Consumer Confidential: Toyota fine, coffee prices, SAT scores

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Here’s your to-thine-own-self-be-true Tuesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Toyota really hopes it can get this whole safety mess behind it. The company has paid a $16.4-million civil fine -- the maximum allowed under federal regulations -- to settle allegations that it was too slow to recall vehicles with defective gas pedals. Toyota didn’t admit any wrongdoing in paying the fine, but we all know that’s just a technicality. The company also will no doubt duck accountability after the feds finish looking into Toyota’s treatment of funky floor mats that were also implicated in sudden-acceleration issues.

--Kill me now. Coffee prices are going up. J.M. Smucker Co., maker of the Folgers, Dunkin’ Donuts and Millstone brands, says prices will go up 4% immediately to cover fuel, packaging and other costs. Weak harvests around the world have cut into supply of the life-giving beans, indicating that further prices hikes are inevitable.

--When it comes to SAT college-entrance exams, practice makes perfect, right? Perhaps not. The experts say taking the test twice won’t necessarily improve your score. Moreover, the Princeton Review is no longer claiming that its ‘Ultimate Classroom’ review course can boost scores by as much as 255 points. The National Assn. for College Admission Counseling concluded last year that test-prep courses don’t do much to improve SAT scores, adding about 10 or 20 points on average in math and five to 10 points for reading. Perhaps parents would do better applying the money for such courses to promises of a decent set of wheels if college-bound kids ace the test.

-- David Lazarus