“A”Pillars TOO BIG?

I've had a few close-calls, too, so you're not alone.

 

Damn. I guess I'd rather be alive and driving a VW that breaks down every 10-20k than dead!

 

A quick sideway head bob before pulling out will ensure that the coast is clear. Watch out for motorcycles!

 

APC (A-Pillar Chop) mod. Tell your dealer you want to lemon law your truck. Lol

 

That’s funny! Really hilarious. (No sarcasm) I laughed hard. . .

I just want you all to know I actually am a safe licensed driver. So you don’t have to worry when you see some random 2016 SSM TRD Sport pulling into traffic. Although, it is difficult for me to reach the pedals while sitting on 3 telephone books.

 

I have encountered this in my 2nd gen, on occasion. Along with other vehicles don't remember which ones. Pretty sure they was some GM vehicles. Like two weeks ago almost got a pedestrian pulling out of a drive way apron while looking for cross traffic.

The law might not be on my side, but I leave it up to the pedestrians to look out for vehicles in this very situation. Their vision isn't blocked by anything.

 

They can stop moving a lot quicker too...

 

Spend half your life driving a Hummer in the Army with those big ass mirrors, you will never complain about "A" pillars on your Tacoma again.

 

Could be worse. Formula 1 now use "Halos"

 

Since you haven’t learned by the 3rd time, I believe the above is accurate. You should have learned after the 1st time to do something differently, like shift your position / seat / look twice etc. there is no way the vehicle was moving and you missed it due to the blind spot if you had been looking long enough. Feel sorry for any motorcycle you *may* pull out in front of.

 

I think anyone riding a motorcycle nowadays is taking a giant risk. I used to ride road bicycles. Once it became the norm to refresh Facebook pages in the driver's seat to see if you got the ever important thumbs up, I switched to mountain bikes. Not worth it.

 

Jokes on you, the kia won't even make it long enough to get into an accident

 

I retired as a HS teacher and coach. As part of my coaching I often had to drive a bus, and was required to attend the yearly safety meeting. Part of the meeting is dedicated to reviewing school bus accidents over the country in an effort to prevent similar accidents from happening again. Several years back a bus was hit while making a left turn by an 18 wheeler exactly as you describe. It ended up being a rather slow speed collision and fortunately no one was seriously injured.

When the bus driver claimed he looked, and didn't see a tractor and 53' trailer investigators were skeptical. Until they recreated the accident and took photos from the drivers seat showing the entire big rig blocked from view behind the same A pillar. The school bus driver was still at fault, but proving that it was possible went a long way defending him from a negligence lawsuit. The answer is that you have to lean forward, and backward in the seat to get a better view.

 

This was enough of a concern that I did NOT get the darker tinted vent shades.

 

A pillars are aweful in our Chevy Volt. There is a lot of front to back and side to side movement of the head required for low speed turning. I find myself looking out the driver's side window for low speed left turns. The taco is great compared to the car. Our Volvo XC90 is also great compared to the volt.

 

On my 08 yes. On my 18 not so much. One thing though on my 18 is because of the drivers side configuration there is not a grab bar.

 

Another reason to double check or stop long enough to be aware of your surroundings

 

I notice it. The combination of the big a pillars and the decently big mirrors makes it harder to see some stuff. I’ve definitely had situations where cars or people were hiding and I didn’t see until I started turning.

 

First time a car “went” through a stop sign from my right I thought how rude. It happened again and I decided to check my dash cam video. Damn! The car was approaching the stop at the same time I was and it was the mirror blocking my view of them! I tried to figure out a way to raise the mirror with no success and was afraid to remount it, so I bend my neck to see under the mirror each time I come to a stop. Anyways, thanks @tonered, just ordered my BirdDawg tonight! I owe you one!

 

Awesome! I'm glad that I could help.

It is a tight squeeze to get the mirror slipped on. Just push the headliner up and back a bit.

It doesn't say on the website, but the paper instructions spell it out: you have to be careful when adjusting the mirror with the BirdDawg mount due to the increased lever arm. I used two hands when carefully adjusting joint near the window. The joint near the mirror can be done with one hand if you offset the twist so that you are not prying on the glass.

Here is some discussion about it:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-rear-view-mirror-relocation.459684/page-3#post-17484589

Pics of mine are in Post 62.