Crash avoidance systems are currently available only to high-end, expensive luxury cars, but Toyota is about to stir up the status quo as it brings affordable new safety systems to its mass-market vehicles.
At the New York International Auto Show this week, Toyota will unveil a pair of crash avoidance systems that will introduce new safety features focused on three areas of accident prevention, namely preventing collisions, keeping drivers within their lane, and nighttime driving safety.
The new Toyota Safety Sense (TSS) will be available in two variants, the $325 TSS C for compact models and the $540 TSS P for mid-size premium models, while the Lexus Safety Sense+ (LSS+) will cost $540 to $690. The TSS will initially be available for the Avalon and the new RAV4 to be unveiled this week, and the LSS will be outfitted into the Lexus RX. However, Toyota and its luxury arm Lexus plan to make both crash avoidance systems available on all models by 2017.
"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," says Jim Lentz, president and CEO of Toyota Motor North America. "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."
The cheapest option, the TSS C, will come equipped with a collision detection system composed of radars and cameras that determines if a collision is imminent and alerts the driver through visual and audio alerts. It also adds extra braking power if the driver brakes, but if the driver doesn't react, the system takes over to reduce the car's speed to 18 miles per hour and can even bring the car to a full stop.
Moreover, the system will alert the driver if the vehicle starts to drift off the lane and will automatically turn on the high-beam lights at night when it senses oncoming vehicles in front of the car at nighttime.
The higher-end TSS P and LSS+ packages will have the same features as well as more sophisticated sensors that can detect pedestrians crossing in front of the vehicles and can automatically put the vehicle in cruise control to keep it at a safe distance from other vehicles in front of it.
Driver assist features, such as airbags and electronic stability control, have historically made their first appearance in luxury brands before making their way to premium mainstream cars and finally becoming a mainstay in all mass-market vehicles.
