What’s New With Toyota Safety Sense 3.0?

When shopping for a new car, you’re probably going to look for one with the most recent and up-to-date safety features. Whether this car will be for you or for a family member, you can never have too many safety features to protect yourself on the road. That’s why Toyota Safety Sense has also had an upgrade. Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 has all your favorite features and some new additions to help you arrive at your destination safely. Here are a few of our favorites.

1. Standard Forward-Facing Cameras

Cameras already come standard in your Toyota vehicle, but with this new upgrade, you can expect to see some refinements in the capabilities and technology. You might wonder what a front-facing camera does since you yourself are already facing forward in the car. This isn’t a dash cam we’re talking about; this is the front camera, which is usually located on the outside of your car, facing forward. Unlike a dash cam, it doesn’t have recording capabilities. The front camera can help you park and will help you avoid hitting parking blocks, curbs, or other obstructions in front of you.

The front of your car does have a blind spot that we don’t often think about—that is, until we park a little too far forward and hear that awful scraping as your bumper goes over the top of the parking block in front of you.

This upgrade in the 3.0 version has a higher resolution, and the area of coverage has increased as well. You’ll be able to see more angles with this safety feature to keep from rolling too close to obstacles.

2. More Sensitive Sensors

Cars have all kinds of sensors built into them these days. Depending on the make and model of your car, your car might have over 70 sensors, and the car engine alone might have as many as 15 to 30 sensors alone. Some of these are to help your car run more efficiently, and some of them are to help the driver operate the vehicle more safely. One common sensor found in vehicles is the anti-lock brake system (ABS), which senses and compares wheel rotation speed. If the wheel speed is unequal, the anti-lock brake system computer will anticipate an impending lockup and then redistribute braking pressure to prevent wheel lockup, creating a safer experience for you.

In the Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, the radar sensors have been improved so that the distance each sensor can cover is increased. You’ll have a little more reaction time if there is an obstruction in the road, for instance. Also, your sensors will be able to receive updates over the air. After each upgrade, you’ll experience the latest technologies and capabilities.

3. Improved Visibility

The Pacific Northwest is pretty notorious for foggy and rainy weather throughout most of the year. And if you happen to be driving through a rainstorm or a cloud of fog or even late at night, it might be somewhat of a distraction to manually turn on your high beams, even if the result is better visibility. However, with the new upgrade for version 3.0, you will be less distracted with automatic high beams. Your Toyota is capable of automatically switching between low and high beams, using a windshield camera.

One thing about high beams, though, is that you can potentially blind an oncoming driver or a driver in front of you in your lane and make their ride a little less pleasant and a little less safe. With this upgrade, the sensor will switch to low beams when they sense another car. This system removes the need for you to make the judgment for yourself and can handle that quick switch without you having to worry about it too. Everyone’s a little safer with this visibility feature.

4. Standard Lane Tracing Assistance

You could be completely focused on driving and still find yourself drifting outside of the lane. Some common distractions could be that you’re trying to anticipate what another erratic driver will do or watching for a turn onto a street you’ve never been to before. It could also be dark, or you could be drowsy. With the new, updated lane tracing feature, you’ll receive steering assistance to help bring you back within the lines. With cruise control on and visible lane markers, this is a helpful tool when you’re on the highway or on a long journey.

Lane tracing works via a camera attached to the top of the windshield, and the computer will be able to accurately position the car in the center of the lane. If you want a little more help, your Toyota will also have Lane Tracing Assist, which will help keep you centered in a lane. It will also monitor driver activity to be sure you respond to system alerts.

5. Improved Pedestrian Detection

New studies have shown that with the rise of SUV sales, so have collisions involving pedestrians. As such, with the Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, we have improved our pedestrian detection capabilities, not only to keep the driver safe, but also any pedestrian in the area. The pedestrian detection system uses a combination of radar, cameras, and computer sensors positioned all around the vehicle to search for objects and obstructions. Using this information, the car’s onboard computer can alert the driver of nearby pedestrians or other relatively slow-moving objects, such as cyclists.

Some of these new sensors also involve infrared technology, which is especially helpful in detecting human movement at night, where previous instruments wouldn’t have been able to distinguish objects or people in the dark. If the driver doesn’t respond to these alerts, the car will automatically activate an emergency brake if a collision appears likely.
The comprehensive safety features from previous versions of the Toyota Safety Sense have only improved with version 3.0. When you shop for your next vehicle—whether it’s new or new to you— visit Beaverton Toyota for excellent customer service, a competitive price, and the safest vehicles on the road. Visit us today!

Tags: Forward-Facing Cameras, Lane Tracing Assistance, Pedestrian Detection, Toyota Safety
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