Toyota won't sell its high-end 2009-10 Lexus LS 460 and LS 600h sedans until it develops a remedy for the electronics problem that can cause steering wheels to fall out of alignment, Nathan Olivarez-Giles reports. On Friday, the company recalled the nearly 4,000 vehicles in the U.S. that are already in customers' hands, and 7,500 elsewhere. The steering wheel can get stuck in a turned orientation even though the car is going straight, says company spokesman Brian Lyons, although it can still be used to steer the car. There have been no reported accidents related to the issue …

Product Editor Rick Kranz speaks with Mike Colleran, COO of Saab Cars North America and the man in charge of steering the brand in North America following its acquisition from General Motors by Dutch sports car maker Spyker. Saab has been on an 18-month roller coaster ride since GM first announced it was taking the brand through a strategic review. Dealers, in fact, had no new inventory for most of the 2010 model year. "Just getting new product into the pipeline is a biggie," Colleran says. It is preparing for a full-blown launch of the 9-5 model next …

A Horizon Air flight from Seattle to Portland, Ore., yesterday featured a perk from the glory days of air travel: free food. But, Michael Bush reports, there was marketing twist. The snack boxes were part of a program from Air Advertainment in which marketers sponsor free meals or snack boxes. Consumer-electronics company Creative Labs sponsored yesterday's offering, which included Stacy's Pita Chips, pretzels and Hershey's chocolate. "We can broadcast in a big way to build a brand image or be really razor sharp with accuracy just like in the Seattle-Portland market," says Ryan Matway, president of …

Marketers need to make a brand a critical part of their core fans' culture, says Frank Cooper, PepsiCo America Beverages' svp and chief consumer engagement officer. If you achieve this, you'll not only uncover new details about your brand, you'll also develop co-collaborators. There are at least three benefits to be had: 1. Great ROI; 2. Powerful word-of-mouth buzz and 3. A better brand reputation. Cooper cites the Mountain Dew DEWmocracy campaign, which Laurie Sullivan details in this morning's Marketing Daily, as a prime example of ROI generation. "Having fans …

Dr Pepper Snapple is reformulating 7UP to give it a "crisper" lemon and lime taste, Anjali Cordiero reports. The "restaged" flavor will hit shelves in September, according to the company's CMO, Jim Trebilcock, who says sales of the drink grew last year. "We wanted to see if we could accelerate it," he says. News of the restaging is actually buried in Elaine Wong's Brandweek Q&A with Trebilcock and svp of marketing Andrew Springate; she led with the news of two new Snapple flavors created by the finalists on "The Celebrity Apprentice." …

CEO Susan Gianinno's Subject line: "See the USA ... in anything but a Chevrolet!"

Rich Thomaselli writes that the Food and Drug Administration's efforts to recruit health-care professionals to report ads and sales pitches that violate its rules is not going over well. The "Bad Ad Program," which is run by the FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications, allows medical professionals to anonymously report ads they consider false or misleading via e-mail to badad@fda.gov or by calling 877-.RX-DDMAC. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America offered "tepid support" for the program but others worry about "Big Brother," "vigilantism," or "personal jihads," Thomaselli reports. "It's a bit of a …

Chips Ahoy is charting a new marketing direction with a campaign built around "joy." Janda Lukin, senior brand manager for the product, tells Elaine Wong that research by the Kraft brand showed that children would often break out in a "toe-tapping dance" upon seeing the cookies. A new spot set to the tune of the 1979 R&B hit "Bustin' Loose" shows kids dancing whenever someone opens a package of Chips Ahoy. The tagline is "There's a lotta joy in Chips Ahoy!" The Cookie Guys campaign that ran for eight years is departing the scene none too …