Toyota starts to roll out new safety systems

What is Toyota Safety Sense?

The inventory of Toyota vehicles at Downeast Toyota is among the safest offered by any dealership, by any automaker anywhere. Take a look at lists from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Toyota vehicles are among the most mentioned. For the 21st century Toyota engineers are using all available technology to go the extra mile. Starting with a few 2016 models, Toyota Safety Sense will be rolled out with the hope that its advanced systems will be available across the board before the 2018 model-year. So, this begs the question, what is Toyota Safety Sense?
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In short, Toyota Safety Sense is designed to help enhance and support the driver’s situational awareness. The end result being that safe decisions are made quicker and vehicle crashes are drastically reduced. Toyota Safety Sense is actually a number of different systems and sensors that are bundled together into a single unit to help address three main areas of crash avoidance: mitigating rear collisions, preventing drivers from inadvertently leaving the intended lane of travel and making obstacles and pedestrians possibly hidden during night driver easier to see and avoid.
“Taking high-level driver assist to the next level, the safety packages will be offered as a very-low-cost option and will be systematically introduced across nearly all U.S. Toyota and Lexus models and trim levels, top-to-bottom, by the end of 2017,” Jim Lentz, President and CEO Toyota Motor North America said in a press release. “Pushing these systems across our lineup, as quickly as possible, can help protect people in the event of a crash.  More importantly it will help prevent some crashes from ever happening in the first place.”
Toyota Safety Sense was first introduced along side the all new 2016 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and will be showing up in the 2016 model-year with nameplates like the Prius, Avalon and Camry.

Meet the subsystems of Toyota Safety Sense

Within the Toyota fleet, there are two version of the new safety suite: Toyota Safety Sense C and Toyota Safety Sense P. Having these two versions makes it possible for the automaker to scale the available technology to the vehicles without pricing potential buyers out of the market and simultaneously being able to follow through with the promise to make every Toyota model fall inside of the TSS program at some point.
Pre-Collision System
[bscolumns class=”one_half”]The Pre-Collision System uses camera and laser radar to find objects laying ahead of the vehicle. Should the system detect a potential hazard, the driver will get a audio and visual warning to slow the car by applying the brakes. This system has the added feature of applying extra force if needed to keep an impact from happening. In the event a driver fails to take action, the vehicle can apply the brakes on its own, reducing speed by as much as 19 miles per hour, according to information supplied by Toyota.[/bscolumns] [bscolumns class=”one_half_last”]
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Lane Departure Alert
[bscolumns class=”one_half”]Long and straight stretches of highway can be taxing on the attention span of even the most disciplined drivers. Land Departure Alert utilizes a camera system to read road markings. If an equipped vehicle begins to drift out of its intended lane of travel, an audio and visual alert will be sent to the driver.[/bscolumns] [bscolumns class=”one_half_last”]
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Automatic High Beam
[bscolumns class=”one_half”]Meeting an oncoming vehicle or having a vehicle come up from behind with its high beams on is not only a common driving pet peeve, but its also dangerous and illegal. The Automatic High Beam system can detect oncoming headlights as well as the tail lights of a vehicle and automatically switch to the low beams.[/bscolumns] [bscolumns class=”one_half_last”]
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Take a look at Toyota Safety Sense P

Toyota vehicles equipped with Toyota Safety Sense P will have all of the features and systems contained within TSS C plus some additional capabilities using different technology. In addition to the camera technology, TSS P also uses millimeter-wave radar technology for object detection purposes.
Pedestrian Pre-Collision System
[bscolumns class=”one_half”]An environment where automobiles and pedestrians coexist is unpredictable at best. By implementing the Pedestrian Pre-Collision System, Toyota has helped owners aid those outside of the vehicle to be safer. This new safety technology combines the camera and millimeter-wave radar to essentially scan the immediate area for wayward pedestrians. Should someone outside of the car make a surprise move, the system can automatically apply the bakes to hopefully prevent a car versus pedestrian collision.[/bscolumns] [bscolumns class=”one_half_last”]
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Dynamic Radar Cruise Control
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During highway driving it is important to maintain a safe distance between vehicles in case of an accident. Dynamic Radar Cruise Control can help drivers maintain a pre-set distance between vehicles as well as help with finding the perfect timing to merge into high-speed traffic. The system is built to maintain smooth and even acceleration and deceleration, saving on wear on the vehicle as well as doing positive things for fuel economy.[/bscolumns] [bscolumns class=”one_half_last”]
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If you would like to learn more about Toyota Safety Sense, please make an appointment with a Downeast Toyota sales professional today.