2020 Toyota Cars Will Automatically Turn Off and Shift Into Park
Toyota has announced it will begin introducing two new major feature updates to its vehicle lineup: Automatic Engine Shut Off and Automatic Park. The former will be added to “most” model year 2020 vehicles while the latter will be available in all Toyota vehicles that have an “electronic means of shifting and/or applying the parking brake.”
Automatic Engine Shut Off will automatically shut off the engine when the vehicle is at a stop and has been left running for a pre-determined period of time. This is essentially building upon the existing Smart Key System feature, which already issues a two-step alert to notify drivers the engine is running and requests it to be turned off. With the new tech, you will instead receive an audible and visual warning via the Smart Key System as the engine shuts off automatically without waiting for a response.
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As for Automatic Park, Toyota says its goal is to reduce the risk of roll-away by automatically shifting the vehicle into the park position and/or automatically applying the electronic parking brake. This will prevent your vehicle from rolling away in the event that you forgot to put the vehicle in park before exiting it.
In other words, if you’re an absent minded driver, both of these technologies should greatly help improve your overall safety and that of your car. They’ll join Toyota Safety Sense as standard equipment across most models in the Toyota lineup, helping bolster the Toyota’s status as one of the safest automakers in the industry.
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