Toyota is recalling 427 2011 RAV4 models because the side-curtain airbags that might not deploy.

According to the notice, a propellant with incorrect specifications was used in the airbag inflator. In certain instances that can cause one or both of the devices to fail.

The vehicles included in the recall were made between November 24 and December 11 of last year. As recalls go, this is a pretty small one but interestingly enough, Honda issued an almost-identical recall for the same issue in their Accords and Crosstours today.

It seems the same supplier, Autoliv Americas, does business with both Honda and Toyota. Owners can expect to be contacted by mail if their vehicle is among the affected group.

10. Hyundai Genesis Coupe 'Think Fast'

The Super Bowl only comes once and year, and it brings with it a heated advertising race between car companies to try and captivate the huge audience that watches the big game with eye catching commercials. These are AutoGuide’s picks for the 10 best commercials of this year’s Super Bowl in order from worst to best. And lucky you, there are so many this year we actually left the bad ones out.

There was absolutely no surprised looks around here when we heard that TRD was hard at work on tuning the all-new Toyota GT 86. It’s been a while since Toyota had such a formidable sports car platform, but we have to admit we’re a little disappointed that a method of forced induction – like a supercharger kit – still hasn’t been announced.

But we’ll give TRD the benefit of the doubt since they’ve already developed such a nice collection of modifications for the new sports car before it has even hit American soil. Our guess is that the majority of these will find their way to America’s Scion FR-S assuming that there’s little to no fitment differences on the products. We can hardly imagine what improvements TRD has made to the sports car, considering that it’s a fantastic machine to drive straight from the factory – read our review here.

Nonetheless, TRD’s full line of products for the GT 86 includes a full styling package with a new front spoiler, side skirts, rear diffuser and rear duck tail wing. For an exhaust upgrade, TRD offers a High Response Muffler Ver.R for the GT 86, sporting a quad-tipped design. For suspension and chassis upgrades, TRD has a front strut tower bar and 40-way damping adjustable suspension kit. Accessories include a radiator and oil cap, HID bulb upgrade, and Door Stabilizer Set.

For wheels and brakes, TRD offers a nicely designed 18-inch SF2 wheel, which is a one-piece forged aluminum wheel. The Big Brake Kit comes with 6-piston front calipers and 4-piston rear calipers with massive 14-inch rotors in the front and the rears are just slightly smaller at 13.6-inch. The BBK comes with new brake pads and stainless steel braided lines of course.

Lastly, the interior also has plenty of TRD goods available including a set of new seats in a black and red theme, TRD shift knob and push start button, and a series of gauges.

For now it’ll calm us down a bit, but seriously TRD… where’s our supercharger at?

GALLERY: TRD Toyota GT 86

[Source: Jon Sibal]

Toyota GT 86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada is turning to the virtual world in hopes of making cars fun for the younger generation.

It might come as a surprise to our readers, but there are actually people out there who couldn’t care less about cars or driving them. In fact, the man behind one of the cars we’re most excited about, the Toyota GT 86, or Scion FR-S as it will be called here, has two sons who fit that description.

Tada’s plan is to allow people driving the FR-S to sync up driving data via the controller area network bus in their car with their home gaming console or computer. We’re not exactly sure how it will work yet, but that data will translate into people being able to “drive in the real world against a virtual F1 driver. They can have fun with the data,” he said.

“Manufacturers like to blame young people for having no interest in cars. Maybe we should blame ourselves,” he said. “Manufacturers provided boring cars and focused on older people, because this is where the money is. We have abandoned young people.”

We’re not sure what he’s worried about, considering the FR-S is going to be a budget-conscious rear-wheel drive sports car, but it will be hard to argue with anything that lets us take our rides to task both in and out of the real world.

GALLERY: 2013 Scion FR-S

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

The Toyota Corolla has long been the best-selling car of all time, but now it holds an even more impressive title: the world’s best selling vehicle.

That may sound the same at first, but the “vehicle” list includes trucks, of which Ford has been selling plenty since it first introduced the F-Series line of trucks in 1948. Back in 2007 the Corolla surpassed the VW Beetle to become the world’s best selling car, and has since quietly moved ahead of the Ford truck line, with sales figures totaling 37.5 million. That’s 2.5 million ahead of the F-Series, an indication that the little Toyota has been in the lead for quite some time.

As for the Beetle, it’s slipped to fourth at 23.5 million units, being surpassed by its sibling, the Golf with 27.5 million units sold. In fifth place is the out-of-production Ford Escort, with 20 million units sold.

[Source: 247Wallst]

See below for a full list of the world’s best selling vehicles:

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In a January 2012 sales conference call, Toyota division group vice president and general manager Bob Carter reported some surprising results.

Recovering from its mid-2011 slump, Toyota sold 124,540 units from its Toyota, Lexus and Scion divisions. Those sales translate to a 7.5 percent increase over last January. Toyota enjoyed a 9 percent increase in sales for January, thanks in tremendous part to a 56 percent jump in sales for the all-new Camry.

