Texas residents who are riding in a pickup truck as a passenger may not be adequately protected in the event of an accident. This is according to a crash test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The Toyota Tundra was singled out specifically for its poor performance in the test. Other vehicles such as the Nissan Titan and the Ford F-150 were noted for their good scores.
While passengers may be vulnerable to injury or death in an accident, pickup truck drivers are more likely to survive a crash. The same IIHS data found that all but two of the trucks that were scrutinized received good scores on the driver’s side. According to the test, the Tundra received a marginal score on the driver’s side. It is believed that the Tundra did poorly because it has not been redesigned in several years.
Its last major overhaul occurred in 2014, and other trucks have been updated in that time period. While driver side testing has been conducted by the IIHS since 2012, it only started passenger side testing in 2017. Passenger side testing began as a way to show that both passengers and drivers deserve equal amounts of protection while a vehicle is in motion.
Regardless of how severe motor vehicle accidents may be, it is possible for one or more individuals to receive significant injuries. If a vehicle was not properly designed or built, the manufacturer may be liable for damages a victim incurs. The same may be true of companies that made defective parts that went on a vehicle that was involved in an accident.
