The statement follows a scientific study into Toyota’s electronic safety systems by Southern Illinois University engineer David Gilbert. 

The professor claimed to have rewired the electronic accelerator system on a Toyota Avalon, which resulted in unintentional or ‘runaway’ acceleration. He then suggested this could happen in real-world driving conditions.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday (Monday), executives said mechanical faults relating to accelerator pedals and floor mats were behind the recall and not problems with the vehicle’s electronics.

Following a review of the initial findings by Stanford University, Toyota claimed there was no evidence of a real-world risk. “We're confident in our electronic throttle control systems,” a spokesman said.

In other news, Toyota President Akio Toyoda has met with Japanese Premier Yukio Hatoyama and said that the manufacturer will work hard to improve quality and safety in order to regain customer confidence.

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The AA Fuel for Thought research revealed that fuel duty and VAT has gone up by 11.46 per cent on a tank of petrol in the UK since the Pre-Budget Report on 24 November 2008.

This is in contrast to an average of 5.07 per cent across 10 European countries including France and Germany.  In Austria, the rise was 2.23 per cent.

AA President Edmund King said: “Petrol and diesel are necessities for the majority of the population and businesses, yet are taxed as luxuries. Further increases could back-fire on economic recovery."

Fuel duty is to rise again on 1April. 

The Road Haulage Association and the Fuelcard Company have joined the chorus of industry bodies and motoring groups calling for an end to fuel duty increases. 

It is calculated that cumulative fuel duty increases would amount to 20 per cent over two years if another increase planned for the forthcoming budget goes ahead.

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The national Golden Garages competition is designed to help consumers feel more confident about their choice of garage and to give national recognition to the UK’s most reputable garages.

In Yorkshire, the top five garages were Autosafe Clifton in York, Benfield Ford in Leeds, two Polar Ford sites in Barnsley and Bradford and Prestige Services in Wakefield.

The five top garages shortlisted in ten regions will go on to the last voting stage to find the UK’s national winner and ten regional winners.

Chris Mason, Motor Codes director, said: “We've identified the most popular garages that received consistently good customer feedback in our top garages per region. 

“Motor Codes is determined to promote the best the service and repair sector has to offer so that every motorist can benefit from fair, honest, quality service.”

In other Fuelcards.co.uk news, male drivers are nearly one and a half times more likely to have a driving conviction than their female counterparts, according to research by the AA.

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Micra sales were up 44 per cent year-on-year, Note was up 25 per cent, while the Qashqai was up six per cent.

The top three countries for Nissan sales were Italy, Germany and Spain, while the UK came sixth. Nissan suggested that figures appear to be higher across Western Europe than last year due to scrap incentives.

Bernard Loire, Vice President Sales Operations for Nissan in Europe commented: "Nissan in Europe's market share in February was healthy at 2.9 per cent and customer demand for our core models continues to be strong.

“We have healthy order banks going into the important month of March.”

In other news, Euro NCAP has published its latest crash test results on five new vehicles.

The Toyota Verso was the only vehicle out of the five to score the highest five-star rating for child and adult occupancy protection, pedestrian protection and safety assist features.

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Construction on the 1,980-mile pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico is expected to start this year and is part of a $12 billion (£7.98 million) investment in transporting oil from Canada’s oil sands to US refineries. 

After initially stating there was insufficient demand to warrant further expansion, TransCanada executives now say that it is “open for business” with US crude producers, after pressure was applied by the two key US states.  

If further negotiations are successful, North Dakota and Montana would load crude from its oil fields into the pipeline via a special ‘onramp’.

The proposed pipeline would create around 1,000 jobs in Montana alone.

In other fuel news, the Confederation of British Industry has said the UK could reduce its emissions and save motorists money by making energy-efficient driving a mandatory part of the driving test.

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Today (4 March) it was announced that in 2011 the zero-emission Ford Transit Connect Electric will start off a series of full-electric and hybrid model releases.

This electrified quintet will help bolster the company’s aim to offer the widest possible range of technology solutions to improve fuel economy and lower emissions for customers around the world.

The Focus Electric will be introduced in 2012, followed by two new hybrid-electric models and a plug-in hybrid-electric model the year after.

John Fleming, Chairman and CEO of Ford Europe, said: “There is increasing interest among a number of customers in Europe for electrified vehicles and we are responding by stepping up our efforts to bring these models to the marketplace alongside our latest-generation, fuel -efficient petrol and diesel powered models.”

In other news, the Confederation of British Industry has called for energy-efficient driving to be made a mandatory part of the UK driving test, in order to reduce emissions and save motorists money.

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The Toyota Verso earned five stars for Adult Occupant, Child Occupant, and Pedestrian safety protection, as well as offering Safety Assist features. The Kia Venga, the NISSAN Cube and Seat Exeo gained four-star ratings, while the CITROEN NEMO earned three stars.