Surprisingly, the Camry garnering the highest customer demand is the sport trim Camry SE. Moreover, the Camry SE even helped Toyota bring in an unprecedented number of new and young buyers. Responding to the new trend, Carter said “demand for the SE model continues to top the Camry lineup and we could have sold more in January if we had them. So we’re adjusting our SE production mix in order to better meet customer demand in the months ahead, going from about 8 percent for the previous generation Camry, to more than 40 percent for the current production mix.”

As for Toyota hybrids, the Camry Hybrid’s modest 2,100-unit January sales represent a 146 percent increase from last year. Carter expects sales to increase as availability improves, announcing an annual sales target of 50,000 Camry Hybrids for 2012.

Toyota intends to continue its marketing focus on Camry, especially by dedicating airtime during the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500, where the Camry will also serve as the official pace car. Toyota’s notoriously bland midsize family sedan just got interesting.

GALLERY: 2012 Toyota Camry

Audi is out to steal Toyota‘s thunder in the World Endurance Championship this year.

The German automaker announced today that it will run two hybrid LMP1 cars for the first time in their team of four during the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Details were scarce in the release, but we know that the cars will be officially released at the end of the month. Their first race debut will follow on May 5 at the 6 hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

Despite running the hybrid cars, Audi isn’t relying on them. Instead the R18 TDI that raced last year will remain the staple.

“The first test results are very encouraging and we are intrigued to see just how this technology performs in combination with our ultra lightweight technology on the race track at Le Mans. As before, we still, however, see potential with the conventional drive – just as our colleagues do in production development,” head of Audi Motorsport Wolfgang Ullrich said.

It seems that the engineers at Audi are putting some stock in Toyota’s strategy because developing and running those cars is no small feat.

“To develop the hybrid technology for Le Mans is at least as ambitious and challenging as our diesel project was in its early stages,” Ullrich said.

Audi won 10 of the total Le Mans races since 2000, so the fact that they’re putting money into a hybrid LMP1 means there’s probably something significant to be gained.

What’s better than winning a brand-new 2012 Toyota Camry? Winning one for yourself and a friend!

Along with a Super Bowl ad, which will air during half time, Toyota is launching its “pay it forward” contest that is an extension of Toyota’s “Camry Effect” campaign. This social media campaign shared Camry stories and memories from the past 30 years from over two million Camry owners across the U.S.

The Super Bowl ad, called “Connections,” is a tip of the hat to the “Camry Effect” campaign, showcasing a variety of memories that have taken place in a Camry.

To enter the contest, you have to download the Shazam mobile app and then visit Toyota.com/CamryEffect. Once there, just follow the instructions to tag audio while the “Connections” ad is playing during the Super Bowl. If you can’t download the app, you can still enter – just go to the website and follow the on-screen instructions. You can enter the contest a day leading up to the Super Bowl debut of the commercial, as well as entering again by using Shazam or entering online when the spot airs live on Sunday. You’ll be in the running to win a new Camry for yourself and another for your best bud – a prize that’s valued of $53,000.

We’ve got the commercial for you to watch now, right after the jump.

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We might become cautiously optimistic about Toyota if these reported order numbers continue to grow exponentially. It was just the end of December that we got reports that the Toyota Prius c in Japan (known as the Toyota Aqua) had reached 60,000 orders; and now just a little over a month later, they have reached 120,000 orders for their new compact hybrid sedan.

And without the Prius c even hitting American dealerships yet, Toyota can call the vehicle a success considering they have 10 times the order of their monthly sales target of 12,000 vehicles in Japan. Now their biggest issue is whether or not they wish to increase production in order to meet the overwhelming demand in Japan.

It’s probably no surprise that the Aqua is such a huge success in Japan. The standard Prius was the best-selling car in Japan last year, and despite the setbacks encountered through the tragic earthquake and tsunami, Toyota still managed to sell more than 250,000 Priuses.

GALLERY: Toyota Prius c

[Source: Reuters]

The refreshed 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser will make its North American debut at the upcoming 2012 Chicago Auto Show on the media preview day on February 8th.

The refreshed iconic SUV gets updated exterior styling with a new front grille and headlights with HID low-beams, LED daytime running lights, chrome side molding, redesigned outer side mirrors and taillights.

The Land Cruiser recently celebrated its 60th anniversary from its original launch and has been seen in Toyota’s US lineup for more than 50 years. Over time, it has evolved from a basic, run-of-the-mill four-wheel-drive utility vehicle to the eight-passenger, luxury SUV now seen today. More importantly the Land Cruiser can be seen at dealerships in 188 countries.

In addition to the updated exterior, Toyota gave the interior additional refinements including perforated leather trim with ventilated front seats, higher-gloss wood grain finish, silver instrument-panel decor, chrome-plated air registers and gave the meter-cluster lighting an update. Lastly for 2013, Toyota made the rear-seat DVD entertainment system, color-matched spoiler, rain-sensing wipers, center-console cooler box, headlight cleaners, leather-trimmed steering wheel and shift lever, multi-information display, Bluetooth hands-free, and heated second row seats all standard – popular features that were previously available as options.

The Land Cruiser will be powered by a 5.7L DOHC V8 engine with 381-hp and 401 lb-ft of torque and will be arriving at Toyota dealerships nationwide in February.

GALLERY: 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser (European Spec)