The rigid body structure that surrounds the vehicle’s passenger compartment. The safety cage is designed to remain intact, help prevent intrusion and channel impact energy around the passenger compartment in the event of certain severe collisions. A  “safety cage” is constructed with high-strength steel and may be reinforced in vital areas such as the pillars, door openings and roof structure.

Makes maps a thing of the past. This system depends on a network of 24 U.S. Defense Department communication satellites. Their orbits are arranged so that at any time, anywhere on the planet, a receiver can communicate with four of the satellites simultaneously. On-board radio signal receivers determine the position of the vehicle, which is then located on a DVD-based or hard disc drive map within the vehicle’s navigation system. Amazingly, the satellites help to determine location and heading from a distance of 12,000 miles, and provide tracking that is accurate to within several feet.

Music from space. It begins with an encrypted digital data stream that is sent from the studio to uplink to satellite dishes. These dishes beam their signal to geostationary satellites located more than 22,000 miles above the earth, which then send the signal back in a span of about a quarter of a second. Hundreds of ground-based repeaters pick up the satellite signal and rebroadcast it in order to fill gaps in the signal and deliver tight sound reproduction in crowded urban areas or mountainous regions. Satellite radio signals blanket the continental U.S., so a driver can listen to the same channel coast to coast.

(see also Evaporative Emissions) When fuel evaporates, it creates harmful emissions. A sealed, pressurized fuel tank prevents them from entering our atmosphere by either venting the vapors into the engine’s intake system (when the vehicle is running) or a storage canister (when the vehicle is parked). Either way, the vapors end up being burned as fuel.

Activating this switch causes the automatic transmission to start in second gear instead of first gear, which is useful on slick surfaces like ice, snow or mud. With second gear start selected, the driver often has better control of the throttle, allowing them to ease the vehicle away without losing traction.

These airbags are designed to help provide torso and upper arm protection for the left- and right-side second-row passengers during certain types of severe side-impact collisions.

Ever had your headlights point at the sky when towing or hauling a heavy load? These lights incorporate a level sensor and motors to keep light focused on the road surface—where it should be.

Used primarily on light duty trucks, a semi-floating axle uses an axle shaft and hub that are one piece, with the axle shaft supporting a great deal of the vehicle’s weight. The axle shaft only “floats” at the point where it is splined to the differential.

The convenience of an Automatic, the fun of a Manual. By simply moving the transmission shift lever to the Sport position, the driver can manually up- and downshift through the gears.

This feature locks the doors when the automatic transmission shifter is moved out of Park, and unlocks the doors when the shifter is moved into Park.

Used on Toyota hybrid vehicles, shift-by-wire replaces a shift lever with an electrical switch and uses a computer to control the Park, Neutral, Drive and Reverse functions. The shift-by-wire system has the same appearance and feel as a regular shift lever, but there is no mechanical connection between the lever and the transmission.

More than the sum of its parts, a shock absorber is basically a sealed cylinder with a sliding piston inside. The cylinder is most commonly filled with hydraulic fluid that helps absorb energy from bumps, potholes and other road imperfections. Shock absorbers are often “tuned” to provide specific ride/handling characteristics, depending on the vehicle and its intended use.

Located in the header, above the side windows of front, second-row and some third-row seats, side curtain airbags are designed to help provide additional protection for the front seat driver and passenger and outboard rear passengers during certain types of severe side-impact collisions.

To help provide extra protection when a vehicle is hit from the side, steel beams are located inside all doors to absorb energy and help protect the driver and passenger. Mandated by federal law, side-impact door beams are designed to reduce the chance of intrusion into the passenger cabin.

A one-piece steel stamping (with no seams or welds) that forms the door frames and rear fender of a vehicle. Single-piece body-side construction contributes to the quality and strength of a vehicle’s overall architecture, reduces wind noise, and over years of use, can help prevent squeaks and rattles.

Your first line of defense when driving off-road, a skid plate is a steel or aluminum panel located under some off-road vehicles that helps protect vital components from off-road hazards. Skid plates can be used to protect the engine oil pan, steering linkage, automatic transmission, transfer case, fuel tank and differential. They are usually mounted to the frame, although they may also be mounted to an individual component.

Simply put, this system allows you to open a locked door and start the engine without a key. When the driver is within two to three feet of the vehicle, an advanced transponder/transceiver key fob in the pocket or purse signals a central computer that the doors can be unlocked and the engine started. The vehicle is unlocked by pulling a door handle, and the engine can be started by placing a foot on the brake pedal and pushing the Start/Stop button. When exiting, a simple touch of an exterior button or door handle locks the vehicle and triggers the anti-theft system.

Every Tacoma pickup has the outer fenders and outer tailgate of the bed formed in steel, but the SMC inner structure brings many key advantages, including dent resistance, lighter weight, better impact strength and corrosion resistance.

