The 2006 Toyota Crown and Lexus GS- 300 boast a fuel-savings component that last night earned the Most Innovative Use of Plastics award in the Powertrain Category from the Society of Plastics Engineers for Toyota and partners Aisan and DuPont Automotive.

The component -- a water jacket spacer made of DuPont(TM) Zytel® HTN PPA -- is assembled into the engine cylinder block and directs long-life coolant flow to transfer heat and equalize cylinder wall temperatures. The net result, according to Toyota, is a 1-percent fuel savings -- 6 gallons of gasoline per vehicle per year -- which means the component will pay for itself through fuel savings within the first six months of vehicle ownership.

Similar savings through traditional weight-reduction-to-achieve-fuel- economy models would require the vehicle to weigh nearly 55 pounds (25kg) less.