I'm at a loss for words.

Source: AutoBeYours

Just a quick video to make your Monday a bit happier.

The driver of a Toyota Prius says he was taken on a wild ride Monday after the car's accelerator became stuck, reaching speeds in excess of 90 mph on a winding, hilly portion of a southern California interstate.

It took the California Highway Patrol to bring the car safely to a stop.

The driver, Jim Sikes, said he was traveling east on Interstate 8 outside of the San Diego area when he attempted to pass a slower vehicle.

"I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car, and it just did something kind of funny ... and it just stuck there," he said at a news conference outside a Highway Patrol office. "As I was going, I was trying the brakes ... and it just kept speeding up."

Sikes said he called 911 for help, and dispatchers talked him through instructions on how he might be able to stop the car. But nothing worked.

At one point, Sikes said he reached down to try to pull the accelerator up, but it "stayed right where it was."

Alerted by emergency dispatchers, a California Highway Patrol officer was able to catch up to Sikes' Prius and used the patrol car's public address system to instruct Sikes to apply the brakes and the emergency brake at the same time.

The tactic worked, and the car slowed to about 50 mph. Sikes said he was able to shut off the car, and it rolled to a stop. The responding officer, Todd Neibert, positioned his patrol car in front of the Prius as a precaution to prevent it from moving again.

Toyota recently issued widespread recalls due to problems related to the accelerator pedal in several of its auto models. One theory behind the sticky accelerators is the vehicles' floor mats.

But Sikes said "my mat was perfect. There was nothing wrong with my mat."

Sikes said he took his 2008 Prius into a local Toyota dealership about two weeks ago for service and gave workers there his recall notice. He said he was told his car wasn't on the recall list.

"I'll be back there tomorrow," he said Monday, visibly shaken up.

CHP spokesman Brian Pennings said the ordeal lasted just over 20 minutes.

"We are extremely thankful that there was a safe end to this," Pennings said.

A Toyota spokesman issued a statement Monday night saying the automaker had been notified of the incident.

"Toyota has dispatched a field technical specialist to San Diego to investigate the report and offer assistance," the statement said.

Source: CNN

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday joined Japan's Ministry of Transport in opening a formal defect investigation into brake problems on the 2010 Toyota Prius.

The U.S. investigation, to be conducted by DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was announced shortly after Toyota startled media and industry watchers early Thursday with the acknowledgement that it had been aware of Prius brake issues for months and that it had already implemented a fix to some cars, without notifying Prius owners or the general public.

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) said it has received 124 reports from Prius owners "alleging a momentary reduction in braking performance while traveling over an uneven road surface, a pothole or a bump."

ODI already has been conducting preliminary fieldwork and said four of the complaints involve crashes, with injuries in two instances.

From its Torrance, California, headquarters Toyota Motor said it would cooperate with the NHTSA investigation and will keep the agency informed of the progress of its own work.

Source: InsideLine

A group by the name of "Casual Mafia" put out a hit for those who want to hug trees and save MPGs. Definitely going to be a big hit for 2009.

Nothing like saving the environment and keeping it gangster.

Source: The Dirty

Despite a larger and more powerful engine, Toyota estimates that its 2010 Prius will get a 50-miles-per-gallon combined fuel economy rating. The redesigned hybrid, which Toyota called one of the worst kept secrets in the industry, made its official debut at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show on Monday.

The 2009 Toyota Prius returns 48 mpg in city driving and 45 mpg on the highway, according to the EPA. The government agency does not list fuel economy numbers for the new Prius. More in the jump!

The 2010 Prius gets a larger and more powerful 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that is paired with the hybrid system. It replaces the previous 1.5-liter unit. Output is boosted by 22 horses to 98 horsepower, with a torque increase of 23 pound-feet to 105 lb-ft over the 2009 model. Toyota said it cut more than a second from the Prius' 0-60-mph time — to 9.8 seconds. "Contrary to conventional wisdom, the larger engine actually helps improve highway mileage," Toyota said in a statement.

The Prius now offers four driving modes, including "Normal." EV-Drive Mode allows "driving on battery power alone at low speeds for about a mile, if conditions permit," said Toyota. There is also a Power Mode, which increases sensitivity to throttle input for a sportier feel and Eco Mode, which emphasizes "best mileage."

Designers moved the top of the roof back nearly 4 inches to boost headroom and to exaggerate the Prius' wedge shape. There is more cabin space, thanks to such space-saving moves as a smaller battery-control module.

A larger part of the redesign focused on re-engineering the hybrid drivetrain, with special attention paid to weight reduction. Toyota said the inverter, motor and transaxle are smaller and 20 percent lighter on the new Prius.

Other goodies include optional solar roof panels that power a ventilation fan to cool the cabin, and a remote air-conditioning system capable of operating on battery power alone to adjust cabin temperature before getting into the car.

In a tantalizing insider tidbit on the Toyota Open Road Blog, Irv Miller, Toyota's group vice president for environmental and external affairs, hinted at the future flexibility of the new Prius. "The new 2010 Prius was designed and engineered to package either the lithium-ion battery pack with plug-in capability or the nickel metal hydride battery for the conventional gas-electric system," he wrote.

The new Prius will arrive in showrooms in the spring. Pricing is not yet available.

Source: Inside Line

The 2009 Toyota Prius, rated at 48 mpg city and 45 highway, is the overall fuel economy leader for the third year in a row, according to the recently published U.S. government's 2009 Fuel Economy Guide. The 2009 Lamborghini Murciélago, rated at 8 city and 14 highway, is at the bottom of the heap.

The federal government says that the Murciélago has an annual fuel cost of $6,450. We hope you're not buying the thing for fuel efficiency.