Like chrome, but a little more subtle. Smoked trim is used on grille trim or grille inserts, headlight and taillight bezels, side molding inserts, and trunk or cargo door garnish panels. Smoked trim may also be accompanied by “smoked” headlight and taillight reflectors, a treatment that changes the appearance of the lights without compromising illumination.

(See “Second Gear Start Switch”)

Harnesses the power of the sun to cool your interior. An available feature on the Toyota Prius, this system uses energy from roof-mounted photovoltaic cells to power fans that circulate outside air through the interior while the vehicle is parked in direct sunlight. This helps reduce interior temperature, and speeds cooldown when you turn on the air conditioning.

Uses one primary color with no additional reflective ingredients, such as metalflake, mica or pearl. Therefore, the color appears the same from all angles.

Creates the spark that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the engine’s combustion chamber.

The speed rating is a designation of the sustained high-speed capability of the tire. The speed rating is the letter on the sidewall in the tire’s size; for example, on a P205/65HR15 tire, the H equals a 130-mph rating.

Unlike traditional smooth cloth upholstery, sport fabric has a textured weave designed to help hold occupants in place when cornering. This fabric may also come in unique colors and patterns that accent or compliment other Sport interior trim.

Look at these, and you’ll know you’re sitting someplace special. Used in high-performance vehicles or performance-appearance packages, Sport gauges are designed with unique colors or high-contrast lighting that complements the instrument panel, dashboard trim and seats of a Toyota high-performance vehicle.

Sets you apart from the pack. By finishing exterior accents in black, body color or smoked trim, the vehicle is distinguished from traditional models in the lineup. Sport trim may be used on the grille, headlight, and taillight bezels, and the trunk or cargo door garnish.

Designed to deliver greater road feel and higher cornering performance, a Toyota sport-tuned suspension can include any and all of the following components: higher rate (or progressive-rate) springs, firmer shock absorbers with higher compression and/or rebound rates, and firmer bushings. With a sport-tuned suspension, a rear stabilizer bar may be added or the stock stabilizer bars may be increased (or in some cases actually decreased) in diameter. Sport-tuned suspension is often teamed with lower-profile tires, revalved power steering, faster rack-and-pinion steering gears, and chassis reinforcements, including front strut tower and rear V-braces.

A hollow or solid bar that connects the left- and right-side suspension, keeping the vehicle body more level (flat) during cornering. Stabilizer bars can help the suspension provide smoother, more predictable handling, and that can translate to a greater feeling of stability and responsiveness for the driver.

By placing the shock absorbers at opposing angles and on opposite sides of the axle housing, this suspension layout on a rear live axle is designed to control “wheel hop” during acceleration and improve vehicle stability.

Those square holes along the deck rail of a pickup bed where wooden or metal stakes or poles can be posted to create a “stake bed,” a wooden/steel-tube fence that extends along the sides of the pickup bed.

Standard on all Toyota vehicles, the Star Safety System™ is a network of active traction, cornering and braking technologies consisting of Enhanced Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) [12], Traction Control (TRAC), an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist (BA) [6] and Smart Stop Technology (SST) [24]. These technologies help the driver to accelerate, steer and stop, especially in slippery conditions or during emergency maneuvers.

This feature continues to crank the engine until it’s running, even after the driver has released the key.

A small electric motor that initially turns the engine during start-up.

A second set of controls on the steering wheel that may include the audio system, heating and air conditioning system, and trip computer, depending on the vehicle. If the vehicle is equipped with Bluetooth^® [5] wireless technology and voice-activated features, the primary controls are also located on the steering wheel. Steering wheel-mounted controls help the driver to operate certain functions of the audio and ventilation systems without taking their hands from the wheel or diverting eyes from the road.

Places the differential and axles in a solid case that connects the left and right drive wheels. Often called a solid axle, this design is part of a nonindependent suspension usually found in pickup trucks and truck-based SUVs.

On vehicles with a MacPherson strut suspension, cornering loads are transmitted from the springs and shocks into the fenders. By connecting the two inner fenders, a strut tower brace effectively stiffens the body structure, eliciting sharper response from the suspension.

Steel or alloy structures that bolt to the bottom of a unibody vehicle and serve as the foundation for the engine, suspension and steering system on some models.

100,000 mile coolant? Yes indeedy. Mixed in a 50/50 ratio with deionized water, this special coolant does not cause corrosion in an aluminum-alloy engine block and cylinder head(s), so it can last up to 100,000 miles in a new engine. This helps limit maintenance costs by reducing the need for periodic coolant system flushes. In addition, super long-life engine coolant has environmental benefits, because performing fewer engine flushes produces less waste.

Because “low” isn’t good enough. A Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) has the lowest tailpipe emission of any gasoline-powered vehicle in the California Air Resources Board (CARB) rating system, and may be up to 70 percent cleaner than a Low Emission Vehicle II (LEV-II).

Also known as synchromesh or just “synchros,” these are cone-shaped copper clutches inside a manual transmission that allow each gear to be engaged smoothly, quickly and quietly, regardless of the driver’s skill with a stick shift.