[via CreativityOnline]

Because if there's one thing we know, this always ends well. And y'all better hurry — we think you only have until the end of today to do it.

Oh, and the prize? It remains to be seen. But the more spectacular the stunt, the better.

Photo Credit: John Nuttal

As you can see from the handy flow chart above, we're now at what you should do if your vehicle continues to accelerate rapidly after release of the accelerator pedal. Toyota tell us "this could be an indication of floor mat interference.," which is somewhat of an understatement. If this occurs, in addition to praying to your preferred deity, click "next" to see what Toyota recommends the driver do (The rest of the information below is is straight from Toyota — no added snark. Well, maybe just a little.).

Step One: If it is possible and safe to do so, pull back the floor mat and dislodge it from the accelerator pedal; then pull over and stop the vehicle. 

Step Two: If the floor mat cannot be dislodged, then firmly and steadily step on the brake pedal with both feet. Do NOT pump the brake pedal repeatedly as this will increase the effort required to slow the vehicle.

Photo Credit: Deeleea @ Flickr

Step Three:Shift the transmission gear selector to the Neutral (N) position and use the brakes to make a controlled stop at the side of the road and turn off the engine.
 
If unable to put the vehicle in Neutral, turn the engine OFF, or to ACC. This will not cause loss of steering or braking control, but the power assist to these systems will be lost.

Step Three-Point-One:If the vehicle is equipped with an Engine Start/Stop button, firmly and steadily push the button for at least three seconds to turn off the engine. Do NOT tap the Engine Start/Stop button.

Step Three-Point-Two:If the vehicle is equipped with a conventional key-ignition, turn the ignition key to the ACC position to turn off the engine. Do NOT remove the key from the ignition as this will lock the steering wheel.

Your Toyota or Lexus should now be stopped and fiery death avoided. Hooray!

Photo Credit: Billselak @ Flickr

Human beings aren't strictly rational animals. Car enthusiasts, for all their emphasis on numbers and measurements, are roughly equal parts rational and rationalizing, and there's no end to the myths that have grown around car culture. We believe that many of those myths, while perhaps not strictly true, are beneficial and help make car culture a fun place to be. We therefore choose to live as if these myths are pure truth, and we fully support all those who do. Click Next to see some of our most cherished.

MYTH: Cars were just plain better in the old days.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: Cars are safer, more reliable, more efficient, and perform better today than they were in any version of "the old days."

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: Because there are different versions of "better," and one definition has to include some sort of subjective measure of soul. As many have said, the rear end on that '59 Bel Air has enough soul for a Motown collection. And we believe that almost any older car, from AMCs to old Volvos, can have more soul, charisma, personality, or what have you have you than something modern designed to do nothing more than hold four sets of golf clubs and then crash. Plus, owning an older car almost invariably means you're working on it, and working on your own car makes your car more yours as well as making you a smarter and more capable person.

MYTH: Ferraris are the ultimate automobiles.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: The overwhelming Ferrari mystique obscures the fact that these things are overpriced, overstyled, breakdown-prone pose-mobiles.

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: So who gives a damn? Frankly, the question of Ferrari ownership is probably never going to be one of our problems, and it's good to have someone at the epicenter of automotive lust. Even if you're not a Ferrari person, you probably have some equivalent ultra-car marque as the angel on top of your imaginary lottery-winning Christmas tree, and the same logic applies-someone has to be the ultimate, and the ideal of the ultimate will always be more important than the reality. At least this ideal comes with its own F1 team.

MYTH: The Indy 500 is one of the greatest races in the world.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: It's been trading on its storied history as it slowly becomes a boring and expensive spec race.

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: Because we believe there's still a chance that it could return to its innovative, anything-goes, world's-best-drivers glory days. Exactly how this may happen is unclear to us, and it won't happen by next year if ever, but we hold out hope. And it's still much more fun and interesting to watch than the other Greatest Race traditionally held on the same day, the glitzier but far more past-its-prime Grand Prix of Monaco.

MYTH: Car dealers can't be trusted.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: With contemporary consumer protection and access to information, you can probably trust them now more than ever before.

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: Because consumer skepticism, at least educated consumer skepticism, is a good thing, especially on major purchases. Trust must be earned, right? Now, this doesn't mean prospective car buyers should walk into dealerships and say "Prove to me you're not a crook!" because for one thing, you can't prove a negative. What it means is to do your research, don't let car lust carry you away, and always, always, always take a Jalopnik reader with you when buying a car.

MYTH: The Prius sucks.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: The Prius is a perfectly competent automobile that delivers very good fuel economy and has thousands of satisfied owners.

