Friend passed away

This past Wednesday a friend of mine was rear ended on a highway and forced into the front of the vehicle ahead of him. After a couple days in the hospital, he passed on. I do not know what he was driving, or what kind of vehicle hit him. I don't know any other details yet either. Texting, alcohol, etc, of the driver that hit my friend.

It got me thinking about how safe my 2001 Tacoma is. I've done some research and it seems to be average or above average. I was seriously considering getting a new truck for the safety factor. But, my Taco has 116,5xx miles on it and drives perfectly. I could probably drive it for another ten+ years. I also JUST stopped tinkering on it (for fun) and I'm happy to leave it be, for now.

I don't know if I can justify selling it since it's paid off, and being in another loan situation. The newness would wear off but the payments wouldn't. Pluses would be 6 speed manual and no more boring automatic, 4 wheel drive, (I have a Prerunner) nicer feel, etc.

 

Sorry to hear about your friend.
Based on articles and posts on this site, the Tacomas are very safe vehicles. The newer ones probably more so, but even the 1st gens have proofed themselves numerous times to be very safe in both collisions and roll-over type accidents.

 

I think they have a 4 star rating which is good and better than a lot of the domestics from that era. Considering how small they are, it's pretty impressive. Small trucks are typically known to be death traps, but, Toyota make some of the safest cars on the road so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Remember crash test ratings are against cars that are similar in size. So that Honda Civic from 1996 with a 4 star rating is only rated 4 stars when crashing against another 1996 Civic, or similar vehicle.

Crash into a 2015 Subaru Outback and it's no longer 4 stars worth of safety.

 

My condolences. It is an unexpected jolt when a friend dies in an accident that we will never get used to.

My understanding is that the safest thing in any vehicle is the seatbelt. The vehicle is designed that if a person is where they are supposed to be in an accident, the vehicle will crumple to protect that area. A newer vehicle may likely handle an accident better than a 10 year old vehicle. At that point it is a personal decision.

 

Sorry about your friend, is sad but like Boerseun said our trucks had been proofed and are very safe.

Like our fellow TW with Optimus prime Avatar mentioned.... I wouldn't worry about it.... we're safe with Toyota and your truck can easily pass the 500,000 so don't even think on waste more money unnecessarily in other vehicles, we're set for life on these trucks .. at least I'm .... so tired of changing vehicles that " this is it " Tacoma and no more !!!

..... IMHO...." Live your life as today is your last day " so let's do the best of it without harm anybody. L

 

I'm sorry about your friend also.
As far as the truck goes I'll agree that the Tacoma is very safe, but as stated above, more mass usually wins in most accident situations. Situational awareness is still the greatest accident deterrent out there. Who's in front of you, who's behind you, who's beside you, and what are they all doing. Unfortunately it takes more effort that most drivers today can summon.

 

Thank you all for the condolences. He was a great man.

I agree, situational awareness is paramount. I try to be vigilant at all times. If nothing else, it may give you time to get out of the way of an impending accident. Seems the easiest thing to do is keep my current truck. I sure would enjoy driving a 6 speed again but the cost isn't worth it. My truck is just now broken in.

 

Sorry about your friend. That's always tough to deal with. My heart goes out to his friends and family.

 

From all crash tests I saw the test is against solid object (the wall or moving steel block). I checks how the structure of the car reacts to hit at different places with the worse case scenario is 50/50 frontal collision. There are two major elements deciding on the safety of the car:
1. Interior design which is in short getting injuries from objects inside the cabin and the way the driver (and passengers) are restrained and protected (airbags, seat belts etc). Obviously 1st gen Tacoma does not have many airbags but it does not have many things in the cabin that would injure occupants and seat belts are keeping occupants from moving to much. It can be different if the interior is altered like changing seats, adding stuff that can fly loose including stupid smart phone mounted on the dash (guilty of that).
2. The other thing is the "crimping zone". The whole idea is for the car to be demolished in every way but not letting anything happen to the cabin "cage". Most old trucks usually let stuf getting inside like a wheel, suspension parts etc. or deform the cabin by bending it in different places. When the cabin is bent the space inside is deformed and occupants can be placed in bad position. 1st gen Tacoma is actually quite good in it. It does not bend or deform. That is good design of the cabin "cage".

