Toyota said today it was testing the safety of all its sport-utility vehicles after an American consumer magazine warned that the Lexus GX 460 could roll over and told readers not to buy it.

Nasa and the National Academy of Sciences are joining the US government’s effort to find out what caused the sudden acceleration problems that led to car giant Toyota’s massive recalls.

Relatives of a family killed in a high-speed crash that highlighted safety flaws of Toyotas and led to the recalls of millions of vehicles have sued the world’s largest car maker, according to a lawsuit filed today.

The head of Toyota faces angry US politicians today in an attempt to limit even more damage to the company over its safety recall of millions of cars.

Toyota officials claimed they saved the company $100m (€73m) by successfully negotiating with the US government on a limited recall of floor mats in some Toyota and Lexus vehicles, according to new documents.

Crisis-hit Toyota faced fresh doubts about braking problems in its prized Prius today, with complaints ballooning to about 180 in the US and Japan.

A CENTRAL Kentucky autoworker is lucky he held on to the $128.6 million (€89.7m) Powerball ticket he bought on Christmas Eve during some last-minute shopping – after all, it was printed by mistake.

The number of new cars licensed in Ireland last month was almost half the figure for the same month last year.

The total number of new cars licensed in Ireland last month was more than 73% lower than the same month last year, according to the latest figures from the CSO.

Renault’s Fernando Alonso is on pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) is second on the grid, with his teammate Mark Webber third.

Felipe Massa’s bid for a fourth consecutive victory in Istanbul is firmly on track after the Brazilian set the fastest practice time ahead of tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix.

Jenson Button led a Brawn GP one-two around the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Jenson Button grabbed the most important pole position of his career on another day of woe for fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton.

World championship leader Jenson Button captured a crucial pole position for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Jenson Button fears his title rivals may be sandbagging ahead of a crucial start to the European season.

Timo Glock managed to beat Toyota team-mate Jarno Trulli off the line at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

In their eighth season and 127th grand prix, Toyota stand on the brink of their maiden victory after Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock scored an historic one-two in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

NEW car sales are slowing to a halt after a 41% drop in models sold last month.

Heikki Kovalainen secured the first pole position of his Formula One career to put McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the shade.

Car sales appear to be the latest area to suffer as a result of the economic slowdown.

A gang of rogue mechanics who made fake Ferraris out of other cars has been smashed by Italian police.

Jarno Trulli turned the pre-season form-book on its head with the quickest lap set at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya this winter.

WELFARE payments have increased dramatically, despite the economic boom of recent years, with more than one million people now in receipt of State supports.

A LOOSE drain cover threw a spanner in the works of yesterday’s second practice session ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix.

A loose drain cover threw a spanner in the works of today’s second practice session ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix.

Felipe Massa took the honours in the final practice session ahead of tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix.

FERNANDO ALONSO bolstered his bid to return to the top of the drivers’ standings by posting the fastest lap in practice for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

LEWIS HAMILTON served up the perfect tonic for himself following a bout of the ‘flu this week.

Michael Schumacher scampered into the lead of the French Grand Prix at the start as team-mate Felipe Massa fought a rearguard action to keep Fernando Alonso at bay.

Fernando Alonso sent his home crowd into raptures by taking pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona today.

Alex Wurz believes Williams’ new car is everything they need to return to the top in Formula One – if they can make the most of it.

Jenson Button fears suffering a miserable weekend unless answers are quickly found to the dramatic lack of pace sustained by his BAR.

Kimi Raikkonen signalled his intention to bounce back from McLaren’s German disappointment by going faster than his racing rivals in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring today.

Kimi Raikkonen suffered a shattering blow to his world title bid after sustaining an engine failure for the second successive grand prix weekend.

BAR’s Takuma Sato handed his team a welcome boost as he topped the afternoon times on the final day of testing at the Paul Ricard circuit.

The Central Statistics Office has reported a 7.6% increase in the number of new cars registered in Ireland in the first 11 months of this year.

THREE Kerry men will manage the Munster senior football side for the Martin Donnelly-sponsored interprovincial series at the end of the month.

FINN Kimi Raikkonen finished fastest on the opening day of practice for the Belgian Grand Prix after Australian Ryan Briscoe escaped injury in a high-speed crash yesterday.

The number of new cars registered last month was 6.2% higher than in July 2003, according to figures released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

FRANK Williams is adamant his team did not cheat in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, but has conceded they were “very clumsy”.

Frank Williams is adamant his team did not cheat in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, but has conceded to being “very clumsy".

Michael Schumacher proved he is fallible as Formula One finally saw a chink in the armour of the six-times world champion.

More than 19,000 new cars were registered in Ireland last month, according to figures released today by the Central Statistics Office.

Michael Schumacher admitted the threat from BAR and Jenson Button had inspired him to a scintillating time in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix today.