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: In its quest to save precious energy resources it's created a shortage of material resources. It's hideous. For the first successful hybrid, it's remarkably uninteresting from a tech point of view-when our sister site Gizmodo featured one at their gallery and ran its 12-volt battery down showing off its flashy dashboard, we were a bit miffed to find that it couldn't jump-start itself. And seriously, we'd rather be taken out and shot out behind the storage shed than spend $28,000 on a perfectly competent automobile that delivers very good fuel economy.

MYTH: LeMans is a great movie.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: LeMans is a collection of racing footage inside of a really terrible movie.

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: Because that's a really, really stupendous collection of racing footage in that terrible movie. Also, the terrible movie includes Steve McQueen, which softens the blow somewhat. It really seems like making LeMans was an excuse for the director, cast, and crew to hang around the Circuit De La Sarthe with race cars for a few days, and that's something we can all understand.

MYTH: Manual transmissions are better than automatic transmissions.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: Automatics are catching up; the dual-clutch units can outperform manual boxes in many cases, and even their fuel-economy advantage may be disappearing.

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: Again, there's better and there's better. In this case, being in total control of your car is fun and interesting, and more fun and interest are better. To many, learning stick is still an achievement-although maybe it shouldn't be, heck, it isn't all THAT hard, but no matter-and being more capable is better than having everything done for you. We could really give a damn if the Porsche PDK systems are a tenth faster to sixty or whatever the numbers are; we didn't bother to look them up because we don't care. We would rather drive to
sixty a bit slower than ride there.

MYTH: Gaze upon my works, ye not worthy, and despair; for I am Bob motherfucking Lutz.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT: What, Bob Lutz? So-called Father of the Viper? He's just a marketing guy.

WHY WE BELIEVE IT ANYWAY: Listen, we need colorful figures in this world, and Bob Lutz is the most colorful person we have in the American car business. Perhaps in any business. His is a tradition going back as far as Barnum, or at least Don King. Are auto writers worried that Fritz Henderson will land a helicopter in their backyard, walk into their house, and yell at them? Is Alan Mulally or Scott Monty going to challenge us to a duel anytime soon? Nope. And seriously, without Lutz, we wouldn't have so much of modern car culture, from the phrase "The Ultimate Driving Machine" to the aforementioned Viper. Yes, there's way too much marketing in the world today, but that's not the problem. The problem is that Lutz isn't doing all of it.

These are proposed tuning packages, though the quad exhaust is already available in Japan. The new trim will also include your choice of 18-inch wheels and, of course, a lowering kit. While being closer to the ground might actually reduce drag, we're not sure if the "aero" kits will actually be more aerodynamic than the stock setup.

[Tommy Kaira via Carscoop]

Automotive News reported late yesterday that, at a dealer meeting in Las Vegas on Tuesday and Wednesday, Toyota executives said the name Prius would be attached to "a family of models" using similar hybrid powertrains, says veteran Toyota dealer Earl Stewart.

Toyota will have a range of Prius hybrid models "but Prius won't be a separate sub-brand like Scion," Stewart says.

"The Highlander hybrid and Camry hybrid do OK, but calling it ‘Synergy Drive' never resonated with consumers," Stewart says. "But they can make hay on the Prius name. It's a magic name. If somebody says ‘I drive a Prius,' everybody knows what he means."

Toyota Motor Sales COO Jim Lentz has been pushing for a multi-platform Prius lineup for a year. But this was the first time it has been openly discussed in front of TMS President Yoshi Inaba and Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda. [via Automotive News]

Interior space, ambiance, amenities, and a certain je ne sais quoi are all necessary when choosing an automotive boudoir. If we're honest, it's often a matter of any port in a storm, but if it's possible to avoid any of these, you should certainly do so.

Car: Toyota Prius

Why it's bad for sex: Let's just get this right out of the way and acknowledge that no one wants to have sex in a Prius. First of all, it's tough to get your swerve on in such an uninspiring object, something that's more consumer good than car. Second, you risk bringing a new life into the world, which will certainly be a waste of precious resources. Third, if you're a Prius owner, the idea of a car being fun is completely alien to you so you have your 20 minutes of lights-off missionary-position relations in the futon like a proper citizen anyway.

Photo: Flickr

Car: Chevrolet Aveo

Why it's bad for sex: Sex is just one of many things you should never attempt with the poor, misbegotten Aveo, including driving it, walking up to it or getting in it. But especially not sex. There's enough room, barely, if you're young, short, and athletic, but men have paid good money for drugs that give them the same hardness as the interior surfaces of this car. The resulting conjugal bruises will get you the wrong kind of reputation .

