Jun. 03, 2004
Toyota Strengthens Traffic Safety Initiatives
Advanced Technologies, More Features and Driver Training Facility Outlined
Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) today announced new safety technologies and enhancements to its safety equipment and the establishment of a new driver training facility, as part of its efforts to strengthen initiatives toward improving traffic safety through “the development of safe vehicles,” and ”activities designed to educate people in traffic safety”.
Toyota has positioned the "realization of a safe mobile society" as a priority management issue and continues to take a comprehensive approach in improving both vehicle safety and traffic safety through “the development of even safer vehicles”, ”activities designed to educate people in traffic safety” and “participating in the creation of a safe traffic environment”. In keeping with its guiding principle of "providing safe products", Toyota, as an automaker, has long been engaged in efforts to make safe vehicles, while also implementing traffic safety activities such as the “Toyota Traffic Safety Campaign,” which is now in its 36th year since being initiated in 1969, and participating in the creation of Japanese governmental policies regarding traffic safety.
Moving toward the realization of an “affluent automobile society,” the importance of traffic safety policies is increasingly growing. With the objective of contributing to the complete elimination of traffic fatalities, which is the ultimate aim of a society that values mobility, Toyota will strengthen its initiatives in the future, seeking to achieve “zero deaths and injuries” and “zero accidents.”
New vehicle safety technologies and enhancements to safety equipment 1. Development of new technologies for strengthening preventive safety and pre-crash safety Toyota plans to strengthen its work on preventive safety, which can prevent accidents, and collision detection, which can help reduce injury during a collision. Toyota has developed the new technologies described below and has incorporated them into new models that will be introduced shortly. |
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| 1) | VDIM (Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management) The VSC (Vehicle Stability Control) system, first developed by Toyota in August 1995 and which has been employed in a wide variety of vehicles, has been evolved even further to realize the newly developed VDIM, by integrating it with systems such as ABS, TRC and electric power steering. Whereas VSC begins activating control when the vehicle's limit has been reached, VDIM begins integrated control of the brakes, engine and steering before the vehicle reaches its limits, thereby achieving higher preventive safety performance and ideal vehicle kinetics. |
| 2) | "Pre-crash Safety" System (Radar system) The "Pre-crash Safety" radar system, first developed by TMC in January 2003 has been evolved further. Adoption of the image fusion method, which combines information from a millimeter wave radar with images from a CMOS* camera, in the pre-crash sensor, results in earlier collision prediction and higher injury-reduction performance. *CMOS: Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor |
| 3) | Lane-keeping assist system This system uses a CMOS camera to recognize white (or yellow) lines ahead and assists the driver's steering operation to keep the vehicle within its lane. The system has a lane-deviation alarm function and a lane-keeping assist function, which applies a small steering force to keep the vehicle near the center of its lane, thereby lessening the driving load on the driver. |
| 2. New technologies and enhancements to safety equipment for strengthening collision safety The omni-direction compatibility body construction has been further evolved while also seeking to lessen injury to both occupants and pedestrians. |
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| 1) | Evolution of GOA As a means of promoting crash safety for both vehicles in a two-vehicle collision, by incorporating the concept of omni-directional compatibility, collision tests using a two-ton class vehicle as the other car to simulate the conditions of collision with a heavy vehicle (50% offset frontal collision test at 50km/h, side collision test at 50km/h, 50% offset rear-end collision test at 50km/h) will be carried out on all passenger vehicle series (including minivans and SUVs) to be launched in the future. |
| 2) | Increased adoption of seatbelt reminder system Toyota will install a seatbelt reminder system (for the driver and the front passenger) in most of its passenger vehicle series (including minivans and SUVs) by 2008. This system is designed to help improve the seatbelt usage rate by alerting the occupants with flashing seat belt warning lamps and a buzzer when they have not fastened their seatbelts. |
| 3) | Pedestrian-injury lessening body All Toyota passenger vehicle series (including minivans and SUVs) to be introduced in the autumn of 2004 and beyond will feature a vehicle body structure designed to be the best in its class in the world in reducing injury to a pedestrian’s head in the event of a vehicle-to-person collision. |
New driver training facility scheduled to open in spring of 2005 at Fuji Speedway
Toyota has been actively engaged in initiatives related to traffic safety education and, since 1969, has been distributing educational materials about traffic safety to new kindergarten and nursery school students nationwide with a total of approximately 100 million copies distributed so far. As part of these efforts, a new driver training facility specifically for the teaching of driving safety courses will be constructed at Fuji Speedway (Shizuoka Prefecture) and is scheduled to open in the spring of 2005.
The new facility was created to further develop “Toyota Driver Communication,” the company’s independent driving safety skills course it has offered since 1987, and to regularly offer courses to the general public, including businesses and groups, that incorporate the driving know-how that Toyota has cultivated over the years in its development of vehicles.
Toyota’s unique driving safety skills program will make use of a roughly 100,000 squaremeters asphalt course to offer a wide range of options that match the needs and driving skills of participants, covering everything from learning fundamental vehicle operations, such as moving forward, turning and stopping, to experiencing vehicle dynamics under extreme driving conditions, such as braking at high speeds.
Details such as course programs, fees and registration periods are to be announced at later.
| Location | Oyama-cho, Sunto-gun, Shizuoka Prefecture (inside Fuji Speedway) |
| Total area | 130,000 squaremeters |
| Course overview | Asphalted areas (approximately 100,000 squaremeters), winding, slippery road (490m), straight, slippery road (75m), circuit (approximately 1,150m, bank 35 degrees) |
| Seminar building | Total floor area of approximately 1,900 squaremeters; classrooms (3), staff room, control room, lounge, vehicle maintenance area, etc. |
