In the state of California, the ugly yellow sticker you see here was, for a time, one of the most sought-after automotive accessories around. People would buy a car specifically to get one, or pay a couple thousand more on the used market for a car that already had one.

What’s so special? If you were lucky enough to have one affixed to your car, you could drive solo in the carpool lane. The idea was to kickstart hybrid sales, which at the time were languishing because gas was cheap and, I’ll bet, a bit of technophobia on the part of the general public. In chronically congested California, the idea of zipping along in the carpool lane without Bob from accounting nattering in your ear the whole time was too good to resist, and the 85,000 stickers were snapped up quickly, with the last one issued in February, 2007. The stickers even added between $1,000 and $2,000 to the used car value of your hybrid (most often a Prius or Civic Hybrid) if you were lucky enough to get one.

However, the program’s days were numbered from the start. Initially supposed to expire in 2008, the deadline was moved to 2011. Now that deadline is fast approaching, and the subject of extending it until 2016 is under consideration. Opponents say that the work is done, and they make a great point. The Prius hardly needs help selling these days, and hybrids with similar or better mileage than the original Prius are all over these days. Besides, hybrids are most efficient when they’re stuck in traffic anyhow, using all those great electrons stored in the batteries instead of that nasty gasoline they consume at high speeds. Diesels like the Jetta TDI are generally more efficient at steady-state highway speeds than most hybrids anyhow, so why don’t they get a sticker? In addition, the carpool lanes are so crowded these days that kicking all these hybrid people out makes sense.

The effort to extend the program won’t even cover current hybrid owners. One version under consideration would only offer the stickers to pure electric or alternative fuel vehicles (which currently get a white sticker that does the same thing as the yellow one), and another would give the hybrid sticker to vehicles with a combined city/highway mpg rating of 65 or higher, something no car currently available achieves. Either way, it looks like Prius owners will have to commute with the rest of us schlubs in the regular ol’ lanes starting in 2011.

Los Angeles Times

Seems like Toyota is hell-bent on doing everything bigger than GM. Bigger trucks, bigger sales…and today, an even bigger quarterly loss.

Earlier this week, GM reported a nearly $6 billion loss in the first quarter, one heck of a kick in the pants for a company that’s flirting heavily with bankruptcy. However, suddenly GM doesn’t look so bad, thanks to Toyota’s recently announced $8.2 billion loss in its first quarter…heck, Ford’s quarterly loss of $1.43 billion almost qualifies for an “only” by comparison. On top of Toyota’s quarterly loss, the company also posted a warning that the future is pretty dim; this year the company lost $4.4 billion, but expects to lose $5.5 billion next year and sell 1 million fewer vehicles.

The reason, of course, is the slumping world economy and the fact that everybody pretty much stopped buying cars, especially in the U.S. and Europe. Of course, overall Toyota is in much better shape than its Detroit rival since it has had decades of profits, as opposed to the mounting losses at GM. Regardless, there must be at least a little bit of schadenfreude going on over at GM’s Renaissance Center today.

Bloomberg News

Toyota strikes again with another chronology, this time about its line of trucks, SUVs and crossovers. They’re all here, and frankly, this one is a little more interesting to me on the face of it, not because of what’s conspicuous by its absence.

With its ultra-green image, due in large part to the Prius and other hybrids, it’s easy to forget that a huge chunk of Toyota’s bulletproof reputation was built because of its trucks. Anybody who’s ever had a Hi Lux, a 4Runner, or just a plain-Jane before-they-were-called-Tacomas pickup can attest to the durability of the little trucks. Having owned two vehicles equipped with them, I’m fairly sure Toyota’s old R-series engines would run even if they were filled with sand. Same goes for the original Land Cruiser, which was as hard-core an off roader as any Jeep series you’d like to mention.

What’s also interesting is a little historical footnote: Toyota was the first carmaker to bring a crossover to market. The RAV4 may have traded on cuteness, but the formula was a winner, and it spawned a whole new genre of vehicles. Anyhow, the full chronology is after the jump.

read more from "Everything You Want To Know About Toyota Trucks and SUVs"

Toyota sent out an interesting release today that outlines all the changes to all of the cars it currently sells in the U.S., from inception to the present date. OK, maybe it’s not earth-shattering to know that the 1995 Toyota Avalon was introduced to replace the Cressida, or that the Toyota Solara was AutoPacific’s “Best Car in Vehicle Satisfaction, Sporty Car,” in 1999. Still, if you’re a fan of the brand and want to know the background of its current lineup, it’s handy to have.

What’s missing are the cars that Toyota used to sell. For example, there’s no mention of the Celica or Supra and no MR-2. It’s kind of a bummer, partly because those were neat cars, and partly because it reminds me that Toyota, despite all of its success, is completely devoid of passion these days. I mean, when the sportiest car in your lineup is a Corolla XRS, well, something needs to change.

