Surviving the Drive to School

For Nor Safinah Haya the school run is a regular route, but little did she know that one change in direction would alter her entire day.

Sometimes a small change in our daily routine throws everything else off.

For Nor Safinah Haya, it happened on the way to dropping her two children off at school in Selayang Bahru in Kuala Lumpur. Normally, the young mother would have just driven her two children directly to school. But that day, her husband had joined them and asked to be dropped off first, which meant taking a different route than usual.

Unbeknownst to Safinah, that one small change in routine would change everything.

The accident happened at a small junction near 1 Utama Shopping Centre. Safinah had just dropped off her husband and was en route to dropping off her six-year-old son Danish and four-year-old daughter Zara at the kindergarten they attended. She was waiting for traffic to clear before moving forward. She had just begun to accelerate when she spotted a bus coming from the right and quickly stepped on the brakes. Almost instantly, a large impact from behind reverberated through her Subaru XV, causing it to lurch forward.

“Oh my goodness!,” she wondered. “What just happened?”

Safely strapped in

The accident happened at a small junction near 1 Utama Shopping Centre. Safinah had just dropped off her husband and was en route to dropping off her six-year-old son Danish and four-year-old daughter Zara at the kindergarten they attended. She was waiting for traffic to clear before moving forward. She had just begun to accelerate when she spotted a bus coming from the right and quickly stepped on the brakes. Almost instantly, a large impact from behind reverberated through her Subaru XV, causing it to lurch forward.

“Oh my goodness!,” she wondered. “What just happened?”

Safely strapped in

Through the rear window Safinah could see that the sedan behind them had rammed into the XV. Instinctively, she immediately checked on Danish and Zara, who were both seated in the back. Despite the rear impact, both were uninjured. Zara remained safely strapped into her child seat, thanks to the fixed anchor points of the ISOFIX attachment built into the structure of the Subaru's rear seat, which had prevented her from being flung forward by the force of the impact. Child restraints like these play an important role in keeping little ones safe. As the World Health Organization points out, in a car accident, child restraints can reduce the likelihood of children passengers dying by at least 60%.

Comforted by the fact that both her children were safe, Safinah assured them not to worry, before getting out of the car to examine the damage, bracing herself for the worst.

“I remember thinking,” she says now, ‘thank goodness I was driving a Subaru!’

A sturdy cage that protects

To Safinah’s surprise, the powerful impact she felt didn’t result in any major damage to her car. The rear bumper was scratched, and the clips attaching the bumper to the car body were broken. Otherwise, the XV was fine.

The minimal damage can be attributed to the XV’s structural integrity. During impact, the car’s Ring-shaped Reinforcement Frame is designed to protect the cabin by absorbing and distributing the impact energy throughout the entire car body. The frame also provides the XV with greater structural rigidity, preventing the cabin from collapsing and acting as a protective cage which, in this case, helped keep Safinah and her children safe.

Keep calm and carry on

Unbelievably, that day Safinah was able to drop her kids off at school, and they were only half an hour late. In fact, she was able to carry on with the rest of her day and didn’t take the car in for repair until the next morning. After 16 years behind the wheel, it was the first time Safinah had been involved in a car accident, and it reminded the 36-year-old mother of two how important it is to drive a car that can keep everyone inside safe.

“I remember thinking,” she says now, ‘thank goodness I was driving a Subaru!’