Big wreak here in Utah, 3rd Gen 4runner hit a Chevy extended cab pick-up head on. 3rd Gen caught fire and everyone in it died. The 3 people in the Chevy were taken to the hospital one with some broken bones the other 2 with cuts and bruises. I hope they made the 4th Gen 4runners safer and the 3rd Gen catching fire concerns me. I don't know what a 3rd Gen 4runner weighs but I know the 4th Gen weighs around 4500 lbs which should be about the same as the Chevy extended cab truck.
Hope 4th Gen's are safer then 3rd Gen's
- Thread starter SWUtah
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RonMAIDEN
Super Moderator
The 4ths gens weigh maybe 400lbs more but that doesn't mean they are any safer but I'd assume 4th gens are a tad safer but in a head on collision between two heavy vehicles you also might need a little luck on your side. The fire issue must have been a freak thing since there are no reported problems with that on any 4Runners.
bulldog-yota
New member
As a general rule the new model replacing the old model is safer. The designers tend to take safety lessons learned from the previous model and improve on them. They also tend to add more features to the newer model. Side airbags, dual stage airbags, VSC, EBD, yada yada are added and/or improved. Also structural changes are made to improve collision impact. This is one of the reasons why vehicles have bulked up in weight in the last 20 or so years.
Most modern cars have fuel cutoffs and spark surpression to limit the likelyhood of fire. The fuel tank is also a plastic cell which limits the odds of it rapturing on impact. I also believe the insulation on the 4th Gen is fire resistant and actually surpresses fire. I don't know which of these have been added to the 3rd Gen.
Most modern cars have fuel cutoffs and spark surpression to limit the likelyhood of fire. The fuel tank is also a plastic cell which limits the odds of it rapturing on impact. I also believe the insulation on the 4th Gen is fire resistant and actually surpresses fire. I don't know which of these have been added to the 3rd Gen.
There are a lot of different factors that go into how "safe" a vehicle is. A Toyota 4Runner of any generation is inherently a safe vehicle given its size. However, this is safe relative to other cars, not vehicles larger than it. Part of the reason you can't take crash test results seriously is because they have a vehicle hitting a solid object. A decently built light weight little car will often score better than a big heavy truck because of the physics of it. So, in the realworld, when two vehicles are in a head on collision the vehicle which weighs less is generally going take more of the force if both vehicles are traveling the same speed. In the case described above the 4Runner may have had an underhand based solely on weight. A true test of the 4Runners safety would be to have it crash into another SUV weighing the same exact amount.
Cleric
New member
3rd Gens are actually considered very safe vehicles. Their crash test ratings support this. Just because you saw one catch fire does not mean they are any more dangerous than any other vehicle on the road. If it were commonplace (read: pinto) then there would be reason for concern. Car fires happen every day with all makes and models. You have to remember that we fill our vehicles with 20 gallons of a highly volatile, flammable liquid and more and more components are being made with plastics. Although these materials have a high flashpoint, there will always be an inherent risk of fire in any motor vehicle.
