Lexus cars and trucks

Maybe Toyota will just walk away with a very light slap on the wrist
after all this? Toyota already sent out its employees to do the
talking in D.C. and PR firms are working full-throttle and without
brakes.

"Four governors from states with Toyota Motor Corp. plants spoke out
Wednesday in defense of the Japanese automaker and questioned the U.S.
government’s conflict of interest as a stakeholder in some of Toyota’s
rivals.

In a rare show of support for the embattled Toyota, the governors
wrote to congressional representatives who will lead hearings about
Toyota’s recalls and how it handled customer complaints."

From The Detroit News:
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20100211/AUTO01/2110351/1148/auto0…

Just FYI

"Jacquelyn Donoghue of Holder, Neb., said in the lawsuit that her 2006
Toyota Prius suddenly sped up and went out of control in December,
slamming into another vehicle, killing her husband John and seriously
injuring her.

Nelson is also representing Teresa and William Myers of Laurel, Miss.,
the parents of Steffan Myers, a 20-year-old who was killed in an
accident on Jan. 10., just days before he started classes at the
University of Mississippi college.

The Myers said in a lawsuit also filed Friday in federal court in Los
Angeles that their son’s 2005 Toyota Camry suddenly accelerated and
smashed into another car, killing both drivers.

Full article at:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Toyota-sued-in-Calif-over-apf-273552346…

"Toyota said on Friday that it might expand the number of models that
will receive a braking override system designed to prevent sudden
acceleration, a problem that led the company to recall millions of
cars.

The disclosure about the brake override system came in a letter from
Theodore M. Hester, a lawyer representing Toyota, to the House
Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, one of three Congressional
panels that plans to hold hearings on the recalls.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/business/13toyota.html?partner=yaho…

Anybody know what the latest nav data is?
Version 9.1? or is 10 available??

John

Harman and Mercedes are Working on Modules for Integrated Navigation
Systems
http://www.gpsnavigationportable.co.cc/2009/02/harman-and-mercedes-ar…

Dear Experts,

I have a 1999 ES300, V6.  Very similar to the Camry V6.

I’m visiting Canada now (with the car), and it’s really cold.

For those of you who don’t know, rubber is contrarian;
rubber actually expands in the cold.

So, my timing belt has stretched.  When I press
my finger beside the alternator, the belt has a lot
of movement and give.  It needs to be tightened.
(Tires need to filled with more air too, and readjusted
in the spring.)

On the two Fords that I used to own, there were two
different ways to adjust the belt.

One had the old style, with a belt dedicated to the
alternator.  To tighten the belt, you loosed an alternator
bolt, levered the alternator to make the tension high,
and then tightened the bolt down.  Similar to this:
http://forums.motivemag.com/zerothread?id=3490925

Another Ford had a big serpentine belt.  To make
more tension, you first loosened the lock bolt,
turned a screw assembly to push a pulley into the
serpentine belt, creating tension, and then
tightened the lock bolt.

Questions:

1)
on the 1999 Lexus es300, the belt for the alternator is
actually a serpentine belt, correct?  Meaning, that it
connects multiple components.

2)
How do I create more tension on the 1999 Lexus alternator belt?
– move the alternator, or
– move a pulley into tension, or
– something else?  what’s the secret?

Thanks a lot!

"No matter the cause of the problem — floor mats, sticky pedals or
electromagnetic interference — engineers and safety regulators told
the Free Press that brake override is the solution.

Said Joseph Kanianthra, a former National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration official: “If the brake override was available in those
vehicles, it could probably have prevented unintended accelebration.”

Full article at:
http://www.freep.com/article/20100209/BUSINESS01/100209048/1332/busin…

BiG Discount on Garmin nüvi 765 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS
http://www.gpsnavigationportable.co.cc/2010/02/garmin-nuvi-765-43-inc…

what an idiot.