SAFETY | 7 out of 10
Expert Quotes:
'Good,' frontal impact; 'good,' side impact; 'good,' rear impact; 'acceptable,' roof strength
IIHS
Not yet tested
NHTSA
its cool design means there are blind spots
Truck Trend
rear visibility is tanklike because of the wide C-pillar and tiny corner window that proves as effective as a solar-powered flashlight
Edmunds' Inside Line
Sitting inside this big vehicle is like looking out of a German pillbox. The visibility is awful; there's just a gun slot of a windshield.
Cars.com
While there are no crash-test results for the 2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser from the federal government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has tested it and finds it to be near the top of the pack when it comes to mid-size SUVs.
The insurance-funded group found the FJ Cruiser to score the top rating of ‘good’ in its frontal offset crash-test, side-impact test, and in rear crash protection. The only area where the Toyota didn’t score top marks was in the roof strength test, for which it received an ‘acceptable’ rating.
You can thank the FJ Cruiser’s long list of standard safety gear for the positive results. Items include side curtain airbags, a roll-over sensor, anti-lock brakes, active headrests and electronic stability control. Additionally, the vehicle is equipped with active headrests for the front seats: In certain rear collisions, a cable-actuated mechanism in the active headrest moves the headrest upward and forward to help limit the movement of the occupant's head.
One major gripe we had was rearward visibility, which is quite poor due to the FJ Cruiser’s tall, rather narrow-windowed design. Parking can be quite the chore, so we strongly recommend the optional rear parking sensor system.
Conclusion
The 2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser scores reasonable marks in independent crash-testing, though the vehicle is not without its safety shortcomings.
