Is The tC A Safe Vehicle?

[navylife59]

You bet your sweet arse it is! This is one of the safest cars on the market. I dare go further to say in any price range at that. In doing my daily scan of all things Scion, I came across this little tidbit of crash safety rating info. Now, most people know that the tC is a fairly stable platform even with the slight amount of rear body roll. Some have witness (or been direct participants) in roll-over crashes. The vast majority of seatbelted passengers in these mishaps come thru without a scratch.

I bring this to Ya'lls (Yes, I am a Texan) attention, as I mentioned earlier, with regard to an AP (Associated Press) article titled 2-door small cars get good marks in crash tests by KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer dated Monday, July 20, 2009. In this article the tC was mentioned frequently. As many times links to news stories become dead, I will quote the highlights here.

The Scion tC, which is manufactured by Toyota Motor Corp., received the second-highest score of acceptable in both the front-end and side tests. It received the second-lowest rating of marginal in the rear crash test.

"Hold the horses here. Didn't you just that the tC was one of the safest cars on the market today? Then how come it got such mediocre marks?" Well, that's simple to answer. These are laboratory findings and not real world results. Laboratory results are fine for setting a standard but that data does not always correlate into actual 'in the field' results. Ever heard of that legality clause, "results may vary"? How many of the Scion legions out there are perpetually making clockwise turns from a right leg limp? Read on Friend.

The tC's structure held up well in the crash, but Zuby said the forces recorded on the dummy indicated that a driver could suffer an injury to the lower right leg. The tC is not equipped with electronic stability control, which helps a driver avoid a rollover crash.

Brian Lyons, a Toyota spokesman, said the tC was last redesigned for the 2005 model year and Toyota has been installing stability control and improved head rests in newly redesigned vehicles. Toyota has not announced when it plans to upgrade the tC, he said.

What was that? The car is built like a tank but the dummy ain't? The Scion tC was the first Toyota Brand (save Lexus) to offer a Driver's Side Knee airbag as standard. This one airbag goes a long way to protecting those two sticks that you call legs. No Siree Bob! No broken twigs here. OK. To be honest, I am not privy to all Scion tC crash data so there might be a small number of you out there that decided to buck the trend and break your legs anyway. That's my disclaimer but I believe it to be a safe bet that it is on a very rare occasion.

Oh, so a few of you decided to stick it out to the end of my bantering and noticed that last tidbit of information from Toyota Spokesman, Brian Lyons. No word yet on the second version of our beloved tC. If the information that I posted on another thread about a shortage of the EJ20 motor for a joint Toyota/Subaru venture is accurate, then the 2010 might just be an extended 2009 model.

Read more: 2-door small cars get good marks in crash tests

[shody]

i tell everyone about these reviews when i see them on yahoo news. and even tho my fender bender wasn't very harmful i still agree with the 5 star frontal crash rating. only my fenders and bumpers were damaged, not the support

[navylife59]

Well, it is good that you did not sustain damage to yourself.