Asian Car News

The U.S. NHTSA safety agency has alerted Lexus and Toyota owners about conditions that could cause the accelerator to get stuck in the pressed position under certain conditions. The agency “strongly recommends” taking out removable floor mats on the driver’s side in certain models and not to replace them with any other mat, either from Toyota or any other brand. After numerous reported “unintended acceleration” incidents, Toyota is now conducting a major recall on 3.8 million affected cars, but only in the United States.

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Highly-anticipated by the Honda community, the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show in October will mark the debut of the Honda CR-Z hybrid concept again, except this time it is a near-production version. The sporty-but-slow CR-Z, slated for Japanese production early next year, is a revival of the Honda CR-X from the 1980s. Based on the Civic of that time, with a puny engine and decent suspension, it became somewhat popular among budget-minded car enthusiasts. The new CR-Z is expected to be exclusively hybrid.

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Mitsubishi’s Australian division is the one to announce the redesign of the 2010 Outlander, featuring a new nose that mimics that of the Lancer Evo for no apparent reason.

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About 42 hours after Highcroft Acura driver Scott Sharp walked away from a crash during practice for the Petit Le Mans racing event in the United States, a freshly-built Acura ARX-02a was rolled out for the morning warmup on Saturday. The Highcroft crew put in marathon sessions of work, totalling 20 hours, to build a brand new racecar, as LeMans teams do not generally have a backup car. A spare carbon-fibre tub was picked up from the Honda Performance Development shop in California and shipped, while the crew at the Atlanta racetrack salvaged 10% of the old parts for use in the new car.

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The Toyota 4Runner 4×4 was launched back in 1984, based on the four-wheel-drive Toyota pickup architecture, as a smaller alternative to the Land Cruiser. And while it was last seen in the early 1990s around here, the 4Runner continued in the U.S. market, with styling harking back to the 80s original. Now, as the Middle East prepares for the launch of the blobby 2010 Prado, the Americans are celebrating the launch of the blocky 2010 4Runner. While both share similar platforms and engines, the American-built 4Runner looks far more purposeful.

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We are getting reports from various readers that the all-new 2010 Nissan 370Z coupe is available in some showrooms around the UAE and other GCC countries.

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While the 2010 Toyota Prado has officially been launched in Europe and Australia, the UAE and other GCC countries will have to wait for a month or two for its local debut. Meanwhile, the new 3-door version of the Prado has surfaced in some promotional Toyota footage.

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Honda has developed a new “personal mobility technology,” naming it the U3-X. The experimental unicycle is designed to provide free movement in all directions just like human walking, including side-to-side and diagonally. The U3-X makes it possible to adjust speed, move, turn and stop in all directions when the rider leans their upper body to shift their body weight. This was achieved by systems such as the ASIMO robot’s balance control technology as well as an omni-directional wheel system.

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The 2010 Nissan Altima has undergone a facelift for 2010, although the car is not out yet. However, a U.S. publication has leaked the first image of the updated car.

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Nissan’s American division is recalling certain 2009 and 2010 Altima and Maxima cars due to a mechanical defect. The upper front “strut insulators” in 26,000 cars may have been manufactured out of specification, resulting in a potential for the suspension’s “strut insulator” to crack.

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