2020 Toyotas Will Save You From Leaving Car On, In Drive

06/14/2019

Automatic Shut Off and Automatic Park should roll out shortly.

Toyota is taking safety to a whole new level. In fact, the company says it is “relentless” in its commitment to continued safety. And part of that relentlessness includes two new safety systems that will come standard on all Toyota products beginning in 2020: the aptly named Automatic Park and Automatic Shut Off features.

Both systems are pretty self-explanatory. Automatic Park identifies when the driver exits the vehicle without shifting into park, and will do so automatically. Though, it only applies to Toyota products with an electronic shifter or electronic parking brake – which rules out current models like the 4Runner and Land Cruiser (both with traditional shifters), and 86 (with a traditional parking brake). This new equipment, Toyota says, should prevent vehicles from rolling away.

Automatic Shut Off, meanwhile, works together with Toyota’s Smart Key to alert the driver when the engine is still running. Only now Automatic Shut Off stops the engine “after a pre-determined period of time” if the driver leaves it running for too long. Toyota isn’t exactly clear on what “a pre-determined period of time” means exactly, but promises smartphone compatibility in the future as an extra safety measure.

Automatic Park and Automatic Shut Off add to Toyota’s already impressive repertoire of safety equipment. Toyota Safety Sense, which offers equipment like pre-collision avoidance, lane departure warning, and automatic emergency braking, is already standard on a majority of the manufacturer’s vehicles.

Toyota doesn’t specify when these two new features will roll out to its 2020 products. But with a number of 2020 Toyota models already on sale in the U.S., we expect it before the end of the year.

Source: Toyota