A new car safety feature from Toyota Motor Corp. doesn't wait for a crash to happen.
Equipped with a wallet-size radar on the front grille that keeps track of the distance of oncoming objects, the car knows when it's about to crash and tightens seat belts and adds braking force within a second before a collision, reducing damage and saving lives, the automaker says.
In a tryout for reporters Tuesday, drivers speeding toward a cone on a test course could feel the safety belt tweak suddenly before the car struck the cone. I found it a spookily strange feeling to drive a car that seems to know what's about to happen and reacts on its own.