Honda Motor Co. will launch a five-door, hybrid-only car in April in North America to fight the hot-selling Toyota Prius.

The five-passenger hatchback will be priced below the Prius, Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co., said here at the Management Briefing Seminars last week. Honda expects to build about 200,000 of the hatchbacks globally, with about 100,000 targeted for import into North America, he said.

He said the new hatchback will be slightly smaller and lighter than the Civic Hybrid and priced lower than the Civic and Prius. The Civic Hybrid's base price is $22,600, and the Prius starts at $21,500. Both prices include shipping.

Source: Automotive News

A report by Automotive News detailing Toyota's future products reveals that the automaker's focus will be realigned to meet new fuel efficiency standards and limiting high-powered and niche offerings. Go figure!

On the hybrid side, the new Prius will debut in Detroit, with sales beginning in the spring of 2009 as a 2010 model. The nickel-metal hydride battery will remain, and because of that, the plug-in model will be delayed until a lithium ion battery is offered. The new Prius will be packing the Corolla's 1.8-liter four cylinder and the car will be an inch wider and a half-inch longer. The second hybrid model might not come to Detroit, but development is currently under way and sales will be limited to Japan.

The Supra revival has been shelved due to high mpg requirements, allowing Toyota to focus on its RWD coupe, jointly developed by Subaru. Also, there's only room for one body-on-frame SUV from the automaker, so the 4Runner will be re-engineered for the 2010 model year, will debut in either New York or Chicago, and the FJ Cruiser will complete its lifecycle and be dropped in the next few years.

The Sienna and Venza will be equipped with hybrid drivetrains in 2012, with the Sienna receiving a facelift late next year, along with more cargo space and room for third-row occupants.

The report goes on to state that the Corolla will be redesigned in 2013, along with the Matrix, the next Camry will receive a facelift in 2010, with the new model debuting in 2012, and the new Avalon will debut in 2011 as a 2012 model.

Source: AutoBlog

Toyota plans to install solar panels on its next-generation Prius hybrid cars, becoming the first major automaker to use solar power for a vehicle. Solar panels on the roof will appear on the high-end version of the Prius and will convert the power generated by the system for the air conditioning.

Toyota plans to use solar panels made by Kyocera Corp.

Source: Reuters

Popular hybrids sold in the U.S. either no longer qualify for tax breaks or are about to see them cut very sharply. Starting today, the Honda Civic Hybrid will see a cut in tax credit from $1,050 to $525. Toyota Prius and the Camry Hybrid saw their $3,150 tax credits disappear last fall. The Prius and Civic rank first and second in terms of fuel-economy followed by the Camry Hybrid at no.3.

Why would the government make such a move when gas-prices are at an all time high? Well, according to the 2005 federal law that started the hybrid tax credits, the tax break begins to phase out after an automaker sells 60,000 qualifying vehicles.

For those of you who were unaware, Toyota felt this back in October of 2007, when there was a heavy demand for the Prius.

Honda hit the limit last year and the original tax break of $2,100 was cut to $1,050. It will be cut to $525 today.

Source: EGM Cartech

For those who cry over bad language, you probably don't want to watch this. And those who don't mind, click, and laugh. This video inspires those to give back to the Earth in not-so-favorable acts. I won't ruin it for you; give it a watch!

Larry Burns, VP of Research and Development at GM has confirmed the carmaker has settled on a final design for the much anticipated Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, the car GM hopes will bring it back into competition against Toyota’s Prius and a host of new hybrid and electric cars. More after the jump!

While the production version won’t look exactly like the stunning concept, Burns has stated the production Volt will definitely bear a “family resemblance” to it. Reportedly, drag on the production version is 30% less than the hard-edged concept Volt, suggesting it has taken on a more rounded and friendly appearance. Pictured above is an official teaser that hints at the design of the final version.

The Volt is powered by an ‘E-Flex’ plug-in hybrid system, consisting of a lithium-ion battery with an electric-only driving range of around 40 miles. It also has a small, flex-fuel engine to recharge the battery on the road. So far the biggest hurdles for GM was shoehorning the large batteries and engine into the car and still having enough room for four adults and their luggage, reports The Detroit News.

With production expected to begin in just a couple of years, GM seems well on the way to ironing out any issues the Volt may have - batteries have already been produced that satisfied safety and size requirements but long-term durability testing is currently under way to determine their life expectancy.

The Volt is shaping up to be the car that will make or break GM this decade, with Vice-Chairman of GM, Bob Lutz, recently expounding on the massive opportunity that GM missed by not developing a hybrid program earlier. But the mistake seems to have strengthened Lutz’s resolve, who stated in a blog entry that GM “are going for the brass ring” with the Volt.

Source: Motor Authority

Wait. There must be some mistake. How can an autobahn-inspired performance machine beat one of the most fuel-efficient cars ever made? Read up after the jump!

It looks like that is exactly what happened on a 545-mile London-Geneva run, when a diesel-powered BMW 5-series posted better MPG stats than a petrol-based Toyota Prius hybrid. The BMW 520d with a 2.0-liter diesel engine and regenerative braking posted an impressive 41.9 mpg - about 0.9 mpg better than a full hybrid Prius. The difference may not seem huge. But given that the Prius weighs about 500 lb less, BMW's fuel economy lead was significant enough to raise new questions about which drivetrain technologies are more environmentally viable and should become the future mainstream of sustainable transport.

The 5-series' triumph over Prius can be attributed to "a series of energy-saving features BMW calls EfficientDynamics: battery recharge when braking, good aerodynamics, low rolling resistance, a continuous fuel consumption gauge on the dashboard, and a six-speed manual transmission that is rated as improving fuel economy by about 10%."

Source: GoodCleanTech