulations to the 2009 People's Choice Award for Best Commercial Vehicle: Toyota HiLux.

There's a two-year waiting list of 60 buyers for the $580,00 Ferrari F458 Italia, and luxury brands BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi also had strong sales months.  But its just not the high end of the car market seeing good times return.   New car sales rose 20 per cent last month compared to last November.Bargain buys and the Federal Government's small business tax break for new vehicles are driving sales.  Among the star cars last month were the Holden Cruze, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30 and Mazda Mazda3 - all with starting prices around $20,000.Toyota's workhorse HiLux ute was the best-seller for the month, clocking up 4230 sales largely because of the small business incentive package.  More than 85,000 new vehicles hit the road, up 14,000 vehicles compared to November last year.Many businesses are in a last-minute rush to take advantage of government tax incentives for utes and vans, which ends on December 31. "This is an extraordinary result that provides further evidence that the market and the broader Australian economy are showing signs of recovery," Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar said."Business sales increased an incredible 35.4 per cent during the month; spurred on by the substantial incentives available until the end of the year," he said.  The off-roader segment was one of the most popular with sales surging 44 per cent.Top 10 cars - November1 Toyota HiLux 42302 Holden Commodore 39563 Toyota Corolla 33094 Ford Falcon 28635 Mazda3 25486 Holden Cruze 22747 Mitsubishi Lancer 20238 Toyota Camry 20039 Hyundai i30 199810 Toyota Yaris 1725

 Rebounding new vehicle sales have - for the first month in more than a year - exceeded 2008 figures.  Last month's new car and truck sales from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) totalled 80,813, up 1708 sales - a 2.2 per cent rise on October last year.The October total is the first month since June 2008 that there has been an improvement - all segments except heavy trucks contributed to the improvement.Holden's Adelaide-built Commodore remains the number one seller for the year so far with more than 36,000 sedans and wagons sold, but last month ran third to the Toyota Corolla's tally of 3724 - 269 ahead of the Commodore - and the HiLux light-commercial's total of 3707.Holden's results included Captiva topping the SUV sales charts for October and sales and marketing executive director John Elsworth said the Cruze recording its strongest sales month since it arrived in showrooms in June."We continue to be delighted with the public response to the Cruze - from a standing start it's now the third best-selling car in small car segment," he said.The year-to-date 2009 market of 762,787 vehicles is running behind the same period in 2008 by 11.7 per cent or 101,250 vehicle sales.Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Andrew McKellar said the market was boosted by sales activity in private, business and rental buyers.  "The industry is looking to round out the year on a positive note and we expect a further surge in sales as businesses move to take advantage of the successful tax break prior to the end of the year," he said.Van sales were up almost 20 per cent last month and Rick Castellan has just bought the top-selling van in the segment, a Toyota HiAce.  The 47-year-old director of Castellan Plumbing Services is on his ninth HiAce and the tax rebate sweetened the deal to buy a new one."The deals are good at the moment, one of my other old vans died after being run into the ground, and with the government tax rebate makes it a bit better financially," he said.  Mr Castellan said many of his colleagues and opposition have also updated vehicles because of the tax rebate.  "One guy I know would normally go to the government auctions and gets a two or three year-old van but he worked it out that he's better off buying the new one with the rebate," he said.TOP 10 BRANDS     Sept         (YTD 2009 +/- on 2008)Toyota                      17,888       160,786    -20.6 per centHolden                     10,737        96,404     -12.2 per centFord                           8240          78,529     -12.7 per centMazda                        5637         63,332     -6.5 per centHyundai                     6281         53,906     42.0 per centMitsubishi                 4775         44,867     -14.3 per centNissan                      4484         42,930     -15.6 per centHonda                       2984         34,771     -25.1 per centSubaru                      3302         30,527     -6.4 per centVolkswagen             2626          25,343     -2.7 per centTOP 20 VEHICLES        Sept 2009    Year to dateToyota Corolla               3724              32,200Toyota Hilux                   3707              30,096Holden Commodore     3455             36,085Ford Falcon                   2841              25,411Mazda3                          2211              29,397Hyundai Getz                2198               17,389Holden Cruze                2183               8327Mitsubishi Lancer        2066                 17,071Hyundai i30                   2041              17,913Toyota Camry              1817               16,529Nissan Navara           1689               15,013Toyota Yaris                 1613               15,990Toyota Aurion                1426               11,289Holden Colorado         1378              12,157Ford Ranger               1284               11,046Holden Captiva          1255                 9133Mitsubishi Triton         1251              14,115Holden Utility             1127                 9411Suzuki Swift               1113                 9602Volkswagen Golf         1055             10,096     

The cheap vehicle identification labels used on HiLux, Prado and LandCruiser models make them easy targets for thieves, according to the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council.The council's chief executive, Ray Carroll, said the Toyota models were over-represented in the latest vehicle theft statistics because the labels could be easily forged by thieves. Insurance payouts for the Toyotas amounted to more than $10 million, he said. "While this is money paid by insurers, it ultimately comes from motorists' pockets," Carroll said. "The real cost is to motorists though who have their cars stolen."He said the current labels can be easily duplicated or modified by anyone with a home computer and basic software. The new forged identity label is then reapplied to the stolen vehicle.The council wants carmakers to switch to a new high-tech - but more expensive - label called Identitek. So far only 10 carmakers and motorcycle company Kawasaki use the Identitek product. The label costs about $1.50 per vehicle compared to 40c for the aluminium version.It is made from layers of plastic that self destruct if tampered with. The label has imprinted codes much like a hologram that cannot be counterfeited, altered or removed from the vehicle intact.Carroll said Toyota Australia knew its vehicles were among some of the country's most attractive targets for profit-motivated thieves. But Toyota Australia spokesman, Mike Breen, said a high-tech "theft-proof" label would soon be rolled out on its imported lineup, which includes HiLux, Prado and LandCruiser. "We're working on it now," he said.Breen said the label was already in use on Toyota's Camry and Aurions. Last year 13,500 vehicles were stolen in Victoria. The most popular model chosen by thieves are older model Holden Commodores. Nationally 62,000 vehicles were stolen last year, down from a 2001 peak of 140,000 vehicles.Insurance claims April-June LandCruiser 70/100 Series: 62 claims worth $2,013,104Prado 120 Series: 36 claims worth $975,420HiLux GGN25R: 16 claims worth $402,753Most popular cars for thieves Holden Commodore (1986-1991), VX, VZ, VZ.Ford Laser (1989)Toyota Camry (1992)* Figures from Theft CouncilVehicles using Identitek Audi A3, A4, A6, A8, R8, Q5 (Not Q7 & TT)BMW 1 Series, 3 Series, 7 Series, X1, X5, X6, and Z4 (Not 5 & 6 Series or X3)Chrysler All Chrysler, Jeep & Dodge modelsHSV All modelsHyundai All models Isuzu All commercial modelsLotus All modelsMercedes-Benz All passenger and light commercialsSmart All modelsMitsubishi All modelsNissan All modelsKawasaki All motorcycles