Do you remember wanting a vehicle that had cruise control in it? This was meant to be a feature that helped you on the highway so that you could maintain a speed that you set and give your feet a break from having to try and maintain the speed you want. Unfortunately, and as much as we admire what cruise control has been for us, the need to have a more dynamic feature is present. Rather than having a system that simply maintains one set speed which then would require you to react to changing speeds of the vehicles around you, Toyota has developed something more.
This something more is the Dynamic Radar Cruise Control that is now offered on many Toyota models. In the past the cruise control system of your vehicle was an electronic system that was only required to maintain the speed you set. In some cases this system was so primitive it didn’t even keep your speed for you when you were travelling up and down hills or mountains in your area. Systems that were more advanced electronically made adjustments based upon the increased or decreased load on the engine, but they were still somewhat primitive in comparison to what we have now.
The Dynamic Radar Cruise Control adjusts the speed of your Toyota vehicle to maintain a safe following distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. This is a system that uses the forward sensing radar technology that’s installed behind the grill of your Toyota model vehicle. This system detects the speed and distance of the vehicle ahead and adjusts the speed to ensure the distance is properly maintained. This is a huge step forward form the conventional cruise control of the past and gives us exactly what you want on the road.
This system helps to slow and speed up your vehicle in order to have the right speed to maintain and enjoy the drive. You won’t have to make as many adjustments with this particular system and as the traffic speeds back up after slowing down the vehicle you drive will increase its speed. This makes the drive in heavy traffic easier to enjoy because of the sensors that are constantly working and the fact that you can let the vehicle do the work of accelerating or decelerating for you while you’re driving.
This system also used with the Toyota Pre-Collision System (PCS), which is offered on select Toyota vehicles, is meant to work with the DRCC to help keep you safe in the event of an impending front end collision. The systems use the closing speed and potential impact warnings to give you a warning light and sound to let you know you need to take evasive action. If this collision is unavoidable the PCS automatically retracts the seatbelts of the occupants in the front seats and prepares the Brake Assist feature to help offer increase the braking power for the driver. If you don’t apply the brakes in time, the system does automatically apply the maximum braking power for you to help avoid the impact.
In the case that these systems are enacted and no impact occurs the seatbelts and Brake Assist system are put back to their normal pre-collision state once the vehicle is stopped and put into Park. This helps you have time to recover from the adrenaline rush that happens during a potential impact. As you can see, cruise control systems have come a long way to allow for a much safer experience on the road and to help avoid accidents wherever possible.
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