We love our cars. We talk to them. We dress them up with multi-colored bumper stickers. We even give them names on vanity plates. These are just a few symptoms of the American obsession with the automobile. It’s an attachment that can even send us into depression when our cars are damaged or broken.

But now the American obsession with cars can go one step further. Toyota’s latest model, a “mood car,” can tell you if it’s angry or even lonely. It’s called Pod, and it’s a car with attitude.

Pod, which stands for personalization on demand, made headlines at the Chicago Auto Show for its ability to detect and respond to the emotions of the driver. The horseshoe-shaped lights in front of the car, which resemble a human face, glow orange when the car is happy – for example, when the driver’s key is approaching. If the driver swerves on the road, the interior lights glow red, as if the car were angry. When the car is in a really good mood, it’ll even wag its antenna.

It’s basically Toyota’s complement to Sony’s AIBO, a robotic dog. (In fact, Toyota worked with Sony to develop the technology.)

In addition to sharing its emotions, Pod “learns” drivers’ tastes and preferences and tries to accomodate them. The onboard computer uses voice-recognition software to automatically search for music when you mention a particular artist to fellow passengers. The car will even take pictures when the conversation becomes energetic.

But some people find the concept of a “mood car,” well, idiotic.

“People are what make emotions, not objects,” Weinberg junior Joanne Gialelis said. “You really can’t get emotions out of a car, no matter how much technology evolves. I think people, at first, would think it was really cute. But then they’d get tired of it.”

Even though the car may seem like a good idea – much cuter than the new Volkswagen Beetle – I wonder if we really need a human-like car. Do all the aggressive drivers of the world, careening down highways and running over animals on their way to work, really need a car telling them that they’re stressed?

And what if your car is sad? Will distraught drivers brood in the parking lot, caressing their Pods’ hoods and whispering, “I’m sorry, Pod. I’ll never make a sharp turn like that again”?

So far car enthusiasts have had mixed reactions to the introduction of the Pod.

“Not that the idea seems completely terrible, but my initial reaction to the look is ‘ugh,'” said David Huxtable, president and founder of the Boston Students Car Club. “If the emotion lights actually convey useful information, such as low gas and abusive driving, I think it could be a useful feature. But if the lights are there to tell me whether I feel happy, sad, horny, thirsty or content, I can see myself being pretty annoyed.”

For better or worse, we will all have to wait awhile before the Pod is mass-marketed; it’s only a concept car for now. But maybe we’ll soon be trying to fill the emotional void in our lives with a smart car that’s wittier than most of my dates. Maybe once we get used to the Pod, it will become integral to our lives, like a family member.

“It’ll probably go the way of ‘Clear Pepsi,'” Huxtable said. “Or maybe a bunch of car fanatics will install complicated emotions such as ‘abandon’ or ‘apathy.’ Wouldn’t that be nice – a Toyota with a colorful case of romanticism?”