Here is a test of our Tacoma (this is for single cab). They said that the front tire goes a bit into the cabin but besides that I would say it is a darn good result for 98 truck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y2vdruJ5WU

Now compare it to the same test 2005 Ford Ranger (similar truck similar age). This dummy is not that lucky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvQGQa8VIEw

Want more? Check this 2002 Dodge Ram floor crimping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqVzEsQ63eM

or 2001 Dodge Ram turning the cabin into accordion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYN_0HxguyQ

And finally the newest models (2017). Now they test it a bit different with less than 50/50 which is even worse case scenario as the whole force is cumulated on 1/4 vehicle front.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGdLvMh5OPs

So the bottom line is, yes some modern trucks are better that 1st gen Tacoma, but not all of them. Still some models of the newest trucks give worse headache than our last century design.

 

They don't test crashes against walls. Walls aren't road hazards.

Barriers are used to act as cars of equal size and type to form ratings. Why crash 2 cars when you can use 1 car with less variables in test data, setup, and results?

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/frontal-crash-tests

Car ratings are based on accidents with cars of equal size.


Crumple zone technology is an ever adapting area, and advances there are certainly superior than in the early 2000s. Either way, safety lies with the driver making correct choices first, and when that fails vehicle safety is king. If you don't feel safe, certainly make a change of vehicle.

The SMART ForTwo was 4 star crash rated, btw. How's that going to look when you get plowed by a Suburban?

 

Stand corrected for the old tests but still from the images these barriers don't behave like a tested car (it would be nearly impossible to design such wall unless it is made of the other car). The new small overlap test is: "The test is designed to replicate what happens when the front corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or an object like a tree or utility pole." Yes they are real road hazards - they jump in front of the car waking up the driver in a nasty way.

Really what I wanted too point out is the 1st gen Tacoma was quite safe by last century standards and while it can't be compared to modern cars made out almost exclusively airbags, but for the cabin rigidity it is still quite solid even by modern standards. At least this is what I want to believe. And if I'm gonna die in my Tacoma crash I'd like it more than fighting loosing battle with a cancer for half year.

 

Nobody said they're unsafe. They certainly lack the technology of construction/crash suppression of a current model, however.

Can't argue with progress. Or cancer, I guess.

 

Most cars are designed to crumple more/better than cars of the past. Sure, if a dump truck hits you you're worse off in an older vehicle. However if a newer cars hits you, you will directly benefit from the other person's newer car with better crumpling. The lack of side curtain airbags are a major con for the first gens though. But again, situational awareness. Look both ways before going on green, you never know when some asshole is going to run the red light.

 

Sorry for your loss. I might be able to help with that. Without getting over philisophical I prefer to remember the dash(-) about people. My dad 1913-2003... the dash is what is between the born and died dates, in other words his life, his stories, the things we talked about... hope this helps.

 

Sorry to hear. You're certainly not the first to have feelings of your own mortality after a bud goes on.

I wouldn't blame a person for not wanting to put their beginning driver in one but the truck is safe enough.

 

Sorry for the loss.

As far as safety of these trucks it's always better to avoid a crash in the first place.

For safety, replace shocks/struts if they are old. These affect handling at speed. You can normally drive fine with old shocks, but when you have to swerve/brake at speed it could be the difference between crashing and avoiding a crash.

Make sure brakes are in good shape. Use the parking brake so the rear drums auto-adjust and/or check that the rears are adjusted correctly. You don't want to be braking with just the fronts.

Keep tires properly inflated. Replace old worn out tires rather than trying to squeeze a few more miles out of them. Having a blowout on the highway is no fun. New tires will handle better.

Replace brake lights with quality LEDs. They will illuminate a split second faster than incandescent bulbs which gives cars behind you a chance to slow down quicker. Also, they will draw less current, so will put a little less stress on the alternator.

Slow down. Going 75 vs. 65 only saves you 5 minutes over a half hour drive. Just relax and enjoy the thought of making it home safe to your loved ones.