My wife's beloved green '94 940 wagon carried on the Volvo tradition this afternoon. My wife was stopped at a red light, and got rearended by a large Ford van, which took most of the back of the Volvo out, it's now got a nice crease in the roof, both driver's side doors won't open, and the paramedics had to get my wife out through the passenger door - luckily all she suffered was shock and a couple of small bruses. The first words the paramedic said to her were "good thing you were driving a Volvo". Made me think back a couple of years whn she insisted I get a Volvo in place of my VW, she always said we needed more steel round us - thank you Volvo.
David Keighley in Cocoa Florida.

Bear,

I recently moved from Melbourne where my 240 saved my life in a head-on...now own 2 940s. Where was her accident in Cocoa, near the BCC campus or on Rte 1?

BTW, as I am always looking for low mileage 940, there is one on Ebay, in West Va, a beauty red wagon, looks great..

best wishes,

I'm glad your wife came out okay.

I'm a firm believer in Volvo Safety and aside from my 1st car, I've only ever owned volvos. However we shouldn't be too self-congratulatory. A friend of mine in Comal County Texas was driving his father in a 240 volvo and lost control whena turning truck changed it's mind. He was only doing around 35, but he got hit in the side by a Ford Truck doing 65-70. He walked away with little injury. His Father did not walk away and later died from injuries sustained in the accident.

I believe in volvos, but they are not the impenetrable wall of protection that we sometimes think they are. Be aware of the limitations of your car. Sometimes its as much luck as engineering that protects up.



--
You mean Volvo makes cars that are *NOT* Wagons?!?

side impacts are the killers...thats why volvo introduced SIPS....

240's dont have it...

Partially the side impact, partially the pickup. It's like a wreck in the news recently; an F150 slid over the hood, right through the windshield, and parked in the back seat of a 745. There's not much anyone can do about that.
There's a somewhat dated statistical study online, of '95-'99 vehicles, comparing occupant safety in addition to non-occupant deaths in accidents. Oddly enough, the S10 narrowly beat the Ram to top the list.
http://www.aceee.org/pubs/t021full.pdf

Dear David,

Good p.m. and forgive me - if needed - for addressing you, by your given name.

Glad your other half is OK. I tell those, who ask me why I choose to drive 11-12-year-old cars, that Volvo 940s are nicely appointed armored personnel carriers.

The fact that the armor is engineered to be destroyed, as it dissipates kinetic energy, does not make the armor any less real or useful. The armor on the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank dissipates kinetic energy, and also is destroyed.

I could drive another type of car. Then, I'd have to spend much more on life insurance. Cars, so far as we know, feel no pain. We humans do.

Further, while newer cars have many more airbags, I believe that their structures have been "de-rated", so that if one or more airbags fail to deploy, the passengers will not be adequately protected, by the structure. The reason:
the structure, alone, is not intended to provide enough protection.

As the mid-1990s Volvos have only one or two airbags - and the structures are the same as the 740s, some of which ante-date airbag use - almost all of the protection for passengers in a 740 or 940 Volvo, is provided by the structure. This built-in protection is totally passive, presuming the seatbelts are used.

Thus, if on a 1993-95 940, the airbag(s) don't deploy, the belted-in passengers are still properly protected. If the airbags do deploy, then there's some extra protection.

I hope you can find, ASAP, a nice, low-miles Volvo 940. I'm sure you won't settle for anything less.

Thanks for the reminder, about the wisdom of driving Volvos.

Yours faithfully,

spook

My first Volvo was a new '86 760 wagon. It was 10 years old when it gave its life for mine. I was stopped behind a school bus when I was rear ended by a guy doing about 50 which threw me into the car in front of me. He never hit the brakes. The wagon folded up around me but I walked away. The lady in the car in front of me went to the hospital. The guy who hit me took off into the woods never to be found (illegal, oh sorry, "undocumented" worker). My next car was a 940 wagon which is still protecting my daughter today. 'Nuff said.

Bob K

'94 945T (daughter co-opted it for college, used to be mine)
'99 S80 (mom-in-law's)
'88 240DL (son's)
'84 242Ti (for sale)
'89 560SL (wifemobile)
'88 300TE (my commuter)
'68 GT500KR (future commuter/under restoration)
--
Bob K

Hi

What's a '68 GT500KR? A Volvo we didn't get downunder?

regards

Alan
--
Alan Clarke, Australia

It belongs to another board.
Its my toy, a 1968 Shelby Mustang GT500 KR.
428 CI (7 liter) Cobra Jet engine, 4 spd, Detroit locker rear end.
One of the quickest production Mustangs ever offered, only in the past few years have modern steeds surpassed it 1/4 mile times. Classic, gut wrenching, neck snapping American iron. KR aptly stands for "King of the Road".
--
Bob K

That's the main reason I've been into Volvos since 1977.

A year or two before that my sister-in-law, driving the family 144, topped a rise on one of the four lane undivided roads in the D.C. area. There was another car in her lane and they hit head-on at a combined speed of 80 to 100 mph.

Her car and the other were totalled. She walked away with serious bruises and some leg damage. The other driver died there.

We've not had a car put to the test, but there ahve been enough BrickBoard stories to absolutely prove Volvo passenger protection.

Regards,

Bob

:>)

Glad to hear she is OK.
I was in a Volvo Wagon back in 75 and got hit head on by a full size truck
We were doing about 25 and he was doing 35+...
The car folded up all around us but both driver and passenger were fine.