NEWS: Morning Sentinel

Reader cites accident as testament to Scion xB's safety

"Early Monday morning, Pete and I had a serious auto accident. ... There weren't any other cars on the road -- a very quiet night. When all of a sudden, a car came speeding like mad up the same lane we were in (the middle). Pete saw it coming in the rear-view (he was driving), and I heard it. It sounded like a train. Pete said, 'Hold on, this guy is coming fast.' He couldn't really change lanes, just grip the wheel and hope the guy got around us fast. The driver of the other car did one of those video-game-like moves where he got right up behind us, jerked his steering wheel to the left to pass, and then jerked the wheel right again immediately after passing us to get back in our lane.

Unfortunately, he hit us on the way back into our lane. We were going 65, and we think he was going somewhere between 100 and 110 mph. We went flying into the median strip and started somersaulting. We rolled at least once on top of the guardrail. I think we're alive today because our car (Scion xB) has roll bars and state-of-the-art safety features. If it didn't, the car would have probably been sliced in two, and us with it. We were also both wearing our seat belts. The air bags deployed, and we couldn't see anything outside the car as we rolled across the median strip. ... As we crashed and rolled, we kept expecting to cross into the truck lanes beyond the median and get hit by one of the big rigs. As the car was spinning, we kept thinking, 'We're going to die now' ... just kept waiting for the lights to go out. When the car came to a stop, we smelled the smoke from the air bags and thought the car was on fire. My door wouldn't open, and I tried to kick it open but we got out Pete's door, and we found that we were still in the median. Our car had come to a rest upright. The other car was also in the median, still upside down, with at least two people trapped inside. The EMTs told us that there were no fatalities, but that the other carload were hurting -- serious back injuries. They had to be cut out of the vehicle. I don't have any idea why they were driving like they were. They had no reason to pass us in the manner that they did. ... Our insurance finds us 0 percent at fault. We're very happy to be alive, the two of us!
. . .

Source: http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.co.../1466021.shtml

 

wow...my boy here in jax just got hit by a dodge ram, he is in the trauma unit at a local hospital (hopes and prayers w him pls), yet another testament to the safety....the box DROVE AWAY FROM THE SCENE.....

 

Wow, awesome story!

 

scarry ...arghh...
hey raven since we have major holes in our roof.. were should worry now.

 

thats a good read....i might print that out for customers.

 

thank goodness noone was seriously injured... what could be so important to a driver to risk the lives of others by going so damn fast?

 

Wow, that's an amazing story. I hope the other driver/passengers aren't hurt too bad and can learn from this very serious error. They're forunate they didn't kill anyone.

 

Great story. Glad you all are alright, I would be beating some serious you know what..

 

I'd be seriously ____ed at the idiot(s) in the other car...

 

what? xb's don't have side impact airbags? xa's have them as an option, side curten airbags, is what i think they are listed as. Just wondering, since they guy didn't recommend the xb.

 

i think someone posted this a few days ago. anyways, i'm still glad the xB hold on and everyone is okay.
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...&highlight=tom

 

I agree with Tom and Ray 100%. These cars should have side airbags. It was an unfortunate omission.

For some reason Japanese and American manufacturers think it's acceptable to leave out safety features based on the price of the car, or make them optional and I think that is bullsh*t. Toyota should have worked out a way to fit SAB in all these cars, it saves lives.

European cars typically don't pull this trick. Even the base model Volkswagen Jetta I bought a few years ago for $16k has side airbags and it didn't even have power windows!

I'd give up power windows for SAB, honestly. Maybe most people wouldn't but I don't mind rolling up the window, it's just one less thing to worry about. Power windows break eventually.

 

I don't think your assessment is quite fair there. Actually, I'm pretty sure there must be a technical/practical/engineering reason they left out side air bags. After all scion included side air bags as an option for both the xA and the tC. Which leads me to believe there is some factor preventing SABs from being an option on the xB.

Furthermore I haven't seen any conclusive evidence that current SABs actually affect passenger safety in any meaningful statistical way. AFAIK currently my insurance company doesn't even differentiate between having side air bags or just front air bags (though that may have some thing to do with state laws and regs).
A few years back there was some discussion that air-bags (including and noting SABs) in vehicles were poorly designed and may in fact cause injuries rather than prevent them. Personally, I'd be rather worried about an explosive force sitting around my arm set to go off in the event of a collision force of just <12 mph.

If Scion didn't care about safety.. then why did they bother including VSC as standard equipment on all their vehicles? Only recently has VSC has made a lot of press as being THE safety feature to have (b/c it allows you to actually avoid the accident). in 2003/2004 when scion's were first released... most people never even heard of VSC.

 

Sorry for the repost guys.

A while ago I saw a post with a pic of an xB with an internal roll-cage.
Anyone know where we can buy something like that?

 

side airbags help a little..side curtains are soooooo much better

 

my insurance actually would have went up if i had side curtain airbags on my xA....wierd huh? i figure its because it costs a lot of money to replace side airbags.

 

Wow what a story. Now, how does the BOX hold up when it gets one of those huge sun roof deals in it???

 

VSC is cheap to implement, like the TRAC, it's part of the ABS system. Much more expensive to add SAB to a car that didn't already have them.

The reason they didn't is simple. Cost.

I appreciate them keeping an eye on the bottom line, and I accept not getting SAB on a car at this price. It's just a little disappointing, that's all.

As far as airbag injuries go, airbag injuries are typically a lot less severe than what would have occured without the airbag there.

What do you think is going to hurt you more? A side airbag? Or your head slamming into those nice big side windows totally unprotected?

Give it some thought.

VSC isn't going to protect you from a Tahoe running a red light and T-boning you, sorry.

I'm not slamming Toyota for not including them (again, $14,000 car) but lets not lie to ourselves and pretend the car is safer without them. There are tons of statistics demonstrating the safety of these devices, but you don't need to see studies to know that your skull does alot better hitting a gas-filled cushion than it does smashing into a freaking window. It's common sense.

I think the European car makers, VW in particular, deserve credit for not making safety features optional or class-exclusive. That's all I wanted to say. American and Japanese companies still make safety features optional. Side or side curtain air bags shouldn't be options. Either include them in all the trim levels, or be lame and don't offer them at all.

 

The bB was marketed in Japan in 1998. Meaning it was designed before 1998. As I recall, not a lot of cars, if any, even had SAB's as an option. Maybe Volvo but that's it. the bB was "redesigned" in the market in 2002. SAB's still not standard. The redesign was only cosmetic. The calls for SAB's started because of SUVs.

Basicly I'm trying to say is that our xB's are old. Don't blame Toyota. Blame the SUV loving consumers. The next model Scions will come with SABs as standard or a cheap option. If people feel unsafe about the xB or those SUVs, buy something else like a Volvo or an M1A2 tank. The Japan side impact test of the 2gen.bB/xB is testament that Toyota's engineers took into consideration side impact (4.5 out of 5 stars isnt bad).

http://www.nasva.go.jp/assess/html2002e/as115.html

 

Agreed. It is as safe as you could reasonably expect a small car designed 6+ years ago to be. Fair enough.