00FourBanger

On Sunday my best friend's Mom was driving from Oklahoma to California to visit family with her parents and sister when their 2000 Limited rolled on the freeway near the OK/TX border. Apparently my friend's Grandma was driving and his Mom had taken her seat belt off and leaned over to help her adjust the seat and by the time she had sat back down, a trailer had swerved into their lane and his Grandma made a sudden swerve and they rolled three times. My friend's Mom wasn't able to get her seat belt on before it happened so she was pinned inside the car and had to be cut out. I guess her spine broke in two spots and severed her spinal cord so she is paralized from the waist down. Please everybody, wear your seat belt.

mkgarrison5

man thats rough.. sorry to hear that! yeah deff wear a seatbelt bc our beloved tacomas and 4-runner are top heavy and can roll easily in certain situations! hope she will be ok

keithguts

I'm so sorry to here of this, and do hope all turns out well. I'm not one for seat belts, but I will tell you that I will be using them from this point on.

Again sorry to here this, and please keep us posted on updates.

X-AWDriver

How awful;my prayers go out to her.

I'm definetly a seatbelt wearer.

RunnerUp

ive been in 2 4runners that have rolled, both times i was wearing my seatbelt. roll overs are really rough, made me always click it. hope your best friends mom comes through this alright

breknraj

In addition to wearing your seat belts, you should also do all of your seat, mirror and steering wheel adjustments while you are stitting still, like right after changing drivers. This is also a prime time to check the positions of the major controls (if you are unfamiliar with the vehicle).

Trying to adjust especially the seat is really asking for trouble, when the vehicle is moving.

00FourBanger

Thanks for your comments. I think it is advisable to also tell people driving your truck who are unfimiliar with driving vechicles with a hightened center of gravity, that it does not handle like a car and that they should take that into account when making evasive manuvers. They are big Toyota supporters too, with an '85 Truck and '86 4Runner. He might get pics of the wreck, if so, I'll update the thread.

drguitarum2005

thats terrible news to hear, my prayers go out to them. i agree, everyone should ALWAYS wear their seatbelts even i f its just around the block.

habanero

I'm telling the kids this story....they get so mad that I won't let them unbuckle even for 'a second' while we are moving.

Best wishes to your best friend's mom and family.

Rivalred

I am so sorry and they are in my prayers

rocktown

i too hope she will be ok. I myself was in a rollover in a mini van. The seat belt prevented me from breaking through the side window and getting crushed by the van. I was on the passenger side, the van ended up on its driver side, when i unclipped myself, i stepped down and went right through the window. Definately scared me into wearing my belt religiously.

techno

Very sad to hear of this incident, those circumstances are freaky.
I rolled once after a tire blew out and shredded itself at about 40 mph. I was on gravel and couldnt control the yaw enough to prevent going over. I have always worn my seat belt and always will, i cant think of any reason not to. My only injuries were cuts from broken glass.
I had a 'heated discussion' with my father-in-law once because he didnt think he needed to wear his seat belt when he was in the back seats of my truck. I refused to even move until he put it on. It staggers me to hear people think they are safer in the back. As a voluteer firefighter I am tired of seeing mangled dead bodies in car wrecks that would have easily survived had they been buckled up.

seanz0rz

sorry to hear.

i refuse to let my vehicle roll until everyone has their seat belts on. once a friend took his off while we were on the freeway, i took the next exit and parked. didnt say anything till he put it back on.

ive seen way too many people be saved by seatbelts, including my father in a 100mph closing speed head on collision.

aviator

Sorry to hear about your friends mother, I hope things will work out for them all.
Something else you ned to check that the seatbelt is actually "locked" I was driving an ford escort once and was in an accident I thought the seatbelt was connected but the crack in the windshield from my head proves otherwise... good thing it was a relatively low speed impact and I have a hard head all I got was a headache.
Check you seatbelts before you move!

YotaFun

Sorry to hear about your friends mother, I hope all turn out well...

Please wear your seatbelt everyone, they do save lives.

I know I never move Tess until everyone is clicked in.

Once my friend too off his seat belt while we were on the road, I taught him a lesson, I slammed on my break and he hit the back of my seat hard, every time he get in my car, seat belt goes on.

They save lives.

And like aviator said, check you seat belts, I was driving down the road and then all of a sudden my seat belt retracks on me. now i triple check mine...

holmtech

I hope your friend's mom can come back from this. What a terrible accident.

I was sideswiped on the freeway in my current '93 Runner. It was stock with 31' BFG T/A tires at the time. I was hit in the right rear tire which put me sliding sideways at 55 on the freeway. My some miracle it didn't roll. Looking at the two left tires afterward, they had skid marks up the sidewalls over half way to the rim, telling me that in the slide they had to be leaning nearly flat against the road, but didn't come off the bead. If they had I'm sure it would have been a bad roll over. I was a BFG fan then and now I will be hard pressed to ever try another tire.

So check your tires too, and use a tire with a strong sidewall! In the right situation it might help keep the tire on the rim.

One_96TR4

My prayers go out to your friends mom and her family. Hope they can pull through this. And people wonder why police are cracking down on seatbelts. They truly do save lives.

4Runner4Christ

Prayers sent up my friend. Lots of great seatbelt advice here in this thread.

CLEANSR5

That's awful, it's just that one split second that can make all the difference in the world. She's in my prayers.

crackerjack

Sorry to hear this...Prayer sent !!