Police are crediting modern vehicles and moderate speed with preventing more serious injuries in a crash on the Coromandel Peninsula.
They say early indications are that an overseas visitor was on the wrong side of the road in the two-car collision at Cooks Beach at 12.20pm on Tuesday.
Police say the cars' speeds were well below the 100km/h limit and both were equipped with multiple air bags, which inflated on impact.
A woman believed to be in her 60s was taken to Auckland Hospital with a broken pelvis and internal injuries, while two 19-year-old women are in a stable condition in Waikato Hospital.
A 19-year-old man was treated and discharged at Thames Hospital.
The overseas driver was treated at the scene.