When will the bad news stop for Toyota? The Japanese automaker has issued its latest recall of roughly half a million Prius hybrids around the world to deal with a braking problem that reportedly requires a software-related fix.

Clark has a 2009 Prius that is not part of this particular hybrid recall, but was affected earlier in the floor mat recall. Yet he has seen some evidence of braking problems in his vehicle too. He has noticed that his brakes act funny if he hits a patch of water. Yet he's not afraid to drive the car.

Meanwhile, in a new development, The Washington Post now reports that State Farm tried to alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) back in 2007 about a pattern of accidents in Toyotas because of acceleration problems. The NHTSA apparently covered up to protect the automaker.

Obviously, a full investigation is in order. People could be dead or injured because the very federal agency that is responsible for seeing we're safe in the vehicles we operate dropped the ball.

What's the good part in this story? In spite of Toyota and the government doing the wrong thing early on, the loss of life has been relatively small. In addition, the climate created in the wake of Toyota's troubles likely means that all automakers will take suspected recall problems seriously going forward and address them quickly.

As for Toyota, you're talking about an organization that has annual revenue exceeding the GDP of most nations on Earth. It's going to take awhile to turn this ship around. The company needs to emphasize quality again, not quantity.

In the interim, there are great deals on used Toyotas, as Clark has mentioned before. Honda is in a nice position to be the single greatest beneficiary of customer traffic fleeing the Toyota camp.

Well, another day, another wrinkle in the Toyota recall story. First, it's important to know that problems with sudden acceleration were talked about internally in Toyota and ignored with a resulting lose of life in a number of cases. Yet this is not a time that calls for panic.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood who had earlier today said to park your Toyota until it can be repaired is now furiously backpedaling from his statement. Forget about the Washington two-step, though, here's the real deal: The federal government and the Department of Transportation are both embarrassed because they too ignored owner complaints about brake issues. The Center for Auto Safety had long ago been taking complaints and the feds just put them on ignore. So now you have LaHood's misstatement and clarification.

Here is the latest list of Toyota models affected by the recall:

* 2005-2010 Avalon
* 2009-2010 RAV4
* 2007-2010 Camry
* 2008-2010 Sequoia
* 2009-2010 Corolla
* 2005-2010 Tacoma
* 2008-2010 Highlander
* 2007-2010 Tundra
* 2009-2010 Matrix
* 2009-2010 VENZA
* 2004-2009 Prius

Of course, not every single vehicle within these models is affected. Determine if your car is affected by looking at the VIN number. If it starts with a "J," that means your vehicle was made in Japan, not the United States. Toyotas from Japan are generally not affected by the recall.

Don't panic if you determine you do have a recalled vehicle. You needn't garage your car or sell it. Wait until you get your certified letter in the mail from Toyota and then make an appointment to get it repaired. If Toyota is correct and a little shimmy will do the job, it should take less than 30 minutes for the fix to be made to your car.

With any vehicle, it's important to know how to stop your car in an emergency. Typically, you want to brake (push the pedal, don't pump it) and put the car into neutral. If that doesn't work, turn the car off as a last resort, though you may lose power steering and braking under these circumstances.

Consult your owner's manual if you have a keyless ignition. With most Toyotas, you must hold the button for three seconds to kill the engine.

Meanwhile, the bad press about the recall has created some real deals on used Toyotas. The big winner, however, will be Honda. Toyota and Honda, more than any other two automakers, trade customers back and forth all the time.

Finally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now raising questions about whether electronic devices like cell phones could be a contributing factor to sudden acceleration. The jury, however, is still out on this theory.

Toyota has announced details of how it will handle the massive recall of millions of vehicles at risk of sudden acceleration problems.

The Japanese auto giant will start with repairs in about a week or so. Owners must wait to get a certified letter in the mail before making an appointment for repair at local dealerships. The dealers plan to burn the midnight oil making the necessary fix, which should only take about the same time as an oil change. But if dealers do get backed up, you will be given a loaner car.

One word of advice: Don't be the first in line to have your car repaired. There will be a learning curve and you don't want your vehicle to be the guinea pig.

Meanwhile, should you be afraid to drive your Toyota at this time? Clark recalls when Audi had a similar issue in the 1980s. It turned into a public relations disaster because the automaker didn't step up to the plate. People simply garaged their Audis at the time.

But in this case, Toyota is taking responsibility -- albeit late in the game. Clark himself has no problem driving a Toyota. He has explained in the past how to stop the car if it goes out of control.

Interestingly, the whole debacle has created a unique window if you're in the market for a used Toyota. Late model Toyotas (2007 to the present) have seen a big drop in value recently. Right now, you can save as much as $3,000 when buying a used Toyota vs. what you would have paid just two weeks ago.

We're also seeing some weakness in the cost of a new Toyota, but not to the degree we're seeing with used ones.

The ultimate lesson here for business is this -- it's never the problem, it's always the cover-up. It takes years to build a reputation, but only an instant to destroy it. Toyota has such strong brand equity overall that it will make a comeback. But heed this word, business owners: It's important if you mess up to fess up.

Continuing acceleration problems in some Toyota models has raised an important question: How do you turn your car off when you have keyless ignition?

Most automakers are introducing keyless ignition across many price points. The real challenge here is that every manufacturer uses a different system to turn the engine off. With most Toyotas, it involves holding the start button in for three seconds. Be aware that you will lose power steering and power brakes when you do that.

That's why putting your car in neutral is the best choice no matter what kind of car you have. Braking alone will not stop the vehicle in a case of sudden acceleration. By putting it into neutral, you may blow out your engine, but you won't lose your life.

So your assignment is as follows: Take out your owner's manual and read how the keyless ignition can be turned off, and find out how to put your car in neutral if it's not obvious.

