Crashed my '05 tC, picking up Firestorm FR-S Friday!
 

Long time Scion owner, but first time joining here thanks to my new FR-S purchase. I've had my tC RS1 for nearly 8 years and had the misfortune of an accident about two weeks ago now. Going around a freeway transition ramp in the rain, I hit a pocket of water that kicked the back end loose. I tried to correct and steer into it, but the tires slid onto the grass. I don't know if anyone has driven on wet grass before, but as soon as you touch it, you're off. It's not the first time I slid on wet grass before, but this was a perfect storm for disaster. Rather than flat ground, the grass embankment was about angled down about 20-30º. When the car started to slow, the wheels dug into the mud and flipped it 180º onto the roof where it slid maybe another 10ft and stopped. The whole process was relatively slow and the speeds were around 40-45mph.

I was mostly calm through the whole endeavor. All I was thinking was I'd have to have a tow truck pull me out of the mud and I'd be late to work. On flat ground, the worst thing that could happen would be hitting a pole, curb, post, guard rail, or just getting stuck in mud. It wasn't until I was about 90º sideways that I realized it was rolling and braced myself. I've been weight lifting on a strict regiment for over two years and instinctively put my body in the most stiff and secure posture, tight core, neck, shoulders, etc. The EMT said that alone could have saved me from a lot of injury. I walked away from this without a scratch on me. I had a small bruise on my right leg and a small scrape on my left hand, but I think the bruise was from climbing out, and the scratch was from sifting through the wreck to get personal items out of the car.

Been driving for more than 12 years and I consider myself a fairly skilled driver, but accidents can happen to anyone. I am really sad that I lost my RS1 though; like I said, I've had that car 8 years and had no intention of giving it up any time soon. I am truly thankful to have come out of that unharmed though, and seeing the condition of the car really solidified my view on Scion and the safety standards of their cars (at least the tC).

I've been a big fan of the FR-S since I first heard about it nearly two years ago. Was on the waiting list to get one since March of 2012, but bought a condo in the middle of last year and a new car wasn't in my finances. I've been in contact with my particular salesman at the local dealer ever since though, and we both knew it was just a matter of time for getting one.

Well this event had made the choice for me! Lucky enough, I got a good claim check from insurance, and combined with my tax return put nearly half the value down for a new FR-S. It's being processed at the docks in Long Beach today, and should be down in San Diego for pickup by tomorrow or Friday. I can't wait!

http://imageshack.us/a/img7/6924/20130127070001781.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img703/6792/2...7065902566.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img837/4066/2...7070025945.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img69/17/20130127072950498.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img692/6448/2013012708085610.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img17/9233/2013012714565488.jpg

Damn that sucks , sorry for you loss.
But on the bright side your ok, and have an frs now

glad to hear you're safe. i had an 05 tc as well and i always wanted the RS1 bits, esp the grill and the red paint. i hated how toyota had to charge up the ass for those parts separately.

also that pic of the tow truck hauling the car upside down. thats a hilarious pic.

I loved it. I'd still be driving it if it wasn't upside down! Had the TRD exhasut, intake, short shifter, and lowering springs. 12" JLW3 with Alpine amp. Was a really great little car. Took me traveling to 5 different dealers to find an RS1 (got it in early June). The specialness wasn't that big of a deal, I just love red and have to have red cars. :P

Ironically enough, I probably got more from insurance than I could have selling it private party! Granted, I've never made a claim in my driving career and had a spotless record. REALLY looking forward to the FR-S! Hopefully that TSC and VSC will help me a little more in the wetter conditions.

I LOL'd!

Glad you're okay fusion--enjoy the new ride & welcome.

Why the hell didn't the tow truck drive flip the car back over before putting it on the flat bed?!?! Looks SO DANGEROUS!

Glad you're ok and congrats on the FR-S!

Wow awesome you got out unharmed!

Good to hear your okay.

But the real question is, is the FRS really safer then the tC?

