Crash: Automakers Race to Outdo Each Other with New, Low-Cost Anti-Crash Technologies

This is one collision motorists can look forward to.

Just in time for this week’s New York Auto Show, Toyota announced plans to roll out several low-cost packages combining an assortment of advanced anti-collision technologies. Rival makers have spent the last few days promising to come up with comparable systems, suggesting that they could yield huge reductions in highway crashes, injuries and deaths.

“We’re so serious about safety we will introduce this technology on virtually all of our vehicles, from top to bottom,” promised Bill Fay, head of the Toyota division, during a Thursday news conference at New York’s Jacob Javits convention center.

Priced anywhere from $300 to $635, the Toyota systems will start with such features as:

Pre-collision System, or PCS. Using a camera and laser radar, it can detect a potential frontal collision, initially alerting the driver. If no action is taken, it can apply the brakes to either prevent, or at least reduce the severity of, a crash;

Lane Departure Alert, or LDA, uses a camera to detect when a vehicle starts to drift out of its lane, sounding an alert to get the driver to regain control;

Automatic High Beam, or AHB, also uses a camera, in this case to detect oncoming vehicles and the taillights of vehicles ahead, automatically switching the high beams on and off.

The upgraded package will add the ability to spot pedestrians who might be in the vehicle’s path, sounding an alert or, if necessary, applying the brakes automatically.

Adrian Lund, director of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, has called forward collision warning systems one of the automotive safety biggest breakthroughs in recent years, government data revealing a significant reduction in crashes. The IIHS won’t even give its Top Safety Pick+ rating to vehicles that don’t offer some version of anti-collision technology.