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Recently, automobile features designed to improve maneuverability and convenience are being improved. However, many drivers still have difficulty with parking maneuvers. Although parking is unavoidable for drivers, yet ranks third among the most difficult driving situations for Japanese drivers. Drivers in other countries also consider parking to be difficult and even skill drivers would appreciate some assistance. Therefore, a parking support system has been developed to reduce the workload for all drivers while also improving parking performance. The parking support system Human-Machine Interface (HMI) operation should be designed to easy to use for best performance. The back-in perpendicular parking performance of drivers with different skill levels was studied to see the effect of the parking support system. Back-in perpendicular parking is the major parking method in Japan.

The retractable hardtop system is an ultimate roof system that offers both convertible and coupe-style modes. Passengers can enjoy open-air driving with the convertible mode, and a comfortable and quiet cabin space with the coupe-style mode. Aisin Seiki developed the retractable hardtop system for the LEXUS SC430 in 2001. We developed the three-piece retractable hardtop system[1], which was further improved with the LEXUS IS250C for the global market. This paper introduces the structure of the roof system.