New 2010 4Runner Trail Edition...

oops..

 

it'll buff out..

 

It was definitely the crawl control.

 

Apparently the driver was completely new to anything off road and that happened during a training class. It sounds like there were spotters and trainers available, but they were off looking at trucks or something instead of watching their student.

When it rolled, it hit 3 sides, so it sounds like he was trying to go around the ditch by going up the edge of the hill and then hit the edge of the ditch at a wide spot, causing him to topple over. Guess he got stuck a little or something and tried to power through it as well. Not sure the "official" method of dealing with ditches like that, but for something that small, I'm a fan of straddling it instead of going around.

Poor kid and poor Toyota... Those instructors should be shot.


In the second pic, you can actually see where his tire tracks (assuming rear) were on flat ground, then hit the ditch. Front end looks like it was probably in a low spot as well.

 

Does Toyota really mount the tire underneath the trail edition? Seems flawed to do this on a vehicle that was marketed for trails.

 

Most buyers of the Trail Edition probably never take it off-road. It's easy enough to take the spare off yourself and put it in a tire tote in the cargo area if necessary.

The swaybar looks massive. Must be the KDSS option.