Bronco Sport rolls off Black Bear Pass

[Rayder]

All things considered, the passenger compartment is in incredibly good condition for rolling off a 400ft cliff.

 

[nomnom]

Glad the driver survived, wishing they make a fast and full recovery.
With that said, so many questions come from this, why turn around? Was it their intent to drive this pass or an accident? Where did they attempt to turn around? Was there another car blocking that forced them to turn around?

I can only imagine the guilt that the spotter feels. Yeah go this way, that way, etc.

 

[Gotdesl]

Glad everyone survived. It is super easy to underestimate these passes and trails in Colorado, especially to those unfamiliar with the area. Combine that with overestimating your vehicle and driving capabilites and you have a recipe for a bad time. She french fried when she should have pizza'ed.

 

[hotrodjohn]

Glad the driver survived, wishing they make a fast and full recovery.
With that said, so many questions come from this, why turn around? Was it their intent to drive this pass or an accident? Where did they attempt to turn around? Was there another car blocking that forced them to turn around?

I can only imagine the guilt that the spotter feels. Yeah go this way, that way, etc.

Because Black Bear is one way downhill pass and apparently they started going up from the bottom of it.

 

[goatman]

It appears to be still structurally sound. Wonder if that is thanks to the high boron steel Ford used for rigidity.

Driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt. WEAR YOUR SEATBELTS!

Yeah, the passenger compartment looks amazingly intact. Someone inside would have been beat around quite a bit, but at least the vehicle wouldn't have caved in on them.

Black Bear Pass Rd. I was there a few weeks ago.

 

[broncosor]

There appears to be a shit ton of airbags deployed and the cabin doesn't appear to be flattened. I would suspect the injuries would be much less severe buckled inside that cabin compared to being thrown down the side of a mountain.

Same place same thing but on a wrangler. I was there when it happened. Only thing that saved the life of the person inside was being ejected.
Note: I always use the seatbelt in any vehicle I enter in, because statistically It’s of course way safer.

 

[MaverickMan]

Glad everyone survived. It is super easy to underestimate these passes and trails in Colorado, especially to those unfamiliar with the area. Combine that with overestimating your vehicle and driving capabilites and you have a recipe for a bad time. She french fried when she should have pizza'ed.

 

[Gotdesl]

I knew someone had to have this. Glad you knew where I was going with it. Thank you!

 

[OU812]

Man...it looks like she was pretty high up. I'm not too familiar with that road but seems like she's more than a couple of switchbacks up like the police report indicated.

It’s a shelf road with switchbacks and VERY clearly marked and well known.

 

[Lxatoledo]

And one of the scary details is that the engine was ejected . . . wow, that's a hard roll! Imagine the potential extra carnage if this was a full-size Bronco with all that extra weight, would have been tumbling quicker/harder.

Sorry, I have no details.

edit:
details shared by mbagne below
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/bronco-sport-rolls-down-black-bear-pass.24204/post-853129

After all the wheeling I do in Moab, I tend to goof on Black Bear.............then I do Black Bear again, and ...................well, it gets your FULL ATTENTION. (or should). I ALWAYS take my seat belt off on the hairy stuff-- would rather jump out or be ejected. If you haven't done it, you wouldn't understand. "engine ejected".

 

[Lxatoledo]

It’s a shelf road with switchbacks and VERY clearly marked and well known.

So true..........

 

[Lxatoledo]

BB At dusk..........

Did it once --10pm during a heavy rainstorm.......That was NOT smart--we finally got to town and after watching our headlights on the switchbacks, people came out of the wood work freaked out that we made it ---- "The power of dinner and beer compels you!!" DUMB!

 

[tn3sport]

Did BB in July. The big descent is a one-way road. Signs are very obvious when you are doing black bear in the correct direction. (They turnaround every unlicensed vehicle and warn that only high clearance vehicles with "EXPERT" drivers should continue. )
The opposite direction has signs too. Its 2-way traffic until you get to the powerhouse road. The point where the road goes from two way traffic to one-way had cars parked all over the place. These are recreational hikers from Telluride, for the most part, trying to drive as high as they can before they get out to hike to the summit to get that special "selfie". I noticed the parked cars blocked all the signage and warnings. Its just something I noticed as I kept hoping I would not run head to head into a wrong way driver. I was on a motorcycle and still had to weave my way around all these cars/trucks parked on the road blocking the signs... Its easy to see how these women never saw the warning signs as they drove the wrong direction on a one-way...Still, ignorance is no excuse and they paid a heavy price.

 

[fergthulhu]

It’s a shelf road with switchbacks and VERY clearly marked and well known.

Did BB in July. The big descent is a one-way road. Signs are very obvious when you are doing black bear in the correct direction. (They turnaround every unlicensed vehicle and warn that only high clearance vehicles with "EXPERT" drivers should continue. )
The opposite direction has signs too. Its 2-way traffic until you get to the powerhouse road. The point where the road goes from two way traffic to one-way had cars parked all over the place. These are recreational hikers from Telluride, for the most part, trying to drive as high as they can before they get out to hike to the summit to get that special "selfie". I noticed the parked cars blocked all the signage and warnings. Its just something I noticed as I kept hoping I would not run head to head into a wrong way driver. I was on a motorcycle and still had to weave my way around all these cars/trucks parked on the road blocking the signs... Its easy to see how these women never saw the warning signs as they drove the wrong direction on a one-way...Still, ignorance is no excuse and they paid a heavy price.

I've seen lots of videos of it, I just didn't know where it turned to one-way. Now that I know it's at the powerhouse, that makes a lot more sense.

 

[subshooter]

I think that Bronco looks in very good condition considering it rolled 400 feet down a mountain. The driver would have been protected if not ejected.