For years, many car buyers have told us that they feel safer driving high riding small SUVs than their Station Wagon counterparts. While we can't say if they're right or wrong, we can tell you this: it looks like one of Honda's 2012 CR-V prototypes put that assertion to the test when it hit a Toyota Highlander on the Pacific Coast Highway in California. As if the prototype's driver wasn't unlucky enough, the person he hit was none other than Jean Aw, head of NOTCOT.com, an influential technology and culture blog.
Aw reported this morning that she was struck while merging her Toyota Highlander onto the PCH in Los Angeles. She claims the CR-V tried to take a hard left onto Entrada Drive, striking her car and pushing it into (stopped) oncoming traffic. Aw was taken to the hospital via ambulance; the Highlander was towed and ultimately declared totaled.
Crucially, Aw also took photos -- a lot of them. Thanks to her cell phone camera, we got a clear look at what she says is the vehicle at fault. It's a black-on-black 2012 Honda CR-V, wearing black vinyl camouflage on its hood and rear hatch. She also caught a shot (from her stretcher, no less) of the driver, who looks fairly distraught as he leans on the prototype with its airbags deployed.
Aw's photos help confirm the 2012 CR-V concept Honda unveiled earlier this week does largely foreshadow the upcoming production vehicle. For now, Aw says she's recovering nicely and is now in the process of filing insurance claims and looking for a new car. Jean, might we suggest a Toyota SUV that would fend off CR-Vs a little better -- a nice, large Sequoia, perhaps?