Skip to main content

Impact resistance

A British woman discovered that her sturdy little Toyota Yaris was not quite sturdy enough to cope with an impact from a large boulder. The woman had parked her car by the roadside and returned to find it squashed flat under the weight of the 5tonne lump of rock, which had fallen from a quarry industry vehicle as it drove past.
February 22, 2012 Read time: 1 min
A British woman discovered that her sturdy little Toyota Yaris was not quite sturdy enough to cope with an impact from a large boulder. The woman had parked her car by the roadside and returned to find it squashed flat under the weight of the 5tonne lump of rock, which had fallen from a quarry industry vehicle as it drove past. The boulder was so large that it initially proved too heavy for the truck loader crane brought in to remove it. When she returned from her shopping trip to discover her vehicle had been squashed as easily as a soft drink can by the lump of rock, the woman was comparatively unperturbed by the incident and explained that she has had an eventful life.

Related Content

  • Clean screen
    February 24, 2012
    A British woman discovered that the windscreen washer fluid in her Toyota had run out, so she stopped at a filling station for a refill. However the air and water dispensers were out of order and when she asked inside the filling station, was told that she was not allowed a bucket of water to refill the fluid reservoir or wash her windscreen as this contravened the firm's health and safety policy. Using a cloth she managed to clear the screen sufficiently to allow her to drive 3km to another filling station
  • Tricky mountain road rebuild job in Phoenix AZ
    June 16, 2021
    North Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona is one of the metropolitan area’s most recognisable landmarks and busiest hiking destinations.
  • Car crush crash
    February 24, 2015
    Two car occupants in China had a narrow escape when a mixer truck toppled onto their vehicle, crushing it flat in the process. Despite the car being flattened in the incident, the woman driver and her younger male relative managed to escape relatively unscathed with only minor injuries. Passers-by first tried to lever the mixer truck off the crushed car using a tree trunk. When this failed, a passing crane was stopped and brought in to tackle the tricky task. After being rescued from the car the occupants w
  • Flat-pack gran keeps young drivers safe
    July 31, 2013
    Catching sight of grandma’s beady eye can make many a young driver pay attention to the speed limit or take a little extra care approaching a roundabout. But what if granny was always there, sitting in the passenger seat, keeping watch over those three point turns and reverse parking manoeuvres? Graphic design student Mollie Courtenay from Kingston University in Surrey, southern England, has come up with a novel way to harness grandparent power and encourage young drivers to be more safety conscious.