Anyhow, the entire release is reprinted for your amusement after the jump.

read more from "Everything You Want To Know About Toyota Cars"

For Toyota, launching the third-generation 2010 Toyota Prius must feel a little like being the crew of Apollo 12. Quick…what are their names? Don’t know? Didn’t think so. It’s not because their mission was less important (it wasn’t) or because they were less capable than Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins (they weren’t), but because Apollo 11 was an impossibly tough act to follow. That’s where Toyota finds itself with the new Prius, but with a wrinkle even Conrad, Gordon and Bean didn’t face: Now the Russians are on the moon, too.

OK, enough with the moonshot analogy, and enough of the teasers. The question is: What is the new Prius like to drive?

The 2010 Toyota Prius is a great car in many ways. It improves on the second-generation Prius with more power, better styling, and more technology than you can imagine. Toyota nailed all of the high points it needed to, and the Prius will probably continue to sell extremely well, thanks to its built-in fan base and well-deserved reputation as the leading eco-car.

The problem is that even with all the improvements, it’s still not a driver’s car. For that, there’s the 2010 Honda Insight. Sure, the 2010 Insight isn’t as thrifty as the 2010 Prius, and maybe it doesn’t have as many gizmos. So what? They both get amazing fuel economy, since Toyota will hold the line on Prius pricing the Insight will be cheaper by thousands of dollars, and the reality is that the money you save in gas costs with a Prius won’t even buy you an extra bag of groceries each month.

read more from "First Drive – 2010 Toyota Prius Review"

An electric water pump may not seem like a very big deal, but it’s one of my favorite things about the 2010 Toyota Prius engine.

Making the water pump electric, rather than running off a belt driven by the engine’s crankshaft, holds a few benefits. First, there’s the practical benefit of reducing the drag on the engine. This means none of the engine’s power goes to turning the pump impeller, and that reduces drag. But Toyota also points out that by making the water pump electric, the ECU can more precisely control the flow of coolant through the engine. It can also run the water pump independently of the engine, allowing heat to flow even when the car isn’t running. Provided there’s enough hot coolant, of course.

read more from "2010 Toyota Prius Tech Part 23 – Electric Water Pump"

I think the philosophy behind pre-collision systems like the one on the 2010 Toyota Prius is that two heads are better than one. In this case, one of the heads is the driver, and the other is the car itself.

On cars equipped with the dynamic cruise control system, pre-collision scans ahead, looking for other vehicles. If it determines that you’re approaching another vehicle too fast or if you suddenly jab the brakes, it assumes a crash is imminent and starts taking steps to prevent it, or lessen the consequences at the very least. It tightens the seatbelt to keep you from flopping around too violently in case of a crash, activates the pre-collision brake assist, which basically means adding hydraulic pressure to the lines, and if you just sit there and do nothing, it will automatically start braking for you. Sounds like a great idea for the chronically distracted driver of today.

Read the 2010 Toyota Prius First Drive or read more 2010 Prius Tech!

Toyota, under the Lexus banner, introduced the world to self-parking cars a few years ago when it debuted the Lexus LS 460. It’s an interesting technology, combining cameras, parking sensors, electric-assist power steering and the driver’s sense of patience to let the car mostly park itself. It almost kind of works, too.

Toyota says it has improved the Intelligent Park Assist system for the 2010 Prius with a “Pre-Support” function that provides step-by-step guidance. Still, if it’s anything like the one on the LS, it still has some gestation before self-parking cars are really ready for prime time.

Read the 2010 Toyota Prius First Drive or read more 2010 Prius Tech!

Now, I’ve never really had much of a problem with lane drift. Somehow, I have managed to stay in my lane without too much problem, and without any technical assistance. Clearly though, there are enough people that need assistance that Toyota (and others) have developed technologies to help drivers perform this basic task.

The 2010 Toyota Prius has Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Lane Keep Assist (LKA). Both of them use a camera that literally looks for lines painted on the road; obviously, it must be a well-maintained road with nicely painted lines, and it helps if you’re going fast on a highway. If the LDW system thinks the driver is about to drift into another lane, it sounds a warning and nudges the steering wheel a little bit. LKA goes a step further, actually helping the driver stay in the lane with additional torque on the wheel. Both of them need the driver’s hands on the wheel in order to work, and it deactivates if you let go. Still, do we really need this, people?

Read the 2010 Toyota Prius First Drive or read more 2010 Prius Tech!

This is more than just a pretty badge. Behind it lies a radar that is the heart of the dynamic cruise control on the 2010 Toyota Prius.

Dynamic cruise control systems like this aren’t new, but they are unusual for a car in this price class. However, it makes sense, and not just for pampering drivers. Hypermilers will tell you that leaving a car in cruise will give you the best mileage. However, when you’re in traffic, the cruise control loses its effectiveness because you’re constantly getting on and off the brakes and gas anyhow. Dynamic cruise could potentially save more fuel by monitoring traffic ahead and slowing or speeding up gradually, reducing fuel consumption. It’s part of the advanced technology package available on the Prius V.

Read the 2010 Toyota Prius First Drive or read more 2010 Prius Tech!