In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Santa Cruz are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Tacoma doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Santa Cruz offers optional Parking Collision Avoidance Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor and automatically apply the brakes to prevent a rear collision. The Tacoma doesn’t offer backup collision prevention brakes.
Full-time four-wheel drive is optional on the Santa Cruz. Full-time four-wheel drive gives added traction for safety in all conditions, not just off-road, like the only system available on the Tacoma.
For better protection of the passenger compartment, the Santa Cruz uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Tacoma uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.
Both the Santa Cruz and the Tacoma have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, driver alert monitors, available blind spot warning systems, around view monitors and rear cross-path warning.