New Toyota Patent Would Let Cars Spray Thieves With Tear Gas

Unauthorized User

In the future, Toyota vehicles may pack a nasty surprise to deter any would-be carjackers.

Over the summer, Toyota filed a patent for a personalized fragrance dispenser system. Published online last week, the patent is fairly straightforward: when the car recognizes someone as an authorized user, it can spray their favorite scent.

And if the car gets broken into, it can give the driver a spritz of tear gas.

A New Twist

Some cars already have fragrance dispensers, but Toyota's patent describes the first attempt to personalize — or weaponize — them, according to CNET.

Toyota's new patent describes a system that can detect when someone is walking up to them and spray their favorite scent in advance, deodorizing the car after they leave. While Apple recently patented facial recognition technology that would let cars recognize people and automatically unlock as they approach, Toyota's patent relies on signals sent from a paired smartphone.

Eye And Mouth-Watering

Should Toyota choose to implement this patent into any future vehicles, it's likely that we'll see the upgraded fragrance system without tear gas first.

Personalized aromas sound like a pleasant way to take the pain out of a rough commute. But loading a literal canister of tear gas into the ventilation system of the cars that we use to transport our friends, children, and ourselves is a real tough sell.

READ MORE: Your next Toyota might have a fragrance dispenser loaded with tear gas [CNET]

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