Toyota creating alcohol detection system



TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunken drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption, a news report said Wednesday

Cars fitted with the detection system will not start if sweat sensors in the driving wheel detect high levels of alcohol in the driver's bloodstream, according to a report carried by the mass-circulation daily, Asahi Shimbun.

The system could also kick in if the sensors detect abnormal steering, or if a special camera shows that the driver's pupils are not in focus. The car is then slowed to a halt, the report said.

The world's No. 2 automaker hopes to fit cars with the system by the end of 2009, according to the report. Calls to Toyota's headquarters in Nagoya rang unanswered on Wednesday, a public holiday.

Nissan Motor Co., another Japanese car manufacturer, has already been experimenting with breathalyzer-like devices that could detect if a driver was drunken. Similar technologies, such as alcohol ignition interlocks, are in use in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Concerns over drunken driving have surged in Japan following a series of alcohol-related accidents last year. In August, a drunken driver collided with another vehicle carrying a family of five, plunging them off a bridge and killing three children.

The incident prompted stepped-up roadside spot checks by police, who also plan to stiffen penalties for drunken driving.

 

I heard about this morning on the news; this is gay what if you're tired and it cuts off when you really need to be home? Back to the drawing board Toyota, and while you are at it take Mitsubishi with you and MAKE them never make the X and just make them make something not as ugly!!!!

 

You shouldn't be driving if you're that tired, either. Drivers falling asleep at the wheel is a cause of a lot of accidents, slightly behind alcohol impairment.

 

people will get around it...i'm sure it will be years before a law is passed for something like this...drunk drivers suck

 

They have to make a way to work around it for emergency situations. For example, you get stranded in a blizzard, and although you may get tired, you need to keep your car idling to keep warm.

 

How often does that really happen though, relative to legitimate shutdown reasons?

 

bump

 

Nooooo, this is taking all the fun out of driving.

*sarcasm*

 

great idea. I see too many drunk drivers and hear about even more drunk accidents. I'm all for that system, especially since it sounds like it would lower the insurance rating on the vehicle.

 

Gloves and sunglasses? What then?

 

++++++++++++++++++1