Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday released its remodeled Harrier luxury sport utility vehicle on the domestic market, touting the inclusion of what the automaker says is the world's first precrash safety system using "millimeter-wave" radar.
Millimeter-wave radar retracts the front seat belts whenever a collision is judged imminent and activates a brake-assist function, Toyota said.
Nissan Motor Co. holds the patent for the seat-belt retracting technology and will provide it to Honda Motor Co. and install the system in a new luxury vehicle to be released later this year, according to Nissan officials.
The officials said Nissan is willing let other companies use its infrared-sensor technology, which can detect pedestrians moving ahead or behind a vehicle, as well as intruders.
Toyota agreed last year to provide Nissan with its hybrid automobile technology.
Commercial-based high-tech exchanges among automakers are likely to increase, according to motor industry officials.
Toyota's second-generation Harrier, which comes with an engine displacement of 2,400cc or 3,000cc, will be marketed overseas in the spring, Toyota officials said.
The monthly sales targets are 2,500 units in Japan and 9,000 units in North America, President Fujio Cho said.
Toyota's Canadian plant will start manufacturing the vehicle as the Lexus RX330 in autumn.
By introducing a range of new models, Toyota hopes to increase annual sales in North America by about 5 percent to more than 2 million vehicles in the next two to three years, Cho said.
