Industries

On Thursday, Toyota announced yet another recall, which this time involves nearly 417,000 high-end passenger cars and SUVS in the United States and Canada. The recall aims to fix steering problems.

The recall affects 373,000 of Toyota Avalons in the US and another 4,200 from Canada from the model years 2000 to 2004. In these vehicles, a steering lock bar in these vehicles could break under some conditions.

In addition, Toyota will also recall 39,000 LX470 SUVs from model years 2003 to 2007 in the US and another 520 in Canada. These are being recalled to eliminate the risk of steering shaft disengagement.

Toyota indicated that it would take about two hours to replace the steering column bracket in these vehicles, but did not give an estimate on the cost of the repair.

Labor costs average about $85 per hour in the US, so the US portion of the recall could cost them about $70 million plus the cost of parts.

To date, the automaker has received three reports of accidents involving the Avalons, but no injuries were reported. It is not clear whether the accidents were related to the defect. There have been no reports of accidents involving the recalled LX470 models that have been recalled.

The Gulf of Mexico and the coastline surrounding it has had its fair share of oil-leak related problems in recent months, and now it's about to get worse. During the early morning hours on Tuesday, a boat struck an oil well and now there is a second leak in the Gulf.

A barge collided with the well, shearing off its valve structure and releasing pressurized natural gas and light oil. The welli s located in Barataria Bay, which is south of New Orleans. According to the Jefferson Parish Homeland Security Director, Deano Bonano, the area has been evacuated and a US Coast Guard team is on its way to the accident site.

The USCG will be responsible for coordinating the response from command centers in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans. Clean-up workers are currently using a boom to contain the spill, however, oil is still shooting up at least 20 feet in the air.

Bonano says that a contractor who handles the well is also on the way. Federal officials do not yet know who owns the well.

Photo: The new foot-long burger from Carl Jr.'s.

Hardee's and Carl Jr's are making waves in the fast food business this week, with each introducing a foot-long cheeseburger. The elongated new burgers are being tested out at 50 Carl's restaurants in Southern California and 50 Hardee's in Indiana.

The mammoth burgers at Hardee's come with an artery-clogging 850 calories and 20 grams of saturated fat. If the foot-long burger does well, it could roll out to other Hardee's within six months. At Carl's, they're priced at $4 without lettuce and tomatoes, or $4.50 with.

This is nothing new for Ohioans, and Clevelanders in particular, who've been graced with 7-inch, 10-inch, and 14-inch burgers for years thanks to the local chain fast food restaurant Mr. Hero. No wonder we consistently rank up there amongst the nation's chunkiest states...

On Friday, Toyota Motor Corp. announced that they were teaming up with electric vehicle upstart Tesla Motors Inc. to work on developing an electric version of the Toyota RAV4 crossover vehicle. The companies plan to begin selling the vehicle in the US in 2012.

Tesla has already begun working on the electric power system for the RAV4. They've built one prototype for testing, and plan to deliver a fleet of them for Toyota to evaluate sometime this year.

In May, the two companies announced a partnership to develop and build electric cars at a recently closed auto factor near the San Francisco Bay area.

Toyota is investing $50 million in Tesla, which for now only sells one vehicle, a two-seat electric sports car that costs $109,000. In 2012, it plans to begin selling the Model S for a much more affordable $49,900. The Model S can travel up to 300 miles on a three to five hour charge.

Antiquated and complicated liquor laws have long made it difficult to purchase a bottle of wine in the state of Pennsylvania, but thanks to new wine vending machines, it's become a whole lot easier. The state recently unveiled the United States' first wine kiosks, or vending machines.

In Pennsylvania, the law prohibits the sales of wine in grocery stores. It can only be sold in a state-owned store. Thanks to the new machines, however, consumers can buy wine with the groceries by swiping an ID, looking in a camera, and blowing into a breathalyser to prove their sobriety. There's also a $1 convenience fee tacked onto the wine's price.

Okay, so it's not really that simple, but it does make it possible for Pennsylvanians to buy wine at the grocery store like most of the rest of the US. Despite the technological advancement, residents still won't be able to purchase wine on Sundays or holidays.

State employees remotely monitor the machines and checks your face to make sure that it matches that on your ID. According to officials, the process takes a mere 20 seconds.

The new kiosks are being tested in two stores, and could expand to 100 others if successful.

Chrysler's retro-inspired car, the PT Cruiser, had a nice short run. While sales were outstanding when the vehicle first launched in 2000, with waiting lists and customers paying more than the sticker price for the privilege of owning one, sales in recent years have slowed. So, Chrysler made the decision to stop manufacturing the vehicle and the last one ever will be made today.

Early Thursday morning in Tokyo, Japan, Toyota officials said that the automaker was considering "some kind of measure" that could include the recall of 270,000 vehicles worldwide involving eight models of Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

As of Thursday morning, however, Toyota had not alerted US safety regulators of a recall of Toyota and Lexus models for possible engine stalling while driving.

No accidents or injuries have been reported in relation to the engine problems.

Toyota said that decisions by government regulators would determine if a recall was necessary in this instance for the eight models, which include the Lexus LS460 and Toyota Crown. The models involved have 3.6-liter and 4.6-liter engines.

This engine issue is just the latest in a series of safety issues that have been plaguing the world's top automaker since last September. The biggest issue to date has been one involving potential acceleration. To date, 7.3 million vehicles have been recalled in Toyota's largest market - the United States.

Parents who opt to use cloth diapers have long had choices in the colors and styles of diapers that their babies wear. Disposable diaper using parents, however, have been left out in the cold with predominantly white diapers or those with various cartoon characters plastered on them. That changed when Huggies recently unveiled their new denim-look disposable diapers, but choice in the disposable diaper world is about to expand even further. Proctor & Gamble announced today that they have collaborated with designer Cynthia Rowley to create stylish new diapers.

Pampers by Cynthia Rowley will be available in 11 colorful styles beginning in mid-July 2010 at Target stores and on Target.com. The diapers will be available in a variety of pastel designs, including madras, stripes and printed ruffles.

According to the US Coast Guard, BP was forced to remove a containment cap that had been containing some of the oil currently gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. This has significantly increased the flow of oil entering the Gulf, resulting from the April 20th explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.

Coast Guard Admin. Thad Allen indicated that an underwater robot had bumped into the venting system, which sent gas rising through the vent that carries warm water to prevent ice-like crystals from forming in the cap. The cap has been removed, and crews are now checking to see whether or not crystals have formed before they put it back on.

While that is going on, another system is burning oil on the surface of the water.

On a possibly related note, the Coast Guard reported two deaths on Wednesday. It is not immediately known whether they were related to the containment efforts.

At worst, it is currently estimated that 2.5 million gallons of oil is spewing into the Gulf of Mexico on a daily basis.

It appears as though US District Judge Martin Feldman, who on Tuesday overturned the Obama administration's ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, may have a bit of conflict of interest. According to financial disclosures from 2008, Feldman has extensive investments in the energy industry, including $15,000 in Transocean Ltd.

Transocean owns the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded on April 20, resulting in the deaths of 11 workers and the worst oil spill in US history.

Other financial investments of Feldman's included on the 2008 report include Halliburton, another company involved with Deepwater Horizon.

Feldman ruled on Tuesday that the government overreacting, stating that an explosion on one rig didn't mean that all others would also blow up. He said:

"If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy-handed, and rather overbearing.”