hey phil!

glad to hear you and your dad are both doing better. it is simply amazing that a person was removed from the remains of that truck! i can speak firsthand as to the work the emergency and icu people do for those seriously injured, they work miracles. my g/f and i wish your dad a speedy recovery and you take care of yourself in the process. im not sure how the food is at the hospital your dad is in, take it from me, bring him as much home cooking as you can! its a damn site better than what they serve there! all the best, lee & donna.

 

man... sorry to hear about that... but glad your dad is ok!!

 

I was saddened to hear of the accident,but glad to hear he's ok!!

 

Im happy he made it out alive !

 

4RUNR, sorry if I took your comment wrong. It just sounded like it was in bad taste. I mean, a large chunk of the members here are driving "old" trucks. That's what owning a Toy is all about.

 

I understood what 4RUNR was saying but you guys are being harsh. There's still people driving older cars with just lap belts and with just those you probably will get hurt seriously or die;if I owned an oldie but a goodie I would update the belts at the very least since older cars in general obviously have their down sides and in 30 years people will be saying how unsafe cars of today are.

 

sure, but then again, some cars today are not as well built as 20 year old trucks.

im just glad his father's OK.. too bad he got so hurt. good luck.

 

I have probably been on that road at least once but I can't recall it. Thoes truck drivers drive like maniacs in this state. They drive faster than any other car on the road over Mt. Hood. I got passed by two in December last yea in the snow/gravle. Yea, passed! By two. A friend of mine was in a wreck on santiam and he is collecting around 1 millon dollars from the company for neglagent driving on snow and injuries and yata yata.

Anyway, best wishes on his recovery. Hope he ends up good as new a year or two down the road.

 

Alot also depends on what you hit as in a '04 Camry hitting a '67 Dodge would be just a matter of physics and with all these behemoth SUVs all over our 4Runners might be like the Camry.
With large vehicles hitting smaller vehicles build quality or safety features might just go out the window. (hehe,I'm punny)

 

If he'd been in a NA built POS he'd never have made it, Here's hoping he makes a good recovery it will take a while but he' will get back. keep his spirits up as best you can (and yours too) and it will make all the difference. Ditto the thoughts about home cookin'. I'd stick to light soups for the first while his system won';t be able to take anything heavy. Check with the doc's first. Cheers Aviator

 

Looks almost identical to this:
http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle.../96004_2_4.jpg


http://www.highwaysafety.org/vehicle...tml/96004.htm#

 

You know that when those old steel 80's trucks cave in in the front end that it was a serious collision. Usually in minor collisions they barely have any damage!

Glad to hear your dad's still alive. I hope he makes a speedy recovery!

 

The pic is somewhat misleading too. It was a very straight on hit. Notice the Toyota emblem. There was a vertical steel piece on the container he hit, and it hit dead center on the truck (the emblem and the hood show this) but the driver side folded inward much more than the pass side.

I took a bunch of pics, and there are some things that really amazed me. The airbox is nearly touching the cruise servo (should be like 18" away) The hump under the console and the console itself are broken-backed (down in the middle and up and the front and rear ends,) the floor of the truck bend downward, the dash and steering column folded up into the windshield, the cab buckled across the floor and across the roof. (The sunroof didn't break!) The frame bent like a Z (and broke partially) in two places, on either side of the engine and on either side right where the bed and cab come together. The front axle is even bent...

All in all, looks like the designed-in crush zones absorbed and dissapated a ton of energy. Astounding. Thanks Toyota!

 

and this one shows how the driver side front folded inward.

Anyway, my father is stable and will recover. They did a lot of work and will be taking him off the respirator soon. They took him off it once but it was too hard for him.

Thanks for all the kind words. It was a rough week and it really helped.

Phil

 

i know it's been said a lot, but glad to hear he made it out ok.

-Russell

 

I hope you feel like a jack ass. Whoever said its not smart to drive a 20year old truck... hmmm mines only 19 years old..

I would be willing to bet that a newer car would not have faired any better than that old truck. Only thing not smart in this post is someone who thinks their new truck is rolled over semi proof.

 

I know I was the first one to comment on this, but I apologized, realizing that maybe I took it the wrong way, and also realized that this might not be the thread to post my feelings in.

Once again Flamedx4, glad to hear your dad's doing better!

 

Well I am not appologizing. It was a jack ass thing to say to someone whoes dad was seriously hurt. Furthmore it was moronic to think a newer car could make that much of a differenct hitting a freaking semi at highway speeds.
I dont care if his old man was driving a riding lawn mower down the middle of the highway when it happened - still not cool to comment on the mans intelligence after serious accident.

 

Here's what it looked like in its day:

 

Another Yota takes one for the team....I, for one, prefer the older toys, but thats another thread. Glad he is gonna be O.K. Flamed. Take care....