Toyota creating alcohol detection system

[Herman Munster]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_hi_te/japan_toyota_drunken_driving

TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunken drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption, a news report said Wednesday.

Cars fitted with the detection system will not start if sweat sensors in the driving wheel detect high levels of alcohol in the driver's bloodstream, according to a report carried by the mass-circulation daily, Asahi Shimbun.

The system could also kick in if the sensors detect abnormal steering, or if a special camera shows that the driver's pupils are not in focus. The car is then slowed to a halt, the report said.

The world's No. 2 automaker hopes to fit cars with the system by the end of 2009, according to the report. Calls to Toyota's headquarters in Nagoya rang unanswered on Wednesday, a public holiday.

Nissan Motor Co., another Japanese car manufacturer, has already been experimenting with breathalyzer-like devices that could detect if a driver was drunken. Similar technologies, such as alcohol ignition interlocks, are in use in the U.S. and elsewhere.

[pimpbot]

1. So drunk drivers have to wear gloves now?

Yea, I guess its a good idea, but unless you're gonna hook up a permanent breathing tube to the driver theres gonna be ways around it. Even then someone will figure out a way to inject air into the tube to fake it out.

[wtmusic]

5. Never underestimate a determined drunk

that's when true alcoholics shine.

[NNN0LHI]

2. There is already a system that does pretty much the same thing

Its called physics.

[SanCristobal]

7. LMAO!

:7 :7 :7 :7 :7 :7 :7 :7 :7 :7

Wait, that's actually kind of sad...

[Selatius]

3. They should invent an "auto-drive" feature next to drive you home.

They've been experimenting for years on making cars smart enough to drive on the roads without hand operation, and I think one day they will succeed. If the car won't let you drive drunk, then it should at least take you home as an alternative option.

[Book Lover]

4. Thus upping the value of your friendly neighborhood chippers (nm)

[bperci108]

6. Usually for every $10,000 "safety" system...

...there is a 50 cent way to bypass it.

As an old corollary to Murphy's Law states:

"Nothing can be made entirely foolproof as fools are so ingenious". ;)

[Generic Brad]

8. I have portable alcohol detectors

They're called my wife and my kid.