His Car Flipped in a Shocking Crash. Here’s How He Survived

Rollover crashes are rare but are one of the most deadly of major car accidents. Here’s how Ken Cruz became an unlikely survivor.

In the early hours of the morning, university student Ken Cruz was driving home from Taguig, Manila when he was hit from behind by a speeding truck. He crashed into a traffic island, causing his car to flip and come to a screeching halt a few seconds later. The bonnet of his Subaru XV crumpled and the front windscreen cracked, but he was able to crawl out of the overturned vehicle, virtually unharmed after the crash.

The word miracle comes to mind, but Ken gives credit where it’s due: “Subaru saved my life,” he says.

Rollovers are complex and dangerous. Despite the fact that they make up just over 2% of car accidents in the U.S., researchers say they are one of the most fatal types of road accidents. In 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found rollovers constituted a fifth of all fatal crashes. That morning in Manila, Ken’s car accident defied the odds, but his survival was no fluke.

360 degrees of safety

Subaru has been carrying out collision tests and examining how to survive car crashes since 1965 — before the term ‘rollover car crash’ even existed and while the concept of collision safety was still emerging. According to Tatsuya Okuno, current Vice President and Chief General Manager of Engineering at Subaru, what they discovered is that “a car is susceptible to damage from all directions. To counter this the car must be designed with safety in every direction.”

Even when upside down.

In those crucial seconds before impact, Ken recalls what went through his mind. “As I was about to hit the center island, I thought: ‘Is this the way I’m going to die? Where’s the flashback of my life?’” His car flipped, moving about 6 to 15 meters before coming to a stop. “I thought, ‘Am I dead? No, I’m upside down.’”

Ken recalls the sensation of hanging “because the seatbelt was holding me securely in place,” owing to its pretensioner, which causes the seatbelt to tighten in a collision, holding the front occupants firmly and safely to their seat. Wearing the seatbelt also prevented Ken from hurling through the windscreen (and, likely, suffering a devastating injury). But the crucial structural element that kept the car’s cabin from collapsing in on him is a unique aspect of Subaru’s safety DNA — Subaru’s Ring-Shaped Reinforcement Frame.

The Ring-Shaped Reinforcement Frame is actually made up of a series of connected and reinforced pillars that form three protective rings around the cabin. This design creates an impenetrable shell around the passengers, maintaining the integrity of the passenger compartment by absorbing and distributing collision energy away from the occupants and throughout the entire body of the car. The ultra-rigid frame, made of high-strength steel, also prevents the cabin from caving in at the point of impact.

Photos at the accident scene show Ken’s car on its roof, but the shape of the cabin is retained. “In an ordinary structural design, the weight of the overturned vehicle on top of the roof would probably cause it to collapse in, making impact with the passenger’s head,” explains Jose Miguel Bollozos, Assistant Training Manager at Subaru Philippines. When you consider that an estimated 50% of rollover car crashes result in head and neck injuries, the fact that Ken’s Subaru kept its shape, was one more factor critical to his survival. All thanks to the Ring-Shaped Reinforcement Frame.

“I thought, ‘Am I dead? No, I’m upside down.’”

Lucky to be alive

Ken is still in disbelief that he walked away that morning. “When I saw how bad the damage was, I thought, ‘Wow, I’m really lucky to be alive’.” In fact, Ken later discovered friends and relatives had passed by the area after the accident, not knowing he had been the driver of the car. “When they found out it was me, they wondered how I could have survived.”

“There was a gash on my left arm, but that was it,” he says. “No other pains, no whiplash, no concussion, no headaches. I was in a state of shock more than anything else,” he adds.

Ken was yet to graduate from university when the accident happened. He now runs his own business. And he still drives a Subaru XV — this time, in bright orange, which his parents insisted on for greater visibility. But the accident hasn’t diminished the joy he gets from driving. “If anything,” says Ken, “it made me enjoy it more. It made me understand driving dynamics better. Subaru played a part in that.”

Ken’s biggest takeaway? “Ever since the accident, I make the most of each day so I don’t waste it. That incident taught me that you only have one life and that it can all go away in one split second. Once you’ve lived through an experience like this,” Ken explains, “you really do understand the advice to live life to the fullest.”