Evans Toyota Blog
I acquired a new 2012 Toyota Camry SE a couple weeks ago. My Camry has an inline four cylinder engine which I would have assumed to be a potent V-6 had I not known better. The power and performance of this vehicle is off the four cylinder chart. However, the power is not what this particular blog post is about. Instead, this post is about the 2012 Toyota Camry safety and how it effected my day today; I made it to work.
I reside in Auburn, Indiana and commute daily to Fort Wayne, Indiana. This morning was like any typical morning except it was especially cold and windy with little snow flakes swirling in the air. I took off on my routine path stopping off at Starbucks for a grande double espresso coffee. I felt one shot of espresso wasn't enough this morning. The roads were slick but not too bad, so I wasn't expecting much hassle. That all changed when I got on Interstate 69 heading south to Fort Wayne.
The entrance ramp to Interstate 69 was seemingly fine so I accelerated the Camry to 65 miles per hour and merged onto the Interstate. I didn't have any traffic around me and my drive still seemed and felt routine. After a couple miles I was approaching a wolf pack of cars and a semi-truck. Those vehicles were roughly a hundred yards ahead of me when another vehicle zoomed by me in the passing lane. Just then I saw the brake lights on all those vehicles bunched together ahead. Apparently so did the car that was zooming past me. The passing driver applied the brakes, swerved and almost immediately went into a spinning frenzy. Without a moments notice I was forced to react to this situation in the only way I knew; I applied my brakes. The spinning vehicle slowed rapidly as it hit the shoulder of the road and bounced back across my path.
I should mention that any vehicle I have ever driven is very much like the one spinning ahead of me; hard application of the brake causes a slight pull in one direction. That slight pull in any direction is almost always followed by a driver's attempt to correct the pull. Fittingly, this particular driver attempted to correct the pull and in accordance to the laws of physics, the 70 mph vehicle began its impending spin out. My knee jerk reaction to this situation was the same as the other driver. I applied hard brake pressure to icy roads. The difference in my experience and the driver ahead of me was the intelligence of my car versus his car.
When I applied hard pressure to the brakes my car did as any car does, slipped and wanted to pull. The difference was how the individual wheels responded. When the car noticed a slight pull to one direction it automatically, nearly instantaneously, corrected the pull by applying varying brake pressure to each wheel individually forcing my car to travel in a straight path through braking. I had just experienced VehicleStability Control (VSD), part of the Star Safety System that comes standard on all new Toyotas.
The end result of my commute to work today was very much like any other day, I made it to work. But today I made it to work when I likely wouldn't have had I been driving a vehicle with less safety intelligence. The 2012 Toyota Camry SE that I drive got me to work, inspired this blog and hopefully it encourages others to consider purchasing a new Toyota. I have three children, ages six, eleven and twelve and I can say with sincere confidence I am thankful I drive this Camry. All of us with friends and family would appreciate what this Camry did for me today. I arrived safely to my destination despite the weather conditions nobody can control. We can't control the weather but we can control what vehicle we purchase.
