2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid Review

The 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid is a ‘new era’ sedan that stands to redefine the very image of the number one standard mid-size sedan. Yukihiro Okane Chief Engineer, Product Planning Toyota Development The Multi-Information Display helps keep you continually apprised of the Hybrid Synergy Drive energy flow and its efficient management. The use of more advanced tires allows tire air pressure to be increased, thereby reducing rolling resistance and further improving efficiency. Knowing what’s around your vehicle is key to confident driving. That’s why the 2012 Camry Hybrid offers innovative features like the available Blind Spot Monitor (BSM)and backup camera. By helping to reveal hard-to-see areas, Camry helps keep potentially dangerous situations from escaping your notice. In short, Camry helps keep things that are out of sight from being out of mind.

Camry’s reinvented hybrid engine is entirely beltless. This design not only offers remarkable reliability, but also saves weight, reduces friction and improves fuel economy. By reengineering various vehicle components and employing stateof the-art materials, we reduced Camry Hybrid’s overall curb weight by 200 lb. We engineered a way to move the battery forward, opening up more room in the trunk and ensuring that we didn’t take up otherwise usable space. An electric water pump doesn’t employ a v-belt. This design not only improves efficiency, but also shortens engine warm-up time, helping to reduce emissions. For more than a decade, Toyota has been a world leader in the development of eco-sensitive technology with our advanced Hybrid Synergy Drive system. And with each passing year, this tried and tested system continues to get more efficient, more powerful, more reliable and more popular.

Even with properly adjusted side mirrors, adjacent vehicles may enter “blind spots,” areas that are outside of the driver’s view. Camry’s Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) uses radar to scan these blind spots for moving motor vehicles. Located on both sides of Camry, the monitors identify moving vehicles in its blind spots. If the system detects a vehicle in the area, it illuminates a warning indicator on the appropriate side mirror. Via Toyota’s 24/7 call center, available Safety Connect offers subscribers helpful features such as Emergency Assistance, Stolen Vehicle Locator, Roadside Assistance and Automatic Collision Notification. Safety Connect also offers the reliability of embedded cellular and GPS technology.

Smart Key offers you a note of enhanced luxury. When you approach 2012 Toyota Camry with the Smart Key fob in your pocket or purse, the interior illuminates automatically; the doors unlock when you touch either front door handle; the trunk opens with the touch of its handle; and the engine starts with the push of a button. When backing up, the area behind Camry that’s visible to the camera is displayed on the touch-screen of the audio system’s display.


At speeds greater than five miles per hour, when the accelerator isndepressed first and the brakes are then applied firmly for longer than one-half second, Smart Stop Technology is designed to help the driver bring the vehicle to a complete stop. At Toyota, safety is one of our topnpriorities. That’s why we equipped Camry with an array of both active safety systems, to help keep you out of harm’s way, and passive safety systems, to help protect you should a collision occur. As somebody once said, there is safety in numbers. That’s why every 2012 Camry Hybrid comes hybrid with a comprehensive airbag system that offers an impressive ten airbags.2 The system includes both driver and front passenger airbags, front and rear side curtain airbags, front and rear seat-mounted side airbags, and both driver and front passenger knee airbags all standard equipment.

TOYOTA CAMRY HYBRID Star Safety System is an advanced suite of six safety features offered as standard equipment on every Camry. The system includes Enhanced Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Traction Control (TRAC), Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA)4 and Smart Stop Technology (SST). Classified as “active” safety features, they’re designed to work proactively in certain situations to help prevent accidents from occurring in the first place.

As air flows over the surfaces of a moving vehicle, friction can cause that air to tumble over and under itself, increasing drag and creating erratic air pressure forces around the vehicle. Vortex generators alter the airflow before it becomes turbulent, creating a series of controlled spins, or vortices, and helping to equalize air pressure forces, reduce drag and improve vehicle stability. 
To enhance Camry’s overall ride quality, we optimized the shock absorber tuning to achieve a high-end dampening feel. We improved Camry’s handling and stability by recalculating the rear suspension geometry.


2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid comes standard with sporty 18-in. wheels and tires. To better handle this larger setup, we made the knuckle and lower arm assembly stronger and lighter. Airflow under a vehicle is crucial to performance. On the reinvented Camry we added a series of broad plates that feature aerodynamic fins front and rear to help manage air turbulence beneath the vehicle, improving stability and handling.

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