Subject: [NEXTEL-1] New Cars from Toyota to Sense Accidents before They Happen

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 16:32:57 -0500

New Cars from Toyota to Sense Accidents before They Happen

Toyota is equipping some new cars for the Japanese market that use radar and
wireless networking to sense and prepare for crashes before they happen. The
safety technology allows the car to detect an oncoming object, tighten seat belts
and add breaking force within a second before a crash. The safety feature will be
available on a Lexus model to be introduced next month in Japan. Toyota said it
has no current plan to introduce the feature in overseas markets.

Toyota to sell cars that know they are about to crash
before it happens
Tue Jan 21, 2:39 AM ET

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

TOKYO - The new car safety feature from Toyota Motor Corp. (news - web
sites) doesn't wait for a crash to happen.

Equipped with a wallet-size radar on the front grille that judges the distance
of oncoming objects, the car knows when it's about to crash and tightens
seat belts and adds braking force within a second before a collision,
lessening damage and saving lives, the Japanese automaker says.

In a tryout for reporters Tuesday, drivers speeding toward a cone on a test
course could feel the safety belt tweak suddenly before the car struck the
cone. It is a spookily strange feeling to drive a car that seems to know
what's about to happen and reacts on its own.

The system will be available in Japan next month in a Lexus model but will
not be offered overseas for now, the company said. Toyota did not say
whether the feature will be an option or standard and refused to comment on
pricing and research costs.

If added to all cars on the streets of Japan, the technology will save 100
lives a year out of an estimated 3,870 annual traffic fatalities here, according
to Toyota. Even fractions of inches of slack in a seat belt can mean the
difference between life and death, Toyota officials said.

And the car market has grown so competitive, safety and ecology are key to
winning, they said. Most accidents are caused by drivers not reacting
quickly enough, rather than faulty judgments or steering, Toyota said.

The feature softens the blow of the crash in two ways — by setting off
stronger braking and eliminating loose safety belts. The radar emits WiFi
wireless networking waves although of an experimental kind that's still not
on the market, Toyota engineer Setsuo Tokoro said.

Toyota developed a computerized electronic unit that connects the radar to
seat-belt controls as well as to a brake-assist system that generates
greater force after the driver hits the brake pedal.

The way it works is similar to adaptive cruise control, which allows cars to
keep a safe distance from the car in front, but it is unique in kicking in
"preemptively," Tokoro said.

Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said the feature was just one more way to
maximize safety such as air bags and antilock brakes.

"People don't have to think about wanting safety," he said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030121/ap_wo_en_po/as_tec_japan_smart_cars_1

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