The NHTSA is considering requiring cars getting a 5-star safety rating to have: Source: U.S. urges automatic braking systems, but won't mandate My frustration with this $2,000 safety option is Toyota only offered (offers) it AFTER paying nearly $6,000 for the top of the line, Prius, in 2009. Even today, it remains the last option after buying every other 'trinket'. Automatic braking would have been the most effective answer to the "Bell the Hybrid" act that mandated those useless noise makers on the Prius. It would have also been an effective response to the "Runaway Prius" panic of nearly 8 years ago. Accidents that are still too common when older drivers mask the gas instead of the brake. I've spent years tracking Prius fatal accidents and it has only re-enforced my opinion that this is a technology too long delayed. Even a year ago last September I looked at a Lincoln MKZ hybrid because it had this option in a luxury, hybrid sedan. After all if Toyota wants to price this as a luxury, might as well get an American-style luxury sedan. This short-sighted pricing of an important safety feature was and remains my chief complaint about our 2010 Prius. Toyota had it in 2009 and could have set the standard instead of being just another follower. Bob Wilson ps. I no longer share what I'm seeing in Prius fatal accidents in PriusChat but that does not mean I look away either. But every time I read of an accident that could have been either prevented or mitigated by a robot braking system, my resentment grows. I have an older wife who I would not trust to drive any car that doesn't have automatic braking . . . and I am growing older too.
You may find it in all Toyota's soon enough: Toyota: High-tech safety gear for all models soon If they can get the price right by buying the systems components in bulk for all the vehicles Toyota makes, it could be a really wow moment for the technology and industry.
Agree completely. It is one of the things I felt Tesla was sorely missing. They have started including it in all cars with the Tech package. I do agree that it would be nice to see it in all cars as standard equipment.
They need to establish new Rules for start and ignition switches first. The steering column lock is obsolete and should be elimiated. The GM recall has shown that there is a need. The new system should be called "Smart-Key Lite." The "key" needs to be a computer chip that is inserted down and the receiver socket high on the console to keep it away from spilled drinks. An electronic start-stop-run button has been shown to be ultra reliable with Toyota and Prius for 10 plus years. Eliminating the Smart Key transmitters and receivers, as well as quantity and wide distribution would eventually make the system cheaper than the mechanical locks. 5 volt digital controls can be wired to thin 22 gauge wiring that would eliminate much heavier 16-12 or even 10 gauge wires. The savings in cost and weight of copper, other metals and plastic insulation over millions of vehicles would be enormous. Less weight also means better gas mileage and meeting CAFE standards.
I think any sane person, wants vehicles to be as safe as possible. But I'd talk about a degree of patience. Baselines for safety features have a way of slowly infiltrating the automotive industry. It's NOT uncommon for a new safety feature to appear first on luxury cars or more expensive higher end vehicles, or as expensive options and then as they are accepted, prove their worth and are vetted and desired by more and more owners, trickle down to be more accessible by everyone. Some things that just 10-15 years ago, that were considered "Luxury Items" and NOT common place on many vehicles, are now, or soon to be the accepted standard on almost all vehicles. I'm talking about back-up camera's and blind spot warning devices. I think one can have some frustration that Toyota has initially offered the Pre-Force automatic braking system on The Prius as an upper end and expensive option, but at least they offered it. You can buy a Prius that has this..and more. And I would expect this safety feature to become more and more accessible and affordable on more and more vehicles with the passage of time. Which with safety features can be frustrating...but that is how the automotive industry usually adopts all safety features. I can remember steel dash boards, disk brakes, and when some vehicles safety belts were lap belts only. We now have padded dash's, Air Bags, ABS, and full shoulder self tensioning safety belts. I don't think we are that far from a time when even entry level vehicles have "safety features" that once were limited to the higher end vehicles.
Thank you! Our next Prius will have autobraking or it just won't be bought. The target is now 2017 . . . perhaps the next Prius was delayed to make sure all models would have it???? Bob Wilson
In 1961 I was in a crash caused by some pranksters removing a stop sign at an intersection. The car I was riding in went straight, the car turning left in front of us and expecting us to stop turned left and, while our driver braked and slid, we hit the right side of the 1955 Ford station wagon just aft of the front wheel well. Tore the whole side of her car all up. We were driving in a 1930 Model A with no seat belts, no airbags, mechanical drum brakes (the brake pedal was linked to the brakes by mechanical rods), gas tank sitting high in front of the dash, dash of steel, narrow almost slick tires, etc. Our fender had a 8" dent in it. No one was injured. No ticket was issued (once the trouper had seen we demonstrated we had brakes that worked, his only question). Hammered it out the old fashioned way. Sometimes it is luck, the angle, etc and not the electronic nannies or lack thereof.
I for one am all for it. Advanced auto braking can't come soon enough. We need a system that can distinguish different size of objects and calculate it's trajectory and speed and automatically apply brakes accordingly. A ball bounce in front of a car, no problem. A shopping cart rolling into the path, auto brake. A kid runs in front of the car, auto brake. A tree fell on the road as you approach, auto brake. A cloud of exhaust jetting across the road, just keep going. Every time the system activates the auto brake, Staff Sergeant Ermey comes on the speaker and gives you a 5 minute lecture in auto safety and you are required to answer Sir Yes Sir.
