PLANO, Texas, Nov. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMNA) today announced that the second generation of its Toyota Safety Sense™ (TSS) package of active safety features will begin rolling out as standard equipment on certain Toyota vehicles beginning in mid-2018.  The updated safety package will add new technologies and capabilities that enhance protection for drivers, passengers, and others who share the road, while helping to provide peace of mind in even more driving situations.

“At Toyota, we are committed to making high-level driver assistance systems more widely available and even more affordable across a broader range of our vehicles,” said Chris Nielsen, executive vice president of product support and chief quality officer of Toyota Motor North America. “The second generation of Toyota Safety Sense™ takes our industry-leading suite of safety technologies to the next level, delivering new advanced and intuitive protections that are another step toward a future without traffic injuries or fatalities.”

The second generation TSS reflects Toyota’s ongoing efforts to reduce the cost of advanced safety technologies and make them accessible to a wider range of new car buyers. The initial version of TSS, along with Lexus Safety System+ (LSS+), brought Toyota’s Pre-Collision System (PCS) with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Lane Departure Alert (LDA), and other advanced safety systems to more than five million Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in North America, Japan, and Europe. By the end of 2017, TSS and LSS+ will be standard on almost every model in the Toyota and Lexus lineups.

As with the first generation TSS, the upgraded system is designed to support driver awareness, decision making and vehicle operation over a wide range of speeds under certain conditions. Packaged together into an integrated system, it helps to address three key areas of accident protection: preventing or mitigating frontal collisions, keeping drivers within their lanes, and enhancing road safety during nighttime driving.

The second generation TSS has been expanded to help improve driver situational awareness while providing additional protections for a pedestrian or bicyclist in front of the vehicle. New or updated technologies will include: 

• Pre-Collision System (updated) with enhanced deceleration capabilities and the ability to help detect a collision with a pedestrian in front of the vehicle during the day and at night, and bicyclist in front of the vehicle during the day.
• Lane Departure Alert (updated) enhanced with “road edge detection” to increase the vehicle’s ability to help drivers stay in their lane
• Road Sign Assist (new), which is designed to display road sign information in an easy-to-understand format on the dashboard meter display and Head-Up Display if equipped. The vehicle’s onboard camera can detect and recognize certain common road signs in the U.S., Japan and Europe (road sign type varies by market).
• Lane Tracing Assist (new), which provides steering support to help the driver keep the vehicle centered in its lane when Dynamic Radar Cruise Control is in operation.
• Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (updated) with enhanced forward recognition and acceleration/deceleration performance across a wide range of speeds. (Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control not available on vehicles equipped with manual transmissions)

With the introduction of second generation TSS beginning in mid-2018, the list of Toyota Safety Sense™ packages in the United States is as follows:

Toyota plans to continue expanding the capabilities of Toyota Safety Sense™ with a broader range of automated safety systems and technology as research and development progresses. This proven approach to technology development helps speed the introduction of advanced systems designed to help improve safety, reduce accidents and ease traffic congestion.

Media Contacts
TMNA Corporate Communications
Brian Lyons
469-292-3573
[email protected]

Ming-Jou Chen
469-292-3799
[email protected]

About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 33 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 46,000 people (more than 36,000 in the U.S.).  Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold almost 2.7 million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016 – and about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years are still on the road today.  

Toyota partners with community, civic, academic, and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We share company resources and extensive know-how to support non-profits to help expand their ability to assist more people move more places. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com. 

Video: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/611726/TSS_Package.mp4
Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/611724/Toyota_Pre_Collision_System.jpg
Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/611745/Toyota_Corp_Red_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Toyota Motor North America