Leaving your car idling is probably one of the worst things you could do as far as fuel consumption is concerned. Perhaps in a bid to help improve on energy efficiency, Toyota has announced that future Toyota vehicles are expected to come with an automatic engine shut off feature.
According to Toyota, “The Auto Shut Off feature will automatically shut off the engine after a pre-determined period of time in the event the vehicle is left running. Future enhancements will include smartphone App capabilities as an added reminder.” Toyota notes that they already offer a similar feature in its older cars, where they will notify the driver if they are idling for extended periods of time and reminds them to turn their engines off, but this will actually go ahead and do it on behalf of the driver.
In addition to the auto engine shut off feature, Toyota also announced that its future cars will come with an auto park feature as well. By that we don’t mean that the car will park itself, but rather if it detects that the driver exits the vehicle without putting the gear into park, it will do so itself. This is a safety feature designed to help reduce the risk of cars rolling away due to drivers forgetting to pull the hand brake or putting their cars into park mode.
These new features are expected to find their way into their 2020 vehicles, so it might be a good idea to hold off on buying a new car just yet if you are looking to take advantage of these features.
Filed in . Read more about Toyota. Source: pressroom.toyota