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Mazda Miata

Why it's bad for sex: While we love this car unreservedly, we are-like 98% of people-not exhibitionists, and to have any sort of workable sex in this car the top would have to be down. Also, much like 100% of people, we don't like our coitus to get interruptus by a power hardtop suddenly coming down on us because a flailing knee or elbow hit the switch.

Photo: Picasa

Car: Scion TC

Why it's bad for sex: While this cheap coupe is, or will be, the first car of a lot of eager young folks in an exploratory phase of their lives, we urge them to bring a blanket and find a wooded area. The TC is not so much a car as a platform for interior accessorizing, and getting into youthful carnal hijinks in this thing means you run a risk of getting something stuck in your illuminated cupholder. Buying a faux-billet LED-lit shift knob is one sort of loss of dignity; having a gloved proctologist hand it back to you in front of the entire ER is another.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Chevrolet Camaro

Why it's bad for sex: Traditionally, the two of you jump into the back seat of your two-door muscle coupe and proceed to put some sneaker prints on the headliner. However, just sitting in the back of the current Camaro will imprint the top of your head into the current headliner. And the front seats just don't recline enough or give enough leg room for advanced physical-intimacy contingencies. This is probably the only category of the contemporary muscle-car wars the Challenger wins going do- er, away.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Maybach 62

Why it's bad for sex: Because one's sex life is none of one's chauffer's business. Why, the very idea.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Mini (any)

Why it's bad for sex: Owners report that repeated heavy jolts can damage the rear shock mounts, resulting in reduced handling performance and a dramatic drop in ride quality, especially in early models. Also, even in a Clubman, there's no damn room in the thing.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Ariel Atom

Why it's bad for sex: Although a certain type of person might look at the Atom and notice the abundance of tie-down points, the multiple partner-handcuffing options, and the overall masochistic glory of this incredibly capable track car, it is in fact $65,000. For that price, you could afford any number of studded-leather bedsteads with enough left over for chains and whips.

Photo: candidcarcritic.com

Car: Smart ForTwo

Why it's bad for sex: Seriously, AskMen actually recommended this car, albeit in cabrio form. If you're more into achievement than enjoyment this could work, but in that case you'll probably have sex anywhere and everywhere anyway and don't need any sort of list to tell you. I mean, we're into bragging rights as much as the next person, but not bragging for bragging's sake, and sexually speaking the Smart hardly has enough room ForOne.

Photo: Wikipedia

Car: Dodge Caliber

Why it's bad for sex: Because it's just plain bad. The Caliber may, in fact, be the worst all-around car made today, and the idea of having sex in one has the same emotional resonance as having sex in a FEMA trailer or a Goodwill dumpster. Getting past the fact it's uncomfortable and it's not as roomy as it should be for a wagon/crossover/compromise-mobile, the Caliber is just kind of depressing. And if word gets out, you'll always be "the person who had sex with [other loser] in a Dodge Caliber," meaning you probably won't ever have sex again.

Photo: Wikipedia

Click next to see in full detail the process of creating your very own NES-worth flames, as demonstrated by Flickr user Saeru.

This was all done with colored strips of magnets cut into approximately one-inch squares using some scissors and a paper cutter.

You have to chose the right car and, in our view, the Toyota Prius isn't a bad choice given its hybrid drivetrain. This could also work wonders on a Tesla.

Attention to detail is important, it's probably best to have a drawing of flames to start with.

It's all in the details, and little bits of blue make the fire pop!

If you have some leftover you can also ornament the rest of the car.

And voila, you're done!

Photo credit: Saeru

These fears of shortage have been aired in the past, but towards key battery elements lithium and nickel. However, now, with Toyota projecting sales of 100,000 units of its mild child this year, it's becoming increasingly important to look at the more unusual mined elements in a hybrid, where they're used, and how much of it it takes to make just a single Prius.

Rare Earth Element: Neodymium
Amount per Prius: 1 kilogram (2.2 lb)
Use: Powerful magnetic element used in compact electric motors. The shiny button magnets that keep little motors going an clasp clever covers. In large enough quantities, as in one kilo of magnet, there's plenty of force to crush your little piggies with great vengeance.
Trouble: Neodymium is a magnificent material with a high magnetism to volume rating. So for every cubic something of neodymium, you get a great bang for the buck in magnetism compared to traditional magnets. It also means there's a lot of competition with the consumer electronics biz, which is in a brutal competition to modernize and micro-size any and all components, including magnet-based speakers, as a start. Add to that the recent surge in interest over wind power from turbines, which also use neodymium magnets, and you've got the makings of market trouble.

