Toyota Motor Sales USA announced at the New York motor show on Tuesday its Lexus Safety System + and Toyota Safety Sense packages, anchored by automatic emergency braking (AEB), will be standard on almost every new vehicle sold in the US by the end of 2017.
"The announcement marks a major commitment by Toyota to help save lives and reduce highway injuries," the automaker said in a statement.
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Making the safety packages – in many cases currently optional – standard equipment on almost every model by the end of 2017 would make AEB technology widely available four years ahead of the 2022 industry target announced last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota Motor North America, said: "High-level driver assist technologies can do more than help protect people in the event of a crash; they can help prevent some crashes from ever happening in the first place. We are proud to help lead this industry in standardizing these systems and bring automated braking to our customers sooner rather than later."
Already available as a low-cost option on a wide range of Lexus and Toyota models, the safety packages are designed to help address three key areas of driver assistance: preventing or mitigating frontal collisions – including pedestrians; helping keep drivers within their lane; and enhancing road safety during nighttime driving. Technologies include Toyota's Pre-Collision System, Lane Departure Alert, and Automatic High Beams.
Twenty-five of 30 Lexus and Toyota models will include the packs as standard equipment. Model-specific target dates will be announced later. Models that will not offer the systems standard by the end of 2017 include Lexus GX, Toyota Mirai, 4Runner, and 86 (jointly developed with Subaru), plus Scion iA (built in Mexico and supplied on an OEM basis by Mazda). Mirai and Scion iA currently have pre-collision including AEB as standard.
The Wall Street Journal noted today automatic brakes are among many harbingers of fully driverless cars. For now, many vehicles are starting to offer autonomous driving technologies that can ease driving and aim to make travel safer by preventing thousands of crashes and reducing injuries and fatalities, the paper said.
The WSJ predicted Toyota's move was likely to be followed by other auto makers aiming to show they are accelerating a timetable to meet the pledge made last week. Automatic brakes are on many vehicles in the US but don't yet predominate as a standard feature. They have so far been associated with more-expensive models or offered as options, increasing pressure on automakers to make the technology available to customers who can only afford cheaper vehicles.
The paper added NHTSA officials have also separately put pressure on car makers to make the feature standard with a plan to overhaul a star-rated safety system. The new system would prevent automakers from receiving top scores on vehicles that don't feature a trove of advanced safety features.
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By GlobalDataThere are signs that auto makers are already offering advanced safety features on cheaper models, the Wall Street Journal added. For example, one of the recently redesigned US Honda Civic models, which sells for about US$20,000, now offers features including automatic brakes, lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control that changes speeds based on traffic patterns.
