Toyota Motor Corp’s reputation has taken a beating over the last couple of years, after the company recalled millions of vehicles and faced the ire of lawmakers, consumers and Houston product liability attorneys over sudden and unintended acceleration in its vehicles. However, the company insists that it now wants to focus heavily on auto safety, and is investing $50 million over the next few years on research into new safety technologies.
The company, through its Collaborative Research Safety Center is joining forces with Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers to tackle important safety issues, including distracted driving. Toyota and MIT are specifically targeting the effects of voice-activated communication systems on driver attention.
It is not just distracted driving that Toyota is focusing its auto safety efforts on. The company is also targeting safety technologies that can make driving safer for senior drivers, and those that can reduce the number of injuries and deaths every year involving young adults, children and other vulnerable drivers.
Toyota will share whatever findings emerge from all this research with other auto makers and relevant groups. The company is collaborating with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute on a project that will involve the filming of young motorists in order to draw attention to their risky driving behavior.
The company says it will develop senior versions of its virtual test dummies. The company is also teaming up with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in order to study the link between the age of motorists and the position in the car and how both of these factors affect the fit of the seatbelt.
Vuk Vujasinovic is a Board Certified Houston personal injury attorney who practices Houston auto accident and other personal injury cases.
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