Toyota Camry with Stability and Traction Control
August 20, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
We have complained, we have begged, we have criticised, and Toyota has finally listened. Announcing the news today, Toyota Australia has enabled Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) and Traction Control (TRC) as standard equipment across the entire Camry range.
“Our research quite clearly shows that one of the major purchase triggers in the medium four-cylinder market is safety.” said David Buttner, Toyota Australia’s senior executive director sales and marketing.
This is great news for a car which continues to dominate the medium passenger car segment. Figures from end July show 15,084 new owners have taken a Toyota Camry home this year.
Previously only available on the top of the range Grande variant, all other variants (Altise, Ateva and Sportivo) built from this month will now include the life-saving technology for a small fee. For the Altise the price rises by $490 for both auto/man while the Ateva and Sportivo are hit with a $750 increase.
The VSC system is similar to ESP (ESC, DSC etc) as it stabilises the vehicle during cornering. Traction control on the other hand, will ensure the front wheels do not lose traction on wet surfaces.
“buyers are risk averse, and are expecting technology such as VSC and TRC to be included as standard equipment on an increasing number of models”. Mr Buttner continued.
The latest safety pack comes after many motoring organizations voiced their concerns over the lack of life-saving technology. The Toyota Camry already comes standard with Active Braking with Intelligence (AB-i), which incorporates ABS anti-skid brakes with Brake Assist (BA), and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD).
To celebrate the news, Toyota have given customers a choice of three new colours – Tungsten, available across the range, Sakana, available on Camry Altise, Ateva and Grande, and Inferno, which will be available on Sportivo models.
Now, when will we see the same technology on the brand new Toyota Corolla, Australia’s number one selling car?
Print it: 
This is a marketing move and it’s not due to begging/complaining from anybody. The new Accord is coming out any moment now and traction control + ESC/ESP/VDC/VSC/Nanny-Tech or whatever you wanna call it, is available (if not standard) across the entire Accord range.
have to agree with the “nanny tech” comment above.
what will be next ?
speed limited to 100 km/h ?
it sure is just marketing hype, admittedly a good 1, but is it really necessary in a front wheel drive 4 cylinder camry ?
Yes it is necessary!
ESP is beneficial in all cars, obviously more so in larger and rear-wheel-drive cars, but the benefits are always there, and for an extra $500-800, your life is worth it!
I believe it should be standard, but it is a good invest though even if you have to pay for it. I have sat in the car with some drivers, and when the wheels skid due to a wet surface and/or driving a bit too fast, these people panic and step the gas even more.
My family has a new Corolla actually.
While we would indeed prefer it if the Corolla had ESP available, us (like a number of other consumers) are only prepared to pay a certain amount of money for safety. We opted for the $750 airbag pack, which probably fewer than half take up (considering that the Yaris has a 10% uptake rate) and I don’t think we would have paid much more for ESP.
The Mazda 3 has ESP and such available, but the pack was so expensive at over $1500. Plus, you also needed to pay for a ‘power pack’.
It was mainly for the Corolla’s relatively affordable airbag pack that we opted for it.
And while JW watches the inside of his new Corolla inflate like the Michelin Man’s suit inside a jumping castle when he hits a random car pulling out in front, Mazda 3 owners will steer around the accident, see a few flashes of the little orange ESP light and live to fight another day, knowing that the airbags are still there as a BACKUP… all without spilling their coffee.
I’d take ESP AND airbags over airbags alone anyday. ESP has potentially saved my life once before and it’s worth every cent.
And when talking about cost, read this link…
http://www.caradvice.com.au/35.....ly-update/
So the recently updated Focus for $19,990 with ABS and 2 airbags standard is $1,000 cheaper than an equivalent Corolla with ABS and 2 airbags…. Add in the Focus’ optional side and curtain airbags AND stability control in the safety pack for $1,600 and it is still $150 cheaper than a base Corolla with the $750 safety pack – one that STILL doesn’t have ESP even as an option. That makes the Corolla look much weaker for value and safety. Add to that the Mazda 3 and Focus are both a great drive and it doesn’t make the Corolla look too appealing on any level really…
I hope you didn’t buy that Corolla after July 2nd when this link was posted above!!!!!
Correct me if i am wrong but it is my understanding that the Corolla will receive ESP as of mid next year. That Question has already been answered.
Now i have a Question… when will the new Holden Epica receive ESP ??
And… will the Mondeo come with it standard ??
Bob – exactly how many Mazda3 owners do you think have ESP – i’ll be confidant to say not many.
Does the Focus current have it… NO ??
Astra… NO !!
Epica… NO !!
Has Toyota got a 2 star crash rated vehicle… NO !!
Onya Dingo
LT Focus does have DSC as $600 option with side & curtain airbags. The thing about the Focus & The Mazda is they already have a properly engineered & tuned chassis that means intervention is kept to a minimum.
Talk is DSC on corolla has been moved back even further ie. Late 08. On a car with twist beam rear suspension, near enough suspension tune that’s about 5 years too late.
Good go on DSC in Camry should stop a few wood ducks climbing trees backwards.
JW,
You and your family got screwed by the all mighty Toyota marketing machine …. or maybe its the fault of the Ford marketing machine FAILING to be heard ….
For near enough $1,000 less than your Corolla with its safety pack ($21,740) …. you could have had a new model LT Focus with ITS safety pack ($20,790 RRP) that includes side airbags, curtain airbags, Traction Control, Stability Control and emergency brake assist.
