In Japan, the Ractis compact to be released in late November will be the first vehicle in which the advanced safety system will be installed as standard equipment, the officials said.
The carmaker will also make it a standard feature in Europe starting with cars built this year and will install the system in its 2011 model-year vehicles for sale in North America.
Toyota is moving to enhance safety features in the wake of a series of complaints from U.S. drivers about sudden unintended acceleration and subsequent massive recalls.
The company will also equip its entire lineup of vehicles in Japan and the U.S. with event data recorders, which can log data before and after a collision to shed light on how a vehicle was being driven and the functioning of various components.
The event recorders, or black boxes, have already been introduced in all Toyota vehicles, except for commercial vehicles, in Japan, but the automaker has decided to make them a standard feature for all new commercial vehicles.
Black boxes are often used by investigators to piece together the cause of an accident. Toyota is adding these safety features as the U.S. Congress considers legislation requiring them in cars.
Toyota also said it has repaired 3.7 million of the 5.6 million cars and trucks recalled in the U.S. for sticky gas pedals and floor mats that can trap accelerators. Those problems have been implicated in unintended acceleration incidents.
The company said it has fixed 86 percent of the 148,000 Prius and Lexus hybrids recalled due to a problem with the antilock brakes.
Toyota said it was receiving about 800 phone calls a week in April about unintended acceleration complaints, but its consumer hotline now receives about 150 calls per week. Toyota officials said they did not find any link to electronic problems — a possible culprit raised by lawyers and safety advocates — after reviewing 4,200 vehicles in which owners alleged problems with unwanted acceleration.
Still, the company's sales in the U.S. have suffered this year. Sales are up just 1 percent through September, according to Autodata Corp., compared with an industrywide sales increase of 10 percent. It has lost more than a percentage point of market share.
"I have a direct line to Akio Toyoda on safety issues and I believe we demonstrated in recent months that we have the authority to act quickly to address any safety issues that emerge," said Steve St. Angelo, Toyota's chief quality officer for North America.
Toyota officials said they have not received an update on the progress of the investigation run by engineers from NASA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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