nyscene911

Toyota shuts down car factory in India indefinitely BANGALORE, India -- Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. indefinitely shut down its vehicle factory near the southern Indian city of Bangalore after workers went on strike last week to protest the dismissal of three employees, an executive at the plant said Monday. Workers began the strike Friday, demanding the three dismissed employees of the factory be rehired, said A.R. Shankar, the general manager of Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts Ltd., the joint venture that directly runs the plant. The factory, which is 89 percent owned by the Toyota, rolls out about 70 cars a day, including Toyota's Innova and Corolla models. India's Kirloskar Group owns the remainder of the plant. "We were forced to declare a lockout because the safety of our officers and machines was threatened by the striking employees," Shankar told The Associated Press. The company and union representing the workers resumed negotiations Monday afternoon with the state's labor commissioner mediating the talks, but the two sides appeared far apart. A few hundred workers demonstrated outside the local government's labor welfare office Monday to protest the lockout. R. Ravi, the general secretary of the factory's union, accused the company of the firing the three workers because they were active in the union. "For quite some time now, the management has been victimizing some employees for organizing the labor and wants to suppress any union activity," he said. "We want the government to intervene and get the three employees reinstated. The lockout should be lifted immediately." But Shankar said the three workers were "dismissed on disciplinary grounds." He did not elaborate, but insisted the workers would not be rehired. "We hope we will be able to lift the lookout in the near future, but we really don't know for sure," Shankar said. "We don't know which direction the events are set to take and it is a tense moment for the company." With Indians buying about 1 million cars each year, the nation has emerged as a fast-growing automobile market. Companies like Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. are increasing production and launching new models to meet growing demand. Toyota has so far invested $350 million in the Indian subsidiary. --------------------------------- Were this GM or Ford, probably front page news. But since its Toyota, there's barely any mention of it that I'm aware of. Great News, America! This is what you're getting yourself into by buying up Toyotas and shunning your own auto industry

You sure? I seem to see alot of Rav-4's running around without them.

I'll throw in some input here. My car-97 Sunfire, ~76000 miles ~40,000-alternator ~65,000-valve cover gasket Somewhere in the middle was a battery, and a new wiper motor. Don't exactly remember. I consider it very reliable. My other car-86 Fiero(since I got it two year ago) 110,000-Full tuneup 112,000-O2 sensor, EGR valve. Thats it since I've had it ~114,000-Rear driver side caliber replaced and front rotors replaced Other cars in my family Father's 84 Fiero-Clutch is needed now(with like 135000 on the body, maybe 50k on the engine) Everything else done(larger brakes, new engine ;-) ) has been by choice Fathers 97 3500 Express Van many times before 20k miles--front rotors replaced, rear finally replaced around 20(dealer would never look at rear) ~70,000 miles-Head gasket needs replacing ~50 miles later-engine needs replacing(they let antifreeze mix with the oil) ~100,000-fuel pump ~120,000-injectors replaced ~135,000-fuel pump again(stupid autozone or wherever it was from). And for comparisons sake Sister's 90 M30 ~130,000 miles-Nothing electronic works anymore(radio, environmental control display, power windows and doorlocks(were already replaced at least once before this(windows)) I hate this car Brothers 98(?) Integra ~60,000-clutch ~75,000-transmission ~100,000-heatshield came lose and wouldn't stop vibrating-was cut out ;-) He had some problems with his power options(windows, locks?) as well, but that was fixed under warranty Edit: Add in one more 93 Astro ~140,000-fan clutch ~175,000-rebuild throttle body Sold at 200,000 B)

This thread reminds me how bad so many people suck at driving. If I had a brand new car, i would be so damned careful with it it's ridiculous. Oh well, whatever I guess. Stupid people.

Yeah. I especially like the changed rear lights on the update...

That is my exact Sunfire! And yes, I know its a chick car, but I don't car. I didn't pay anything for it(my aunt got a new car, and gave me it), and it gets good gas milage. But a 3 spd automatic... <_<

Josh, I assume your the one who posted this pictures on the auto forum on myspace, right?