Rare Earth Element: Lanthanum.
Amount per Prius: 10 to 15 kg (22-33 lb)
Use: The intermetallic element in nickel-metal hydride batteries, the amount of lanthanum is proportional to the number of cells per battery. Also alloyed with neodymium to stabilize the high magnetic field.
Trouble: The volume of material used in the Prius battery is only an estimate, but it puts into stark contrast the production capability of current suppliers. It's been estimated there's a total of 40,000 kg mined per year

The current mining giant is China as this graph representing rare earth element mining shows, however, it's difficult to say exactly how much material is being mined at any given time as there's no formal trading market. With the previous juggernaut of Mountain Pass planned to be reopened in some capacity in California in 2012, along with Avalon mines in Canada's Northwest Territories there will be additional supplies opening up, but only to the tune of about a 2-5% increase.

Not all of the 15 rare earth elements are appropriate for automotive use, only the two we've mentioned are used in any quantity along with terbium and dysprosium used in trace amount for alloying. Like other cars, the Prius grabs its fair share of precious metals like platinum, gold, silver, palladium as well as the common elements and refined petroleum products like plastics. When taken in context, a years worth of material to supply production for any mass market automobile takes on staggering proportions. Calling any car "green" over any other is an exercise in self-delusion, it's just that ironically, the "greenest" of publicly perceived cars is one that may drive some commodities markets to the brink.

(Thanks to Jack Lifton, independent commodities consultant and strategic metals expert, for assisting with this article)

We're fairly sure at least one VW Jetta TDI owner drove by swearing to himself.

Photo Credit For All Photos: GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Although we've seen a shot of the Prius limo before, we've never seen it in so much detail. These shots come to us from the fancy Jalopnik Facebook page (which is like the wild west of commenting. Have fun with it kiddies!) With six fully functioning doors, it was apparently created to tote around a whole herd of kids and their junk. It's got and somehow manages to return similar fuel economy as the regular Prius. It's center section might be a little bumpier, but you can't argue with the sleek limo proportions. Somehow this car is way, way cooler than a normal Prius, but we have no idea why. (Hat tip toGabe!)

My first ride in a hybrid vehicle was on a cold and damp winter afternoon four years ago in Budapest traffic, returning from a photoshoot for my then-employer’s Christmas card, which depicted a twisted nativity scene (if you must, you can see yours truly in a skimpy lamb suit at this hyperlink). The then-new Lexus RX400h was the perfect vehicle for crawling along at 5 MPH: eerily silent, very comfortable and with the added touch of environmental relief. Nino Karotta and I watched in awe the cute tree icons we received from the car after every 50 kW or so produced, as if they were bonuses in a videogame.

It was not hard to imagine roaming the countryside in a Toyota hybrid and have trees sprouting in our wake, substituting biomass for a hybrid car’s actual emissions, which are made not of cellulose but of noxious smoke. Less smoke, but smoke nevertheless.

This was years before Toyota itself produced an advertisement for the Prius on this very theme, titled Harmony, which is by far the most hippy thing I’ve ever seen. YouTube’s robotic brain seems to agree: it’s throwing up all sorts of Woodstock footage as related video.

Toyota is now following up its ad with live flowerscapes made of 20,000 flowers each, planted by California’s freeways. I’m hoping they also plan on making a digital version of it, where a program in the Prius’s computer would light up a pixel representing a single flower after every 50 kW produced. Then, upon completion of the entire image of a thousand megawatts, you would get hit with an upgrade notice for a Lexus. You can’t re-plant the entire Amazon Basin with a single car, after all, can you?

Photo Credit: Toyota USA, Balázs Fenyő, Lexus

To earn a top safety pick a vehicle must get top ratings in front, side, and rear tests. They must also be equipped with electronic stability control. While none of these things make a car any more fun to drive, they certainly make them more comforting to crash. The Insight and Prius were sort of givens and we're not altogether surprised about the Soul as it competes with the Honda Fit and Scion XB, both of which won the award last year.

The IIHS was kind enough to include some Kia Soul and Honda Insight carnage, which you can view below.

<img src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/stills/insight_front_jalopnik.flv.jpg"

A dozen Prius hybrids outfitted with the system have been cruising London for about a month now, with buses and taxis to be added later in the year. The aim of the experiment is improving the public welfare, with a target of reducing the number of accidents and the fatality rate. So far the Minister of Truth Transport for London road safety chief Chris Lines says the reviews are mixed and trending positive, with some drivers actually liking the system as it prevents speeding tickets, though some have noted the long line of cars trapped behind and causing further congestion. Public safety aside, such monitors should be viewed warily, as they'd be a great way to levee automatic taxes on those who would exceed the limit, should those boxes ever be mandated. [AutoWeek]