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 4Runner are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Model Y doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.
The 4Runner has standard Active Headrests, which use a specially designed headrest to protect the driver and front passenger from whiplash. During a rear-end collision, the Active Headrests system moves the headrests forward to prevent neck and spine injuries. The Model Y doesn’t offer a whiplash protection system.
When descending a steep, off-road slope, the 4Runner 4WD’s standard Hill Descent Control allows you to creep down safely. The Model Y doesn’t offer Hill Descent Control.
The 4Runner offers an optional Multi-Terrain/Panoramic Monitor to allow the driver to see objects all around the vehicle on a screen. The Model Y only offers a rear monitor and front and rear parking sensors that beep or flash a light. That doesn’t help with obstacles to the sides.
To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the 4Runner’s standard rear cross-path warning system uses sensors in the rear to alert the driver to vehicles approaching from the side, helping the driver avoid collisions. The Model Y doesn’t offer a rear cross-path warning system.
The 4Runner’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Model Y doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.
The 4Runner has standard Safety Connect™, which uses a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver and a cellular system to help track down your vehicle if it’s stolen or send emergency personnel to the scene if any airbags deploy. The Model Y doesn’t offer a GPS response system, only a navigation computer with no live response for emergencies, so if you’re involved in an accident and you’re incapacitated help may not come as quickly.
Both the 4Runner and the Model Y have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver and front passenger knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, 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, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras and available four-wheel drive.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does side impact tests on new vehicles. In this test, which crashes the vehicle into a flat barrier at 38.5 MPH, results indicate that the Toyota 4Runner is safer than the Tesla Model Y:
|
4Runner |
Model Y |
|
Front Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
41 |
42 |
|
Rear Seat |
|
STARS |
5 Stars |
5 Stars |
HIC |
89 |
358 |
Spine Acceleration |
36 G’s |
45 G’s |
Hip Force |
381 lbs. |
567 lbs. |
New test not comparable to pre-2011 test results. More stars = Better. Lower test results = Better.