Toyota Motor Corporation

The Top 10 Car Models in Desperate Need of a Redesign

Car years are like dog years. They age much faster than we do. The average life cycle of a car is getting shorter and shorter as automakers compete to have the latest and greatest redesign on the block. In between redesigns, many automakers try to trick you into thinking that a car is "all-new" when ... More >>

Top 10 Coolest Cars under $25,000

Believe it or not, the average transaction price for new cars is more than $30,000 these days. That's a lot of money. But just because you're on a budget doesn't mean you have to settle for something boring. What you drive says a lot about you, and your average economy car doesn't say much at all. ... More >>

Texas Joins In $29 Million Settlement With Toyota Over Sudden Acceleration, AG Announces

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today that Texans will be part of a $29 settlement with Toyota over its actions after claims that various models had sudden, unexplained accelerations that endangered drivers. Texas and 27 other states "investigated whether Toyota adequately and promptly ... More >>

Republicans, Cubans and Idiots

The Ten Most Corrupt Tax Loopholes

If Mitt Romney won't tell you which need to be closed, we will.

Ailene Lander: If You See This 15-Year-Old In Houston Today, She's Been Kidnapped

The FBI thinks an Alabama girl who was allegedly kidnapped by her stepfather this week will be moving through the Houston area on the way to Mexico. Ailene Lander was at a doctor's office Septmeber 17 in Dothan, Alabama when she was taken by Charles Partin, investigators say. "There is a concern t ... More >>

This Guy Picked The Wrong Person To Snatch A Purse From

Purse-snatching is hardly the most manly of crimes -- you pick a feeble-looking victim you're sure you can outrun, make a grab and then run for the hills. Sometimes, though, you misjudge your prey. That's what the guy pictured here did, and although he got away Crime Stoppers and the Webster polic ... More >>

30th Annual Houston Auto Show

When Car Commercials And Rock And Roll Collide

This weekend is the big Houston Art Car Parade, where children and adults of all ages can gander at their fellow Houstonians' labors of car love. Each car is a marvel to the ingenuity and the insanity of this race known as the modern Texan. The Art Car festivities have cars on our brains. Rock a ... More >>

Enrique Iglesias & Jennifer Lopez Heading To Houston August 26

Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez and Wisin Y Yandel are heading to Houston's Toyota Center on August 26. This marks the third time that Iglesias has been in Houston in the past year, logging a RodeoHouston date this spring and a Toyota show last fall. Does he own land here or something? From the l ... More >>

Melvins + Scion = ???

Are corporate-sponsored free records a good move?

Chef Chat, Part 1: Chef Junnajet "Jett" Hurapan of Blu Loves Race Car Driving

Executive Chef Junnajet "Jett" Hurapan of the new Blu Restaurant and Lounge (2248 Texas Dr; www.blusugarland.com) in Sugar Land's Town Square, couldn't stop smiling when I was taking pictures of him in the kitchen. "In New York, the photographers didn't want me to smile," he says, but for me he smil ... More >>

Before We Cared: 10 Bit Players Who Became Superstars

On this day in 1965, British songstress Petula Clark reached number one on the charts with "Downtown," a pop classic with an unforgettable hook that has become a mainstay of oldies radio, film soundtracks and TV advertisements in the years since. The song even served as a plot point in an episode o ... More >>

Mediocrity Is Served at the South Fork Ranch on Top Chef: Texas

O HAI GUYS DID WE MENTION WE'RE STILL IN DALLAS?​I have one thing to say in advance of tonight's episode: Dean Fucking Fearing. Thank God. An honest-to-Christ Texas chef as a judge on this show for a change. That out of the way, on to the Quickfire Round! Fearing, as mentioned, is the guest judg ... More >>

Yodani Cruz-Rojas, 29, Shot at Work By Her Children's Father, Bayou Body Count No. 168

Photo by HPDNoel Sosa-Ruiz: On the run with a CHL.​A domestic dispute ended in murder when a man gunned down a woman at her dentist-office job Thursday evening, Houston police say. Yodani Cruz-Rojas, 29, was killed in a flurry of gunshots from Noel Sosa-Ruiz, 41, with whom police say she was ... More >>

The Luckiest Good Samaritan Ever?

Luck be a lady tonight....​The Houston police are telling us about an incident involving what might be the luckiest Good Samaritan ever. It unfortunately involves a fatal accident on the Gulf Freeway. The driver of a red GMC pickup truck died in a crash about 12:30 a.m. today on the Gulf Free ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Buy American, Buy Toyota

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Get That Damn Toyota Out Of Texas, Son

​From Reddit (via the Bayou Blog) comes this note, apparently left on a car parked at the AMC Gulf Pointe 30 on the Gulf Freeway. We thought Toyota had a bunch of U.S. plants, but we bow to this writer's more sophisticated understanding of the subtleties of world economics.