Sounds about right. When I was 7 or 8, I kept getting things in the mail about joining the armed forces and blah blah blah. Evidnetly on a bunch of publc records I was recorded as being 10 years older than I am. Kinda weird.

BV, I've worked as an electrician for a few years--my first question is how old is your house? Since you said it has a fuse box, I'm going to guess its up there and has BX(read: steal sheethed) wiring through most of it. And if the wire inside of that steal sheething is coated with denim, then well you could have a much larger problem than you think. You're best bet--If you guys want to do it yourselves, or have an electrician come in for you, have him follow the circuit as much as he can throughout the house, and open up everybox on it to see if the short is in the box(which would be great). If the short(or open circuit--a hot or neutral could've came lose early in the circuit) is not in the box, then you're in trouble. That would be the denim covering over the wires inside of the steel is pretty much rotted away, and would have to be replaced. that could get to be a pain in the ass, and expensive. Edit: It might be even easier than that for a quick fix, if the short is not in a box. Most electicians will have a "sniffer" which is a device they use to follow a circuit. What can be done is you follow the circuit from the panel, to the first box on the circuit, and disconnect the leads coming out of there, and check if the fuse will blow again that time. If it does, the short is between that first box and the fuse panel. That can continue to be for most of the circuit, although it would be very time consuming, and annoying.

Yeah, driving thru snow in rear drivers isn't all that horrible. I had done it in my Camaro when I had it, even though I prefer doing so in the fwd's(just personal preference). Maybe it has to do with trying to get my third gen up in the driveway when there was a thick sheet of ice on my road. That was fun.

As do I...

These people I think only got one question right out of all of them in the catergory. I was screaming at them over the tv "Its F*&*&ing PONTIAC!! PONTIAC!" I got a chuckle out of it.

Hey, its another EE! Hell, isn't it?

Damn it! I knew there must've been a reason no one was replying to the personals I kept posting all over the site!

Today in lower Manhattan-A VW Phaeton. I laughed a bit, because at first I thought it looked like a Passat

Wow, I just realized that they bother to leatherwrap the column shifter. Good job on paying attention to the small things, I don't think I've seen that before on a GM vehicle.

So....Many...Buttons...And...Vents :blink: Seriously, thats my biggest gripe with Pontiacs--They have to unclutter their interiors.

I love the explorer vans. If it ever got to the point where I needed one of them(enough kids), I would definately pick one up. My family had one that they only got rid of like 2 years ago. The interior of them is kick ass, my family's was loaded with leather and a power rear seat and wood everwhere. Very nice.

Whats that pedal for? There's a hand e-brake, and its an auto? Small brake pedal WAYYYY to the left?

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

I've been wondering that for months. I see em on alot of cars now, particularly high-end car.

God, I hate those tailights so much. They don't have style, they just look kinda misaligned. Like someone forgot to convert the length from english units to metric, and just said "oh well, lets leave it that way!" They would, however, look much better if they got rid of the white back up lights on the outside lights, imo. Edit: and why does the car not have an exhaust! :blink:

Wagoner is being retarded as hell here. How can you possible expect a large group of people to make concessions when you aren't making any yourself. Hell, your giving yourself a huge raise! It seems that poor leadership still runs rampant at GM

Wow. After seeing all those photos, I am impressed. Although the exterior does all it can to be un-offensive, the interior is gorgeous. Good work, Hyundai!

I've only had one car stolen in my family-My fathers '98 Chevy 3500 Express Van that he used for work. With all of his tools in it, it definitely sucked at the time. That was, luckily, found three days later when some woman called the number on the side of the truck and asked us why we abandoned the car in front of her house. All that ended up missing was, like, 20 bucks and a raincoat from the passanger compartment. My brother had his POS radio stolen from his car like 2-3 years ago. I've had weirder stuff stolen. Someone stole the windshield wiper off my sunfire when I was at the mall. Another person took the Antenna off of my Fiero. I really don't get some people...