Hasta La Gadget!

There’s more closure in the case of some Toyota cars falling victim to “unintended acceleration,” as the company has agreed to pay out a whopping $1.1 billion to settle lawsuits centering around the flaw. For those who have forgotten, Toyota was forced to recall a ton of 2010 Lexus RX 350s and 450s after it was discovered that the floor mats can entangle the pedals and force the cars to accelerate. Unfortunately, a flaw like this is normally discovered after drivers have accidents, which is why Toyota was hit with a number of lawsuits.

USA Today explains that for some of the cars involved in the case, Toyota will pay to have them retrofit with technology that aids in stopping the car in an emergency situation. For other cars that can’t be retrofitted with this tech, the owners will be getting cold hard cash. The important thing for Toyota was showing that this wasn’t a defect with the cars’ computers, but rather an issue with floor mats. With that little bullet point on the books, Toyota has agreed to pay out these settlements and put the whole thing behind them.

Toyota was recently fined $17.35 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for failing to report the flaw in the allowed time frame, which is the largest fine the NHTSA can impose. The company now must meet with the NHTSA regularly to report its progress in fixing the issue, so a lot of headway has been made in this case lately.

It’s great to see Toyota doing things like this to get the issue resolved, but we’re sure the company just wants to move on from all of this controversy as quickly as possible. We probably won’t be hearing too much about this case now that Toyota has agreed to both the settlement and the NHTSA’s fine since there’s not much left for the company to resolve. Still, if you need a recap, you can find posts about the issue in our story timeline below.

Toyota paying out $1.1 billion to settle acceleration lawsuits is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If I’m being honest, the only time I ever thought of the Volkswagen Beetle as cool was when I was eight and Herbie the Love Bug was popular. VW continues to sell a lot of the new Beetle and if you own one you need to beware of a new recall. Volkswagen issued a recall on some 2012 and 2013 Beetle coupes.

The recall covers about 2471 cars from those two model years with specific options. If your car doesn’t have leather seats, you’re free and clear from this recall. However, if your car does have leather seats and was built between February of 2012 and August 2012 you need to have your vehicle and to the dealership as soon as possible.

VW says owners can check the build date by looking on the driver side door jam sticker. According to the NHTSA, if the right front seat in these vehicles gets wet, the sensor in the seat may not detect the presence of the child and deactivate the airbag. The sensor is called the occupant control module. I’ve never owned a Volkswagen vehicle, but every vehicle I have owned or driven has had a light to show when the airbag was on or off.

Volkswagen and the NHTSA fear that a faulty sensor may not realize a child is in the seat and in an accident, the airbag could deploy and injure the child. Volkswagen is replacing the faulty module at no cost. The automaker recommends children ride in the backseat and more information on the recall will be forthcoming from VW.

[via USA Today]

Volkswagen recalls some new Beetles over airbag concerns is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’m beginning to wonder what exactly is going on with Toyota. It seems like every time we turn around Toyota is issuing a new recall covering hundreds of thousands of its vehicles for one fault or another. Today Toyota has issued a recall on another 2.8 million cars.

The recall covers some of the automakers most popular (and boring) vehicles, including the Avensis, Corolla, and Prius. The recall covers about 75,000 cars in the UK, 496,000 across Europe, 670,000 in the United States, and 1.5 million vehicles in Japan.

The problems that forced the latest round of recalls for Toyota have to do with faulty steering systems and water pumps. Toyota says that it has not received any reports of crashes or injuries resulting from faults. On the steering problem, Toyota says that the issue was caused by “insufficient hardness” of the steering shaft, which could deform if the wheel was turned forcefully at slow speed.

The water pump issue is known to affect some Prius models. This fault could cause a fuse in the electric power circuit to blow, causing the vehicle to stall. Toyota says that most issues involved with the recalls can be fixed within an hour and a half at the dealership. Issues with the recall will be fixed at no cost to vehicle owners.

[via Guardian]

Toyota recalls another 2.8 million cars due to steering and water pump issues is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Following the unexpected sales halt from earlier this month due to issues with build quality, Sony has taken to its Japanese portal to announce that the Xperia Tablet S will be returning to shelves later next month. Per the company, sales of the 9.4-inch, Ice Cream Sandwich slate are scheduled to kick off again starting mid-November (albeit in small dozes), with the outfit emphasizing that it’s still offering a free-of-charge inspection / repair service to customers who might be affected by the leaky woes. Unfortunately, a “mid-November” estimate is all we have at this point, but you can be certain we’ll let you know as soon as Sony gives us a more concrete date.

Filed under: Tablets, Sony

Sony says Xperia Tablet S sales will resume ‘gradually’ starting next month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 05:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s Xperia Tablet in an interesting looking device that was billed as being more rugged than the typical tablet on the market today. One key factor in the marketing of the little tablet was that it was water-resistant. Unfortunately, Sony has realized that some versions of its little tablet aren’t actually water-resistant at all.

Sony has announced that it has stopped selling its new Xperia Tablet after discovering a manufacturing defect that causes a gap between the display and the case. That gap will allow water inside the tablet. Sony says that the reason for the defect is a manufacturing flaw at the Chinese plant with the tablet is constructed.

The tablet went on sale within United States on September 7 and Sony says that it shipped 100,000 of the tablets so far. Sony says that it will repair, replace or issue a refund for any of the tablets that have already been purchased by consumers. The company doesn’t believe the recall will have an effect on its earnings.

[via Yahoo]