Toyota's Unintended Acceleration Problems Not Caused by Electronics, Feds Say

​The problem some Toyota drivers have had with unintended acceleration of their vehicles -- a problem we first wrote about last April -- is not caused by any electronic flaws in the cars, a lengthy federal study has determined. The lengthy federal study could not determine, however, just what ... More >>

Passionate Prius Drivers

A Facebook page for the victims

Giving Pledge: How Three Houston Billionaires Should Help

Houston billionaires haven't joined Bill Gates' and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge. Yet. ​One of the big stories this week is Bill Gates' and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, where the super-billionaires have promised to donate half their money to charity. Even better, they've convinced 38 other ri ... More >>

Prius Is Looking For Passionate Fans On Facebook; We Deliver

Toyota launches its Prius Facebook competition; we launch our Prius Facebook page.​To celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of the Prius, Toyota is launching a Facebook competition to find "the most passionate Prius fan in the United States." From Toyota's press release:As a result, this car with the si ... More >>

Church for Thugs

50 Cent decides to be a little more selfish on upcoming LP Black Magic.

Tobi Oyedeji: Tragedy Hits Bellaire High

Photo courtesy FacebookOyedeji had a good academic record at Bellaire​A kid with a shining future, one who worked hard in class, who seemed to have everything before him, died this weekend, and Bellaire High is grieving.Tobi Oyedeji, 17, was set to play basketball for Texas A&M next year, but ... More >>

Shakira, Tool, Kings Of Leon, Roger Waters All On Sale Within A Week

​This morning, Live Nation announced more huge roadshows hitting Houston soon (enough), adding Shakira and prog-rockers Tool to Toyota Center's 2010 roster. On-sale information for Kings Of Leon and Roger Water's in-concert production of Pink Floyd's The Wall was also released; see the end of this ... More >>

Dan Pastorini Fender-Benders His Way Into A DWI

Photo courtesy Brazos County SOPastorini, looking like he did after they called the Renfro pass incomplete in the title game​Houston Oiler quarterback Dan Pastorini, the man who led the team to within a blown call of the Super Bowl, was arrested this morning on suspicion of driving while intoxicat ... More >>

"Safety Deaf" Toyota to Pay Record Fine

​Toyota announced today that it would pay the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration $16 million to settle allegations that it kept quiet about safety defects on its cars. The penalty is the largest that the federal government has collected from a car company."Toyota could have contested t ... More >>

More Fallout for Toyota

Plus: Why are Mormons annoyed with Houston?

Toyota And Unintended Acceleration: A Lawsuit And A Car Show

​Toyota has announced during the last several months a series of recalls to fix the problem of its cars accelerating out of control. Last week, in perhaps the most dramatic move, the company said it would stop selling eight models of cars and trucks. Each of those fixes involved floor mats or gas ... More >>

The 10 Biggest Non-Bummers Of The Decade In Houston

​We recently took a look at the 10 Biggest Bummers of Houston's Decade; in the spirit of equal time (and the season), we now offer the 10 Biggest Non-Bummers of the Oughts.This being Houston, some of these happy developments have a not-so-happy side, but that's to be expected, we suppose.Are we mi ... More >>

Aftermath: Nitzer Ebb at Meridian, Joel Osteen With a Trouserful of Funky Cold Medina

Photos by Groovehouse / Click here for a slideshow​Aftermath was running late on Saturday night after trying to get a teething baby to sleep. We drove our little Toyota as fast as we dared through a fog that on television would have contained dead pirates, eldritch horrors or Michael Jackson ... More >>

Yet Another Explanation From Toyota On Unintended Acceleration

​Toyota made big news today, with a press release titled "Toyota Announces Details of Remedy to Address Potential Accelerator Pedal Entrapment," by announcing the details of a recall that will apparently stop all those problems of Toyota's accelerating wildly out of control, as detailed in a Houst ... More >>

Los Angeles Times Takes On Toyota's Acceleration Problems

​The Los Angeles Times published a lengthy story this weekend about unintended acceleration in Toyotas, something the Houston Press and Hair Balls have written about from time to time, starting with a cover story in April.The Times wrote the story in response to a highly publicized crash this summ ... More >>

Feds Not So Sure About Toyota's Claims That Floor Mats Are The Problem With Priuses

​The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a statement yesterday indicating that problems of unintended acceleration in Toyotas might be caused by something more than faulty floor mats. The statement from the federal agency was a response to Toyota's claims, released on Tuesday, ... More >>

Bayou Beat: Method Man on His Pellet-Gun Aim, The Debut of HUSH, Local Bands Vying for ACL Spot, Thee Armada MySpace Finalist, etc.

Above, Method Man talks about his pellet-gun accuracy, which was a little off the night he allegedly shot Houstonian Mary Anderson, who is now suing him on several counts including assault. Besides playing House of Blues Friday with Redman and Ghostface, looks like Meth will spend some time in Hous ... More >>

Car Trouble

Readers respond to "Wild Ride"

Wild Rides

Between serious safety and environmental concerns, the Toyota Prius isn't the angel that everyone thinks it is.

The AG Vs. Don McGill Toyota: Those Wily Salespeople

Lesson Number One if you're dealing with Don McGill Toyota in West Houston, especially if you're not really fluent in English: Read all the fine print, even the parts where salespeople have folded the contract over so you can't see it.Texas AG Greg Abbott announced today a $78,000 settlement with th ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Sinful Xmas, Houston Aeros and AC/DC

Brrrr. It's getting chilly. Not that you could tell from looking at the photo below. Sinful Xmas at Warehouse Live Yuletide naughtiness was in season at Dare Ware's December 13 bash. Houston Aeros Win Two of Three It was a good week for the Aeros, complete with free wings and flying teddy be ... More >>

Rental-Car Tip: Ask "By Any Chance, Is This Car Listed As Stolen?"

Five Spot: New Kids Are Back, Bitches

Angry Scots and pidgin tongues

Last Night: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Toyota Center

Last Night: Foo Fighters at Toyota Center

Three Nights Ago: Hives and Maroon 5 at Toyota Center

St. Patrick's Day Guide

Going for the Gold

See how your luck pans out at the Houston Museum of Natural Science

Best Public Bathroom

Hype This

Fleetwood Mac opens the Toyota Center, the Chron hyperventilates, and a city grumbles

The Policy That Won't Die

Despite five deaths in recent weeks, HPD stands by its car chases