Euro NCAP have increased performance thresholds for 2010 for Adult Occupant Protection and Child Occupant Protection from 75 per cent to 80 per cent and from 70 to 75 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the minimum level required on Pedestrian protection rises from 25 per cent to 40 per cent – the steepest rise.

In other news, Toyota has dealt with nearly a third of the 72,000 cars recalled due to accelerator and computer software issues, claiming UK service departments were the first to start the recall programme – in early February.

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“You can never get enough training” is the message of the Show, to be held at the Birmingham NEC from 13-15 April.   

This message applies equally to large-scale hauliers and the man in the van.

Training is an integral element of the show, with partner the Road Haulage Association (RHA) allocated an entire section to cover all aspects of training, including Health and Safety, Driver CPC and the Professional Driver Update 2010.

Steve Ellis, RHA Head of National Training, said: “The ‘Managing Your Operators Licence’ course is proving particularly popular with owners, directors and managers all gaining the benefit of seven hours approved training towards their own Driver CPC needs.”

Other transport industry training exhibitors include the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and the Freight Transport Association.

In other news, the RHA has called for an end to fuel duty increases, claiming “enough is enough”.

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In a statement at the Geneva Motor Show, the German carmaker’s Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said that VW aims to become “the market leader in E-mobility by the year 2018”.

He said the manufacturer wants to attain an electric vehicle market share of three per cent within its full range of products.

“We will take the hybrid out of its niche status with our high-volume models. In the future, the heart of the brand will also beat with electricity,” Mr Winterkorn stated.

VW also hopes to sell more than 10 million vehicles across the world by 2018. Its brands include Audi and Seat.

The Geneva Motor Show will officially open on Thursday (4 March) and will run until 14 March. Out of the 30 all-new cars due to make their world premieres, Volkswagen will show more than half a dozen new models.

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As part of a report named Tackling Climate Change Closer to Home, the CBI says smooth driving and the adoption of energy-efficient practices could save motorists up to £250 a year, as well as improve motoring behaviour.

Dr Neil Bentley, CBI Director of Business Environment, says that more than a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gases come from personal transport, half of which are cars.

He said: “Simply changing gears more smoothly to avoid sharp breaking and acceleration can reduce fuel consumption by a third. Learner drivers already have to demonstrate they can drive in a fuel -efficient way during the course of their driving test, but this is not a pass or fail element.”

Other recommendations include setting long-term limits for reducing passenger car emissions.

In other fuel news, The Fuelcard Company has backed the Road Haulage Association’s call to end transport sector fuel duty increases.

Is your existing fuel card living up to expectations?  Compare it at fuelcards.co.uk and see if you could get more for your money. 

An Ipsos MORI survey of 100 National Lottery publicity winners who’d won at least £1 million saw the British marque at number 4 on a list of cars on which to splash lucky cash. 

The famous Griffin logo rated higher than luxury brands such as Ferrari and Rolls-Royce, suggesting that winners consider practicality as well as style, comfort and equipment when money is no object.

Fifteen per cent of respondents said they had bought a Vauxhall soon after their windfall.  Cars are often the most popular first purchases after a lottery win, as are holidays and houses.

Andy Gilson, Vauxhall’s marketing director, said: “It goes to show that, while exotic brands such as Ferrari and Rolls Royce may feature further down National Lottery winners' shopping lists, they're still a pragmatic group at heart - but one that still recognises quality and value.”

In similar news, luxury vehicle brand Infiniti has unveiled its new bespoke 3.0-litre V6 direct injection fuelcards.co.uk/about-fuelcards" diesel engine, the first in the marque’s 20-year history.

The designated V9X engine, which produces a torque output of 550Nm, will be available for new EX30D, FX30d and M30d models, as well as the forthcoming Infiniti M Line.

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Speaking during a meeting with Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Executive Secretary to the Treasury, RHA Chief Executive Geoff Dunning said that transport was the only industry to have seen large increases in taxation during the current recession, and claimed that “enough was enough”. Cumulative fuel duty increases would amount to 20 per cent over two years if another increase planned for the forthcoming budget goes ahead.

The Minister said the further increase had been suggested by environmental interest groups in order to discourage unnecessary fuel use and respond to climate change issues. The RHA responded by saying that fuel is already sufficiently expensive to achieve this. Fuel costs are already so high, in fact that some operators cannot afford to upgrade their vehicles to more fuel -efficient models.

While the recession continues and costs remain high, it has never been more important to keep driving costs to a minimum.  Fuel cards offer access to discounted pump rates. Visit fuelcards.co.uk for more information.

Achieve added control over your fuel purchases with a fuel card .  Fuelcards.co.uk will help you to manage your account and transactions for optimum efficiency and convenience.