The older one was a 2007 Honda van -- the newer one is from 2012. I think that system was introduced in MY 2005.
Either way, it's almost certainly old enough that the patents are expired.
And I was surprised by it myself. It would have seemed like absolute wizardry to me if I knew of it back in '05.
You raise an interesting point about more-recent rentals: People don't talk much about how stuff like this works, because if it is working well then they don't need to think about it at all. They don't even need to notice it.
And it's not perfect, but it's still Really, Really Good at accomplishing that task of being out of mind.