That's a ridiculous crash, glad you're okay. And glad you're getting an FR-S! =)

If you have issues with the back end coming out on you with FWD...the FRS might only exacerbate the issue :(

how many times have you driven off the road as a fairly skilled driver? on a more serious note, bracing yourself is bad for accidents. that emt was either lying to you or he is an idiot. the additional strain of your body against the forces (that are beyond combatable from the strongest of human beings) would only cause additional damage. its they reason why its always the drunk driver who survives and the innocent party who is injured.

either way, errr, congrats? sorry? i hope your new frs treats you right.

Guy said it was just easier, faster, and safer to do it at the tow yard. We were on the edge of a freeway (that road 3 feet from my back end is the San Diego 53 East). Seeing the flip process afterwards (blocks on wheels, wench from around the side) I could see how it might not have been a good idea there! Plus, figuring it was already totaled anyway, he thought it was simpler to just drag it up as is. Luckily they made me wait in the car and I chose not to turn and look.... :brokenheart:

Was a combination of sweeping turn, wet roads, and tires on the end of their life cycle. I'm usually careful and drive that route every day to work. I don't accelerate or brake through the corner, just coast through after lifting gas maybe 3-400 yds before the curve. I guess I had too much momentum for the conditions that day. Can safely take it twice as fast when it's dry.

yeah and the frs is about 100x more tail happy in the wet especially on stock tires than a Tc


http://memecrunch.com/meme/FWYY/no-f...iven/image.png lol

This is true. Watch racecar drivers right before they hit a concrete wall at 180 MPH. They usually close their eyes, exhale, and relax. Tightening your body will only make a FAR worse.

Gokarts racing since I was 7 and spirited drives through local mountain roads over the past decade. Very little experience in rain. Here in San Diego, we see maybe 10" of rain sporadically in a year. Because of that, whenever it does rain, it's just enough to slicken up all the oils and other fluids on the road, but not enough to wash them away. As far as bracing, the speeds were slow and the impact was relatively gentle. The local paramedic said most injuries like whiplash come from flailing rather than direct contact. A good friend of mine who drives a box as an EMT said that sounded about right, but who knows. In the proper stance, I can rest 400 lbs on my back without flinching, squat 295, and dead lift 355, so it was more of an instinct reaction over anything else. The lack of injury is most likely do to the small severity of the crash. It just LOOKS like it was a lot worse than it was.

Bummer man, Glad your okay. And welcome to the frs family

Good to know for the future. Though I hope to not be in that situation to begin with!

Being stronger just means you can hurt yourself even MORE if you tense up in a crash. It just wasn't a hard crash at all.

I'll back up the OP on rain not being the same out here. I used to live in Michigan and I've driven on slipperier wet roads out here than snowy roads back in Michigan. When it doesn't rain for 10 months a ton of oil and other shit accumulates, then it rains and all the oil sits on the surface of the water and the roads are like ice.

Rears were practically bald. Had been meaning to replace them but was putting it off. They still had life in them.... as long as it was dry out! I've never been good on wet ground in the first place. All the stereotypes about California drivers and rain are absolutely true. That day, there were about 330 other accidents around the county.

It's actually better to flip your car then say coming to an abrupt stop by hitting a wall or something. The instant stops are what kills people. Think Dale Earnhardt in the Daytona 500 when he hit the wall. The flip(s) allow the energy to bleed off and come to a slower stop.

Your physics theory is correct but your reference isn't relevant. Dale died due to a harness failure that caused his neck to snap. The impact in that crash was relatively low compared to most stock car crashes.

Regardless, glad you're okay! :thumbup:

yeah im from orange county so im plenty aware of our "seasons." i was just messing with you because i am a little bit of a **** on the internet.

as far as the medical stuff, ive been a medical professional for quite a while and can assure you that relaxing is a better bet than stressing. there is also actual data to imply that im correct. my favorite is that from drops under 30 ft, cats will injure themselves due to the tension in their extremities. after the first few seconds they relax and basically can fall forever (since the terminal velocity of a cat is relatively low). more professionally, i think there was a test where they put professional rugby player in a crash and even at 20-25mph, he was not able to hold on to a rugby ball. if a professional athlete is unable to hold on to a ball weighing in at .5 lbs, i dont think you can keep your body stabilized at 200 lbs or whatever it may be at double the speed since the forces would be roughly quadrupled. either way, glad youre fine

Yeah that's true. They did come out with the HANS device after that I believe which helps protect the neck/head. But essentially that's how people die from accidents by hitting something and decelerating at a rapid rate.

