Safety Features to Look for When Shopping for a Used Toyota

Drivers have always wanted vehicle features that reduce the chances of accidents and the severity of collisions when they do occur. If you’re shopping for a pre-owned model with impressive driver-assist features that can help you avoid accidents, you should be on the lookout for a used Toyota for sale. The truth is that you can be a perfect driver, but you can’t control what others do on the road. That’s why even the most responsible motorists need solid driver assist features today. For those shopping on a budget, the team at Faith’s Toyota likes to point drivers toward models from 2019 through 2022.

The reason they love this particular batch of model years is that 2019 is when Toyota introduced Toyota Safety Sense 2.0, which would remain the suite of safety features until 2023. It includes intelligent, fast-acting features that can help you avoid some of the most common types of collisions. You can find Toyota Safety Sense 2.0 on a variety of pre-owned Toyotas, including the newer Corolla, Camry, and RAV4. Below, we’ll cover what this suite comprises.

The Pre-Collision System

Even if you pay close attention to the road, you never know when the driver in front of you might act in an unpredictable manner. Sometimes, an unexpected hazard like a child running out into the road or a sudden slow down in traffic can force the vehicle in front of you to come to a sudden stop. It’s in those moments when the Pre-Collision System is tremendously helpful. Here’s how it works: it uses a forward-facing camera in collaboration with a grille-mounted radar system to detect vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists in front of your vehicle.

If the system senses a collision with any of the above entities is a risk, it begins to emit audible and visible alerts. Should you detect the hazard and hit the brakes in time, the system might apply additional brake force to better assist you in avoiding a crash. If you don’t brake in time, the automatic emergency brakes will take over to help you avoid a crash. The system is designed to detect bicycles in daylight, as well as pedestrians in some low-light settings.

Dynamic Radar Cruise Control

You’re probably familiar with adaptive cruise control, which allows you to set a desired speed, take your foot off the gas, and have the vehicle maintain your desired speed for you. Dynamic Radar Cruise Control takes things one step further. With regular cruise control, you have to manually hit the brakes when you get too close to the vehicle in front of you. Dynamic Radar Cruise Control doesn’t require that. In addition to setting a set speed, you’ll also choose a desired distance from other vehicles. The system will automatically slow down when necessary to maintain that speed.

Dynamic Radar Cruise Control can even bring your vehicle to a stop, and resume driving when it senses the vehicle in front of you doing so. So you’re relieved of the constant back and forth between the brake and gas pedal in stop-and-go traffic. This can be a really nice feature for drivers who spend a lot of time on highways during rush hour and want a little brake from the pedal throttling.

Lane Departure Alert and Lane Tracing Assist

We all get a little tired sometimes and can struggle to maintain our lane. Lane Departure Alert steps in when that happens. It relies on a forward-facing camera to detect lane markings, road edges and curbs on mostly straight roads. It will even show you illustrations for those markings on the Multi-Information Display so you can see how you’re doing at maintaining your lane.

If your vehicle is equipped with power steering and the lane departure system senses you drifting out of your lane, it will take over steering to gently guide you back into it. This is paired with Lane Tracing Assist because the two work so symbiotically together. Lane Tracing Assist monitors both lane markings and the vehicle in front of you (together with Dynamic Radar Cruise Control). It can apply minor steering inputs to keep your vehicle centered in its lane.

Automatic High Beams

Whether you regularly drive during dusk, just as visibility settings shift from bright to low, or you alternate between well-lit city streets to dark country roads, you could have varying headlight needs from one hour or day to the next. Manually turning your headlights on and off as needed can be an inconvenience. More importantly, many drivers simply don’t remember to do so and can find themselves struggling to see in low-light settings. Automatic high beams relieve you of that task.

Automatic high beams monitor the surroundings, and toggle between high and low beams, depending on the setting. So they can turn on the high beams in low light settings when it’s safe to do so. Then, when they sense oncoming traffic, they switch to low beams so as to not blind oncoming drivers.

Road Sign Assist

There are tons of reasons you might miss a road sign. A tree was partially covering it. Snow was covering it. It was bent in half. You just weren’t paying attention. Whatever the reason, it usually won’t get you out of a ticket if you blow a stop sign or exceed the speed limit. So, who doesn’t want a little extra help detecting traffic signs that you might otherwise miss? In comes Road Sign Assist.

Road Sign Assist can detect road signs and depict their icons on your multi-information display. Signs include speed limit signs, so if you suddenly enter a school zone where the speed limit is 20 mph, you’ll know. It can also read stop signs and yield signs (helping you know what to do at tricky intersections). It can even read Do Not Enter signs in case a construction crew fails to put these up in a highly visible area.

Find a Safe Pre-Owned Toyota Vehicle Today

Now that you’ve gotten to know the features of Toyota Safety Sense 2.0, you probably don’t want to drive any vehicle that doesn’t have them. So come check out Faith’s huge inventory of used Toyota models. Their team over at Faith’s Toyota carries all of the most popular Toyota models in a range of body styles, from sedans to trucks to SUVs. Plus, they also have EV vehicles, so if you’re moving away from traditional gas engine models, ask them what they have in stock.

At Faith’s, you’ll find competitive pricing, as well as an excellent finance team who can put together your ideal lease or loan. Plus, because they’re part of Faith’s Automotive group, you’ll always have the support of a large network behind every transaction. They love sending their drivers home in Toyota models with Safety Sense 2.0 because they feel they’re doing their part to make the roads a little bit safer. So go check out a used Toyota today with our team at Faith’s Toyota! They’ll help you find some great options with the standard safety and driver assistance features you’re looking for in a modern vehicle, ensuring you have maximum confidence on the road.