Then lets not forget the Focus has an independent rear suspension, more power, more torque, yet BETTER fuel economy and doesn’t look like a worse imitation of its cheaper little brother ….
And to top it all off … the Focus is getting pretty good press including
“we said this two years ago when the last Focus was launched, but now we are sure about it: if Ford does not become a force to be reckoned with in the high-flying small-car segment with the safer, better-value and broader-spectrum LT Focus, then Australians simply cannot spot a great car if it slaps them across the face. Even against new rivals from Toyota and Nissan, the latest Focus is one of those rare vehicles that brings pleasure to both the head and the heart. Drive one before you buy anything else in the sub-$25,000 segment.”
Mmmmm …. and why did you and all the other sheep buy a Corolla? Because it’s a Toyota … not sure if that’s an indictment on Australians or the hugest compliment I can give the Toyota marketing department … sadly a bit of both probably.
No, when we bought our Corolla, the Focus had yet to enter its discounted price. Furthermore, we didn’t look at European cars because of high maintenance costs, something that while part myth, still exists to a large extent.
People buy a Corolla because they are dependable. That is one thing they definitely are, even if not terribly exciting.
Furthermore, I trust the long term dependability of Corollas built by Japan more than I trust Focuses built in South Africa.
By the way, we have a Corolla sedan not a hatch. The one that looks like a mini-Camry rather than an inflated Yaris.
I also checked the figures. Auto Focus sedan uses 8.0L/100km on the ADR. Auto Corolla sedan uses 7.4L/100km on the ADR.
If sales are anything to go by, clearly Toyota is doing something right with the Corolla. I wouldn’t say that they have very good marketing either, the new Corolla ads are terrible and I haven’t seen many of them, at least a lot less than the Focus/Fiesta “we are all different” ad that seems to have infested TV.
That’s exactly right Jamez – because it’s a TOYOTA…
Is it sh*t Ford marketing or Toyota muscle.
Ford got thier engineering right did they, is that why they have a 3.5 MILLION vehicle recall, declining sales because of thier less then desirable approach to making quality cars or the fact that the Corolla actually rates quite a bit higher is the quality stakes as indicated by the Australian Quality Survey.
Ooh yeah… because thier tuning is so good they actually don’t require ESP do they !! Silly me.
Do focus on what Honda is doing set the agenda first and include safety items as standard; a persons life might depend on it and you cannot take half measures on that!
Honda setting the safety items as standard?
When shopping around and looking at the Civic, we found that the Civic base model wasn’t even available with curtain airbags, you must buy a higher model to even get the OPTION of curtain airbags…
Well done …my post about the 2008 Accord DSC here got thrashed. I am getting out of here.
Dingo – do your homework mate. Toyota has also recalled nearly 3.2 million cars since June 2006 due to failures across the board on Yaris, Corolla, Lexus RX330,CAmry and Aurion. This is not including the recalls on cars that we DO NOT sell in Aust. The 3.5 Million cars that Ford recalled are american and asian SUV’s. Ford stopped bringing them to Aust for the Reason that they were unreliable. An avid Ford lover i may be, but i think it is about time that the “Old Reliable” Toyota was scrutinised under the same tests and inspections as other manufacturers.
Good to see that Ford is now offering top range safety on the cars also – Mondeo (29,990) with DSC and 7 Airbags standard across the range, and DSC, 6 airbags, and EBA on Focus for only $1600(on top of 19,990). Euro safety for Korean pricing almost.
hahah in the same period Toyota sold 10 million units while Ford sold less… forgetting that 20 years of reliability doesnt disappear because Toyota has ONE SINGLE bad year (With issues in the U.S with the Camrys transmission… which Aus Camrys DIDNT HAVE). If your gonna manipulate stats you could do a better job.
Paul, no one really needs to manipulate stats, man. Every one know that Mum, nan, nan’s nan and pop all drove and probably still drive Camrys and corollas. But you must admit that the deep discounting to Government and fleet people helps Toyota with their “sales” numbers. as well as the fact that they also count Hino (both trucks and buses), yamaha, Fuji, and Isuzu in the numbers internationally.
The point i was trying to make was simple: Even the almighty Toyota Jidōsha Kabushiki-gaisha buggers up occasionally, and the point before that was simple – Ford has put models out that have Euro Safety at a reasonable price.
I personally have been a fan of toyota on the side for a while, but i feel that other companies are passing them when it comes to safety and low maintenance, low cost cars.
But back to the point, ESP, DSC, ETC, whatever – should be standard on all cars in this day and age.
Mate you couldnt be any more wrong. You try to bring fleets into this argument, what the hell? Toyota vehicles make their most from private buys, the most sold fleet vehicle is the Corolla which only makes 60% compared to the 80% of Holden and Ford. Overall with more vehicles sold to fleets they might be slightly ahead… but they sell 10 million units a year, of which a huge proportion are private sales. Meanwhile Ford and Holden in Australia and no doubt the U.S make a huge proportion of sales to fleets. And as I highlighted this 3.5million figure I cant find, especially from 2006 onwards, I think its abit of hot air from NM
http://www.businessweek.com/au.....+page_news
Copy the above link, and have a squiz – but you probably already know as it sounds like you’re a big Toyota fan or a sales rep.
The recalls are not all at the same time, but they have happened over the last 4 years. And that is just typing “Toyota Recall” in google. But once again, this is off the point. I don’t want to flame anyone, so i wont. Let’s see, we were saying…DSC should be standard in all cars.
hey i have just purchased a 2008 toyota camry sportivo and was wondering if there is a way to turn traction control off. any help is much appriciated.. thanks guys