The car that won't start if you're drunk
   By: Agencies
   August 8, 2007 

 
 

Drink carefully: A reporter has his sobriety checked by a gearshift as part of Nissan�s alcohol detection system in Yokosuka, Japan, on Monday

Tokyo: Beer-breaths beware. A new concept car with breathalyzer-like detection systems may provide even greater traction for Japanese efforts to keep impaired drivers off the road.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd�s alcohol-detection sensors check odour, sweat and driver awareness, issuing an alert from the navigation system and locking up the ignition if necessary.

Odour sensors on the driver and passenger seats read alcohol levels, while a detector in the gear-shift knob measures the perspiration of the driver�s palm when starting the car.

Other car makers with detection systems include Volvo, which has technology in which drivers blow into a measuring unit before an engine can start. But Nissan�s car includes a camera that monitors alertness by eye scans, ringing bells and a voice message that tells the driver to pull over and rest.

The technology is still in development, but Nissan spokesman Kazuhiro Doi
says the detection systems will ultimately keep an eye on the driver.

�We�ve placed odour detectors and a sweat sensor on the gear shift, but, for example, if the gear-shift sensor was bypassed by a passenger using it instead of the driver, the facial recognition system would be used,� said Doi.
Seat belts tighten if drowsiness is detected, and a monitor checks if the car stays in its lane.

Doi says they still have to distil exactly what impairment means, �If you drink one beer, it�s going to register, so we need to study what�s the appropriate level for the system to activate.�
 
 
http://www.mid-day.com/news/otherheadlines/2007/august/162058.htm