Toyota HiLux gets big air after skidding on greasy road

It’s easy to feel extra secure when driving a bigger vehicle such as a pickup truck, but as this Australian demonstrates but careening off the road and up in the air after failing to stop for a right turn, grip is a fickle mistress.

A video uploaded to Dashcam Owners Australia shows a Toyota HiLux driving somewhere in Queensland (Pinjarra Hills, just outside Brisbane)  in wet conditions, going at moderate speed. It looks like the area had just experienced some rain and the roads were still greasy.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except when the truck had trouble stopping for a right hand turn with its rear wheels seeming to lock up. Things got significantly sideways and the driver was forced to drive into the grassy divot. 

The HiLux was still carrying some decent speed when it was launched up in the air and from there it was just a matter of gravity and luck. 

It slammed nose first into the ground and proceeded to roll at least once before coming back to rest. The car that recorded the incident even made a u-turn a little further up the road, perhaps to lend a helping hand.

By the time the witnessing vehicle came back around to the scene, the pickup truck was nowhere to be seen in frame. It most likely came to a halt somewhere further off the road, out of harm’s way. 

From what we know of the aftermath, the two occupants walked away with no injuries. We can surmise that the HiLux was a double-cab variant and one that is rather recently produced, meaning it would likely have a decent assortment of safety features. 

While pickup trucks, in comparison to conventional passenger cars, are generally more hard-going and can handle themselves in off-road as well as wading through floodwater thanks to their higher ground clearance, they can be trickier to control on the road and especially at higher speed. 

All terrain or even the more road-friendly highway terrain tyres are much more ribbed and, though disperses water more effectively, generally have a smaller and less consistent contact patch with the road surface.