As for Toyota, there's a brewing scandal over when they first became aware of the sudden acceleration problem and how long they kept it quiet. The Japanese automaker is halting sales of eight models, including the Camry and Corolla sedans, in response to the concern. In addition, Toyota will idle several of its North American factories that make the affected models for a week beginning February 1.

A few years back, Toyota made a corporate decision to become the world's largest automaker. In doing so, they had to take the focus away from making quality vehicles and shift it to growing market share.

Let's hope the company's new leadership can turn things around...

On the heels of its massive floor mat recall, Toyota has unveiled a new plan to handle a sudden acceleration problem in 4.26 million of its most popular models.

The underlying problem behind the acceleration appears to be something called fly-by-wire technology. Fly-by-wire simply means that the car is powered electronically rather than through traditional mechanical cabling.

According to Toyota, the following makes and model years are affected:

• 2007 to 2010 Camry
• 2005 to 2010 Avalon
• 2004 to 2009 Prius
• 2005 to 2010 Tacoma
• 2007 to 2010 Tundra
• 2007 to 2010 Lexus ES350
• 2006 to 2010 Lexus IS250
• 2006 to 2010 Lexus IS 350

This recall is serious. It initially gained media attention when it was suspected of contributing to the road death of a California state trooper behind the wheel with his family.

Meanwhile, safety data shows that more people have been killed by sudden acceleration in Toyotas since they went to fly-by-wiring than all other makes and models of vehicles combined.

Toyota's remedy is a multi-step process of removing a part of your gas pedal to ensure there's no possible contact with the floor mat. Then they'll add a "smart pedal" already in use by BMW, Audi, Porsche and others. The smart pedal automatically disengages the accelerator when you brake.

As a general rule, if you're ever in any kind of car and you experience sudden acceleration, Clark recommends putting your car into neutral. Braking alone will not stop the car. By putting it into neutral, you may blow out your engine, but you won't lose your life.

Toyota has announced one of the largest recalls ever in the history of auto recalls, affecting 4 million Toyota and Lexus owners.

However, this is something of an odd recall because it involves a floor mat! Toyota's floor mats are suspected of contributing to the road death of a California family of four. The mat can jumble up near the gas pedal and cause the car to accelerate out of control.

According to Toyota, the following makes and model years are affected:

2007-10 Camry
2005-10 Avalon
2007-10 Tundra
2005-10 Tacoma
2004-09 Prius
2007-10 Lexus ES 350
2006-10 Lexus IS 250/350

The remedy here is quite simple. Take the floor mat out and just get your carpet dirty.

This recall has gotten a lot of publicity, but so many others go under the radar. For example, Clark had issues with a gas cap that would not open on one of his vehicles. So he went online to research the issue and found that this was a widespread problem. He printed out some supporting material and went to the dealer expecting pushback. But the dealer was happy to replace the cap for him once they pried it off!

Many times when there's no official recall, there still may be a technical service bulletin (TSB) from the manufacturer. AutoSafety.org will keep you abreast of TSBs and full-blown recalls alike.

The sad thing about recalls is that it's estimated only one out of three people will comply once notified.

If you drive a pickup, SUV or minivan and have replaced your tires at some point, you need to check your tires to see if they're unsafe. To save money, a company in China produced their tires without an important safety step. As a result, after a short period of time, the tires shred right off the car. The importer knew there was a safety problem but didn't alert the government. People have been hurt, so you need to be aware of the brands that were sold with this serious safety defect:
YKS
Compass
Telluride
Westlake
The following sizes are defective:
LT235/75R-15, LT225/75R-16, LT235/85R-16, Lt245/75R-16, LT265/85R-16, and LT3X10.5-15.

China's economy is expanding rapidly and in a chaotic fashion, and this is not the only case of defective merchandise. We've heard of the unsafe toys and dog food, and now there are reports of antifreeze being put in toothpaste to extend its shelf life. (Never mind what it does to the consumer!) This is damaging the reputation of products from mainland China.

Intelligent keys are coming out with lots of new models of cars. Many times they make life a little easier, but the smart key for the new Nissan Altimas have had just the opposite effect. If your smart key is right next to your cell phone and your phone rings, the I-key is permanently disabled. There is no way to fix it, and these I-key’s cost about $400 a pop. Nissan is including I-key malfunctions under the factory warranty so if you have been affected by this, call the dealer you bought your car from.

Cars are the best deal and the best quality they’ve ever been. So how could it be that 31 million cars were recalled last year? The first reason is that cars are often made using “platform manufacturing.” Basically, they make multiple models of a car using one platform. So if one has a problem, they all have a problem. The second reason is the Internet. The Center for Auto Safety can easily track information about problems with vehicles and tell others about it using the Internet. So, before, an automaker could cover up problems, but now they are much better publicized. Still, many people don’t know if there has been recall or problem regarding their car. And even if they do, some don’t get those problems fixed. So, remember to look at alldata.com for information periodically. The site won’t tell you how to fix the problem, but it will tell you what the problems are. You have to keep up with this information because you may not always find out through other sources, and it could cost you.

One-third of people who have gotten recall notices about their cars do not take them in for repair, according to Consumer Reports. It could be a serious safety issue, not to mention that these are free repairs. Apparently, the same is true of toys and other products. Consumer Reports said that more than half of all toys recalled are never replaced. Car seats are the same. Would you believe that three-quarters of the time, parents don't bring their car seats in for repair or replacement? We're talking about our children's lives. Cosmetics is another product that can damage your health if not carefully selected. You can find out about all of these items at recalls.gov. If you want to find out about your vehicle, just enter the cars section and enter the type of car you have. Use the resources available to you to protect yourself and your loved ones.