At first, my mother being the naturally worried woman she is, needed to be reassured that this vehicle was going to be a safe ride. Once I presented her with the list, the very long list, of safety features she was more than convinced that we’d all be safe and sound. My mother-in-law, being who she was, complained that SUVs are gas guzzlers and would cost us an arm and a leg to travel all that distance in this car. When I showed her that the EPA estimated MPG was 21 City / 27 Hwy, she couldn’t argue that was pretty impressive for an SUV.

We’ve never been on a long trip with BOTH sets of parents so my main concern was being in such close quarters for so long. When we all piled in I was surprised to discover that we weren’t as squished into this SUV as I thought we would be. We had plenty of room for everyone to stretch out and even fit all of my mother-in-law’s SEVEN bags. The drive was 5 hours, so comfort was not something we could afford to be lacking if we all wanted to survive the drive without killing each other.

My parents volunteered to take the 3rd-row seats, they’re 5 feet tall on a good day so they figured it would be easier for them to fit back there. As it turns out, we didn’t need to worry about that anyway as there was plenty of room back there for both of them to really spread out. The only concern we had was that my dad is a bit hard of hearing, and he’s the one who knew where we were going I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to hear me when I asked him where we needed to go next. The Highlander solved that problem for us too with the Driver Easy Speak system makes it easy. This feature amplifies the driver’s voice to passengers in the back via the rear speakers.

By the time we arrived at our destination, the whole family was talking and laughing. It seemed that our typical road trip issues were minimized by having plenty of space for everyone. Everyone was comfortable and seemed to enjoy the ride. The only thing we had left was to survive the actual vacation and for once it looked like a solid possibility!

• Figure out what you plan to wear and eat in the morning. Planning has never been a strength. I tend to be the person flying around my apartment trying to find that one shirt that looks good with those pants and the shoes with the straps that I wore last weekend but haven’t seen for days. I spend easily 30 minutes looking for the clothes then need to decide if a shower or breakfast is more important to me before I am late for work. A little planning the night before removes the flustered mess sprinting around the house like a mad woman.

• Plan to leave with at least 20 minutes to spare if you have to drive through large amounts of traffic each morning. Going along with the frantic woman desperately running around trying to get her life together before work, planning to leave with enough time to make it through traffic will only make the morning run more smoothly.

• Listen to calming music or music that makes you feel good on your way to work. Now, my music that brings me to a happy and calm place might be totally different than yours. For example, my mother’s happy music is death metal, while mine is Natasha Bedingfield. You do you. If that’s the music that will keep you calm and collected for a highway full of people who seem to have forgotten how to drive, then run with that.

• Last, but certainly not least. When you feel yourself getting upset at a someone’s foolish actions on the road, instead of immediately reacting, take 5 seconds to just breathe before you react. It usually only takes 5 seconds to decide that what you wanted to say and do were a bit of an overreaction. We’re all just people, we make mistakes, and there is no use getting upset over the things we can’t control.  

Hopefully, you have found one or two of these tips helpful to making your morning less of a nightmare. While my temper still makes an appearance, I’ve had less road rage issues since planning my mornings out a bit better. It gets better friends! Stick with it!

1. Summer Hits of the 2000s.

The 2000s were filled with great songs that are sure to bring you right back to middle school dances and a much simpler time when adult responsibilities were not yet a thing (Where my 90s babies at??). These songs are the classics that defined our generation and are sure to start your road trip of strong!

3. Maroon 5

A variety of music that is sure to get you and your friends singing along in the car! After all, it’s hard to hear “She Will Be Loved” and not think of the movie The Last Song and want to sing scream it at the top of your lungs!

4. The Spice Girls.

By simply playing the song Wannabe in any general location, you will inevitably have women of all ages coming together and belt out the song as one. It is a song that unifies people who may not have come together before and this station will definitely have your summer road trips coming together nicely!

5. Ms. New Booty.

If you’re looking for some old rap songs that we all love to sing and dance to, this is your number one station.

6. Matchbox 20.

Looking for a playlist that speaks to the more relaxed road trip experience? This is the perfect playlist for you and your friends. Taking a nice night drive under the stars and you’ll be glad you have this playlist to enjoy the perfect night.

7. Country Road Trip.

To all my Country Music loving fans out there, you know who you are, this station has some of the best country hits that just scream summer. If you’re at the lake with your friends, or at the beach all day laying out, turn this station on for music that you can let play all day long.

8. Zac Brown Band.

If you’re looking for that twangy, summery feeling, Zac Brown Band has just that. A great station for some awesome summer tunes!

9. Jack Johnson.

The ultimate chill summer station. For all the go with the flow, relax all day type of people, this is your spot. Jack Johnson is the bomb, and he won’t fail to give you some tunes to chill out to all summer long.

No matter where you’re going, the music driving your trip can make all the difference. Driving in the super awesome 2018 Toyota Avalon from Fiore Toyota will already have your road trip feeling like a top notch vacation may feel like but adding that perfect playlist will make the trip that much sweeter. With the sweet high tech touch screen in the Avalon, you can get your music right in your car so all your playlists are noteworthy.

Now imagine, if you will, that you are a car. Instead of a hot day, your engine is just getting absurdly hot, as engines do, and you have no means to regulate that temperature. Bad news bears, friends! This is why coolant exists. To regulate the temperature of your engine so that it can function normally without problems. It is not just to cool, either. You don’t want your engine to be cold.  You want the engine to be hot enough to burn fuel efficiently and cool enough to not melt and seize up. Mechanics call it the optimum temperature. The engine sweet spot.

