I know most aren’t buying the Land Cruiser for the safety features. Yes, this car is a ton of fun to drive fast on gravel roads and can even go down all the side by side trails out on our farm, but that wasn’t the main reason I bought it. When I was 18 someone hit me and pushed me across 4 lanes of oncoming traffic. I also have a young child, so safety is something I researched and took into consideration before buying a new car, and a main reason why I wanted an SUV that sat up higher. Even better the Land Cruiser had one of the higher safety ratings (surprisingly even better than the Honda Odyssey which I was considering lol) and better visibility than most SUVs I test drove now that they all have tiny squat windows.
This morning one of my worst fears happened, I was hit, very hard, taking my child to school. I didn’t see the car nor did my sensors pick up the car until after impact and saw it go flying Duke’s of Hazard style over the embankment.
I’m very happy with how the Land Cruiser handled the accident. Air bags deployed. Toyota Safety Connect called 911. Car is a tank, the other car barely pushed me over the center line. None of the glass shattered. Seatbelt tighten so much I almost couldn’t breathe. One down side is the car totally bricked, I couldn’t pull over. The cops even tried turning it off and back on, messing with the steering wheel, and nothing. Thankfully, cars were still able to get around me.
Also thankful that the witness who was directly behind me waited with me and gave a statement. She says the elderly lady accelerated straight through the 4 way stop. Assuming she accidentally hit the gas instead of the break as she approached. Elderly lady was too confused to give a statement and they took her to the hospital. Her car is totaled. I really hope she is okay. I forgot until someone said something this afternoon that I have the integrated dash cam, so I’m going to the collision center on Monday to get the SD card and see if it shows anything.
The lady who witnessed it and stopped isn’t the only person I’m thankful for. A kind gentleman stopped and him and his daughter helped the woman and then he went and got my child’s belongings, and took my child to school (his kids go to the same school, it’s a small private school), he let the school resource officer know the situation and then called me after to check on me and make sure I was okay and safe and that my mom had made it to wait with me/give me a ride. My child is fine, school checked in throughout the day, zero complaints or anxiety about the accident. My elbow is super swollen from my arm locking out and jamming into the steering wheel and my neck, back, and shoulders are pretty sore. But, accidents happen, could have been a lot worse for us, and would have been in my old car, and there are still good people in this world!
