The Tyco Crash Buggy was a radio controlled toy manufactured by Taiyo Toys (Japan), for Mattel under their newly acquired Tyco R/C brand. It expanded upon a public safety campaign encouraging the use of seat belts in motor vehicles through use of slapstick comedy by a pair of anthropomorphic crash test dummies.
From the mid 1980s, Crash Test Dummies entered into popular culture in the United States due to their relatable nature and distinctive appearance. Featured in public safety campaigns that encouraged the wearing of seatbelts, their comedic take on a serious topic such as in the 1985 - 1999 campaign "You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy" made them a popular character for use in other media, such as toys and cartoons, particularly as there was no trademark infringement in the use of a test dummy's general appearance.
A few years after that campaign began in the U.S, Tyco would release its toy like "The Incredible Crash Dummies" in 1991, which attempted to reproduce crash-test scenarios in a fun way, enabling kids to insert the dummies inside vehicles and simulate a car accident in a fun, humorous way.
In 1993 Tyco Industries (parent of Tyco Toys) would work with Fox Kids and other production and animation studios to create a 22 minute television special animated using the latest silicon graphics 3D rendering technology.
It would tell the story of test dummies Slick and Spin as they attempted to prevent Junkman from destroying the test dummies who lived happily in 'DummyLand'. Riveting stuff!
Throughout this, Tyco would market their Incredible Crash Dummies toys with similarly animated TV Commercials (see video).
While I'm not able to find it, I'm sure there would have been an advertisement for the 1998 Crash Buggy, released a year before the Department of Transport 'You Could Learn a Lot from a Dummy' safety campaigns ended in 1999.
The fact this brilliant campaign ended over 20 years ago, and now 20+ years later we again have small sections of the public who see not wearing a seat belt as "their god given right" tells me we need Slick and Spin to come back from the 1980s to save us from Dummy Land!
Features and Performance
The car includes a stunt dummy with seat belt, and features on the car to simulate crashes, with the front of the car described as a 'Crash and Crumble' front end which can be reset by pressing on the rear bumper, or simply reversing back into a wall. "THE VEHICLE COULD LEAVE MARKS ON THE WALL WHEN IT CRASHES!" - Oh I bet parents loved this one!
Very much a toy rather than a radio controlled car, the Crash Buggy is an effective prop in transporting the dummies at speed into dangerous situations, and for this the buggy is effective, and entertaining.
Powered by Tyco's ever reliablt 6.0V Jet Turbo battery pack, it's easy to charge, and easy to slot in and run.
Collectability and Availability
The Crash Buggy is relatively common and available online, however as always you will need to be patient to find the right item at the price you wish to pay. Look closely at the tires for any signs of degradation (slick rubber tires of this era are known for rubber decomposing), and any significant cracks or broken pieces from overzealous crashing.
As for whether these are collectable, I'd be surprised if there was not many collectors of Crash Dummy products, it's just such a memorable and ever-relevant trope that most kids of the era would remember, and even my own kids are aware of, several decades after the toys, shows, and safety commercials ended.