A running engine is HOT. It can get up to 6,000 degrees F. The optimum temperature for an engine is 1,200-1,700 degrees F. Super hot! The coolant helps keeps the temperature of the engine at a max of 1,700 degrees F. When your car is on, an engine is running continuously, so coolant is continuously being circulated or pumped. It is heated up as it passes through the engine and cools back down as it passes through the radiator. It’s a big circle of pumping coolant to help keep your very expensive engine happy and running at its best!

Fortunately, your car has a way of telling you when it’s getting too hot. You know that C to H gauge on your dashboard? C is for Cool and H is for Hot.  Some cars have numbers instead of a C or H.  The numbers represent the temperature of the coolant. When you first start the car, the needle is on C.  Your engine is cold and the temperature of the coolant is cold. If the gauge does not get up to the middle, the coolant and engine temperature are too cold and your engine will not be burning fuel efficiently.

If the gauge tips past that middle point of the C and H, your car is considered “overheating”.  The engine and coolant are starting to rise to dangerous temperatures and you are in trouble of damaging your engine! Coolant will start to boil off making the overheating problem even worse because you will have even less coolant. Shut off the car as soon as safely possible! Coolant also prevents metal parts of your car from corrosion and freezing in cold climates.

The moral of this story is that your engine needs to stay at a regulated temperature to be able to function properly, just like you do. When you’re too hot, moving is not something you are willing to do, and when you are too cold, you’re so bundled up you can’t move even if you wanted to. Make sure you are checking your coolant regularly and if you have any questions, the fine people at Fiore Toyota will be more than happy to help!

Not to make everything about me, but, I’m pretty important to the whole “mobility” thing with your Highlander. Your vehicle might have all the gadgets and gizmos that make driving magical, but it could get exactly zero places without me. SO, checking in on me periodically would be just great. Now, I have no unrealistic expectations that I will live forever. I mean, when my time comes, I will roll happily to the junkyard knowing that we drove our hearts out while I was in my prime. But my time is not now, so let’s try to keep me at my prime so I last a while at least.

The first order of business is, as I mentioned before, I’ve been feeling a bit low lately. You know, in the air department. The weather has been warming up a lot and honestly, it’s just taken the wind right out of me. To help keep me a bit more regular, it would be super helpful if you could check in on me once in awhile, perhaps monthly, to see how I’m doing. Letting my tire pressure stay low can really be costly. When I’m low, I tend to be more resistant to rolling. To be fair, who wants to rock and roll when you’re feeling low?? Basically, it means that the engine has to pick up my slack and put in more effort to move your vehicle. So Let’s try to avoid this awkward situation by keeping up on my tire pressure. Next time we’ll have to have a chat about your lead foot, but for now, let’s focus on keeping track of my tire pressure. If you ever feel like there has been lasting damage, or if you have any questions about how to keep me in better health you can definitely stop by Fiore Toyota, located at 1000 Logan Boulevard Hollidaysburg, PA 1664, and they can help you out. In the meantime, here is a quick little guide on how you can check my pressure to extend my life, and the quality of our driving.

1. To check my tire pressure follow these steps:
2. Remove the end caps on your tires’ air valves (don’t lose them! I need those!).
3. Place the tire pressure gauge into the valve stem and press down quickly to get a reading.
4. Check the PSI reading. Compare that to your vehicle’s recommended PSI.
5. It can often be tricky to get the gauge to press fully onto the valve, resulting in an off reading—so take a few readings just in case.
6. If the reading is above the recommendation, push in the valve to let out some air (you might have to do this a few times to get it right).
7. If the PSI reading is below the recommendation, fill your tire with air until you reach the ideal level (this may also take a few tries).

I don’t know if you’ve been in a Toyota car recently, but the safety features in those things are ridiculous. With the latest safety features for Toyota, like the Pre-Collision System, Lane Departure Alert and Automatic High Beams, I can smell downsizing a mile away. When I’m out there in the field we don’t even crash anymore. It’s like the car can stop itself so we aren’t needed. Switching lanes, nothing, not even a ding. I haven’t needed to go in for a repair in almost a year. I can read the signs, less crashing means less need for dummies like me. I mean I’m a crash test dummy, but I’m not a dummy. There’s not a lot of work out there for guys like me! I have three tiny crash test babies at home that need feeding and I can’t go back to working as a mannequin, the 90s really did a number on me. For more information, you can see this video below where Toyota basically announces that we, the crash test dummies, are obsolete. As crash test dummies, we deserve work too. If Toyota keeps making these vehicles so safe, we’ll all be out of work. Do you really want the livelihoods of so many dummies to be gone? Could you live with yourself?

I can read the signs, less crashing means less need for dummies like me. I mean I’m a crash test dummy, but I’m not a dummy. There’s not a lot of work out there for guys like me! I have three tiny crash test babies at home that need feeding and I can’t go back to working as a mannequin, the 90s really did a number on me. For more information, you can see this video below where Toyota basically announces that we, the crash test dummies, are obsolete. As crash test dummies, we deserve work too. If Toyota keeps making these vehicles so safe, we’ll all be out of work. Do you really want the livelihoods of so many dummies to be gone? Could you live with yourself?

For more information, you can see this video below where Toyota basically announces that we, the crash test dummies, are obsolete. As crash test dummies, we deserve work too. If Toyota keeps making these vehicles so safe, we’ll all be out of work. Do you really want the livelihoods of so many dummies to be gone? Could you live with yourself? To see all of these safety features for yourself you can stop by Fiore Toyota located at 1000 Logan Boulevard, Hollidaysburg, PA 16648. One test drive, and you’ll see that our fate is pretty much sealed. So we beg you, ask Toyota to make their cars just a LITTLE less safe. Like, maybe a bump here and there for good measure. We’re counting on you.

P.S. Really though, if you could spread the thing about us being “unsung heroes of safety”, that’d be awesome.

Thanks!

All the best,
Jim your Toyota Crash Test Dummy