Allan McNish's crash from the 2012 Le Mans is probably a great example of energy distribution/rolling reducing a crash's intensity on driver:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW3NDGk6YQE"]AUSmotive: Allan McNish crash Le Mans 2011 (HD) - YouTube[/ame]

Glad your ok bro!

Same here. My '05 tC was crashed, and then I got the Firestorm FR-S.

The insurance paid me very good. With all the compensation, my FR-S was almost free.

That's why I don't mess around with tires. I don't even like summer tires because of their lack of tread/grooving/sipes for hydroplaning resistance. If you slip on something, you can still control it but if you hydroplane in a turn, you're pretty much screwed. Also, it's always better to put the tires with less tread up front for that reason.

I know the feeling of bad tires on a FWD. I was driving through a rain storm last winter in my Jetta with bad rear tires. I hit some train tracks at too much of an angle and ended up fish tailing. Luckily the road was flat so I was able to recover/. Glad you're okay given how bad the accident looks and congrats on the FR-S!

Another good example of energy distribution.. They both lived as everyone knows, but neither walked away unhurt.. Considering the accident great safety equipment works wonders too

[ame]http://youtu.be/zEUrEPPABbY[/ame]


Also my ex flipped this car 3 times and walked away with just a small cut on her toe

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...8_12_28_10.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...8_12_28_34.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...8_13_12_10.jpg


Glad your ok.. And welcome to FRS ownership

Side note: why do the lights on the car in the GT video flicker like that?

If they are LED its because the cycle rate of the led is off to the FPS of the video camera.. At least something along the lines of that.. I had to google it because everytime I seen a video with led lights, it would always flicker or blink and stuff


Edit.. One of the answers when googling

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...9003338AAsamhs

I can't find the site that went into huge detail about it

Drives to fast for conditions, single-car wrecks tc, considers self "skilled driver". Goes from understeery tc to oversteery fr-s. Hmmm...

Get thee to some driver training, pronto! HPDE with known good instruction (on track and in classroom). Responsive rwd cars are very unforgiving of even minor errors in driving, and you must have committed major errors to get the back end of a tc out.
These kinds of accidents do not happen to "anyone". Judgement matters (avoiding trouble in first place), skill matters (getting out of it when/if limits are exceeded). Get some each!

Edit: some karting? Ok skills may exist. Judgement and equipment possibly need attention though!

Have fun w/ frs. Keep good tires under her! Drive carefully...

A beautiful car with all kinds of expensive mods and you wreck it because of bald tires? :iono:

I could be driving the biggest piece of crap beater on the road, but I guarantee it would have good tires on it!

Lift throttle oversteer? Sounds like it. That's a huge mistake for a FWD owner who considers themselves "skilled".

Also, paramedic was dead wrong or you misinterpreted what he stated. Going limp is how you survive - tensing up is what causes massive injuries regardless of how much you lift, bro! When you take driving courses they teach you what to do in the case of an accident and never once have I heard you should tense up.

Last but certainly not least - you knew you had bald tires and drove around in bad conditions and paid the price. You could have seriously injured some one else on the roads - not good.

IMHO you got what you deserved. Lucky it was only a single car accident and you didn't hurt anyone else. You are not as skilled as you think and you paid for it. Call me a hater or an infamous FT86 "troll" but if you were my friend I would tell you all the same shit in person. I value life.

I don't think you should get an FRS - enough idiots have written them off with only FWD experience and you already wrote off a FWD in a rear breaking loose incident. Doesn't look good for your future.

Its how I've taken that same turn for nearly 10 years. Combination of bald tires and oily-slick rain caused it to slip. Yes, I could have slowed down more, but I had already slowed below 45mph and I usually take that turn at 70.

http://goo.gl/maps/jN5uM

than*

you're*

The fuck pissed in your coffee this morning?

I remember reading that summer tires are actually better in the wet(unless its a poorly designed summer tire) than an all season tire...unless of course you are using summer tires in the winter when its cold