Toyota Adds Safety Upgrades to 2017 Prius C
CARS.COM — Toyota is giving its tiny Prius c hybrid a mild refresh for 2017 along with some important safety feature upgrades. For 2017, the Toyota Safety Sense-C suite of electronic safety systems is standard on all grades of the inexpensive compact hybrid hatchback. Previously, TSS-C had been optional on two of the 2016 Prius c trim levels.
Related: Research the 2017 Toyota Prius c
TSS-C consists of a number of electronic aids for the Prius c aimed at improving three specific areas of safety — preventing or mitigating front-end collisions, nighttime driving safety and helping drivers maintain lane positon. It uses three systems, two of which make use of an onboard camera and laser: First is the pre-collision system, which uses an autonomous emergency braking system to slow or stop the car from speeds of 7 to 85 mph, with the aim of mitigating a collision or avoiding one entirely. An alert notifies the driver that braking is required, but the system can also take over or add additional force if the car detects that the driver is not sufficiently responding. Lane departure alert is used to notify drivers if they’re straying outside a lane without indicating. Lastly, the automatic high-beam system uses a camera to detect oncoming vehicles and can switch the headlights between high and low beams automatically.
The move to include the TSS-C system for the Prius c is part of a larger push by Toyota to make autonomous emergency braking standard on nearly all of its lineup by the end of the year.
Other model-year 2017 changes for the Prius c include revised bumpers, a blacked-out spoiler and standard alloy wheels.
