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.






Talk about cars of the future... damn

 

Yet another reason I hate Toyota

 

Yeah, what happends when you aren't drunk but it messes up because you quickly avoided hitting a deer (irregular steering). Youre on the freeway and your car comes to a dead stop in the middle of the road.......peice of shit.

A friend of mine had a device installed in his truck after getting a dui. He had to blow in the breathalizer before he was able to start his truck. If he failed, he would have to wait an hour before he could try again. That's a lot better than all that other shit

 

couldnt this be a dangerous thing to do anyways? i mean, if something went wrong and it just stopped your car because it misread a sign or signal you were supposedly giving off, and you were in the middle of traffic or making a left turn or something, you could be killed and it could endanger others too....

the breathlizer thing is the best idea imo

 

If it does misfunction then someone is going to sue Toyota for millions and then the whole patent will be terminated and Toyota will loose a whole lot of money...

I am sure they considered this posibility, and made it at least somewhat fail-proof.

On the other side, I know some people who drive better when they are drunk than when they are sober.

 

If that's true, they have no business driving at all.

I say fuck drunk people and let them walk their asses everywhere.

 

Most people in the world drive like shit... one must accept that fact.

 

Let me start out by saying - drunk driving SUCKS and it is the height of irresponsible behavior to get behind the wheel of five speed armour and zoom-zoom-zoom down the streets of suburbia (or wherever).

Drunk driving sucks. It sucks, it sucks, it sucks.

I still hate this idea Toyota has come up with though - mostly because it is creepy and also because if a driver of any status wishes to confuse the sytem s/he probably can by wearing gloves and sunglasses. As for "abnormal steering" - these people who determine THAT brilliant option have probably not driven in rural areas that have lots of potholes, fallen rocks, and cow plops in the raod - there will be LOTS of pissed off Toyota drivers stopped against their will @ the side of Farmer John's fields. For this reason I doubt US automakers (the producers of such wonderous fuel-hogs as the Chevy Silverado and Dodge Ram) will put the intrusive technology to use in their vehicles.

This alone would talk me out of ever owning a Toyota (I'm a Subaru woman anyways).

Bad idea.

 

I share the concerns everyone else here brought up. What if you're not drunk but your buddy in the passenger seat is?

I don't know if people are going to be really willing to buy this shit. That'll drive the idea from the market. Too bad Toyata is one of the companies that could damage fuckers like Ford or GM.