The big fear of all festiva owner. Crashing in our little cars. Has anyone ever.....

[drddan]

Festivas dont do well in side impact collisions. My first Festy took a hit totally broadside on the drivers door by a chevy station wagon at about 30 mph. Pushed the whole door in, broke the window (coulda been my head, as I had a cut on the side of my forehead) spun the Festy around 360* stopping on the shoulder like I had parked there, right next to a 10 foot drop off at the edge of the shoulder! :nightmare:

My son was sitting passenger. We also bumped heads in the impact. I am very careful as to watch the idiots on the road!

Festy = totaled

[nitrofarm]

I hit a 2011 Lancer & devider wall @ 85-90 in my Aspire on fathers day. No seat belt,the air bags are the only reason I'm alive. The car is barely recognizable but I walked away after I regained consciousness. I still cringe every time I see my paint on that wall.drool

[DriverOne]

I rear-ended a Ford F150 that had a triple-ball trailer hitch on it in my '94 Aspire. It was raining, and I had put brand new 80,000-mi tires on the car (hard rubber). Traffic had pulled away from a red light, and the driver in the truck wasn't paying attention to the fact that there was a near-miss situation ahead of him, and plowed into a stopped Honda, shoving him under another F150. I had just enough time to realize that he had stopped before I hit him. I hydroplaned as soon as I hit the brakes, which was bad because we hadn't reached 30mph yet. The hitch pierced the radiator, and stopped the car. My wife's head pushed the glass out on her side of the windshield. The air bags went off, throwing her back into the seat where the seatbelts locked down hard. To this day she has neck issues.

As for the young lady who lost her life in an Aspire, her unfortunate end was not due to the car, but the semi rear beam that caved when the car hit it at speed. Observe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNnO3DnF0_U&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[MiltonHavoc]

^well thats an "eye-opener"

[Twistiva]

Smacked into the side of a Oldsmobile Intrique with a 92 Festiva at about 50mph. Not sure actually could of been faster. Hard enough to knock my glasses off and twirl the car 3 times. Everyone was impressed I walked away from it. Pushed the engine into the firewall and twisted the roof. Busted the frame on the other car The doors opened somehow and the only glass that broke was the windshield due to the hood. If it's your time it doesn't matter you're driving... The Festiva is a very survivable car.

I'll also flipped on one on it's top and after I fixed it rear-ended a Dodge at about 35mph. My nine lives are exhausted!

ericsmith32 -

2 things....

1) I'm glad you survived all that.

2) If we meet at a Festy rally, pls remind me not to drive with you. :highly_amused:

[TorqueEffect]

I am sure our cars are safer than a SMART car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iKGfo1wmOM

[ericsmith32]

ericsmith32 -

2 things....

1) I'm glad you survived all that.

2) If we meet at a Festy rally, pls remind me not to drive with you. :highly_amused:

Eh got all my wrecks out at once. Haven't had a wreck that was fault since I was 19.. 32 now. Only 2 since 2000 and none since 2002 (knocking on wood!)

[F3BZ]

at least i had over 140K on my 1st festiva when a cell phone yakker pulled his ranger out of his parking space just as i was driving by. totaled out the car at the B pillar on the passenger side. surprising amount of damage since he was only going about 3-4 MPH. when the cops arrived this POS immediately told them he suspected I was under the influence. luckily a witness stood by to tell the real story. i found my 2nd festiva on the last day the insurance rental car was due to be returned.

[bravekozak]

Ouch.

[Festevil3]

^ I bet there glad that thing was a 4dr instead of an 2dr

[Oren09]

My accident:

Slid into the rear of a Chevy truck at 30-40MPH.













The damage was mostly to the bumper, headlight, hood, and radiator upper support.
My car still ran and important stuff was undamaged. I straightened out the support as much as I could, beat the headlight buckets back into place, and replaced the hood and driver's side fender.
The wreck happened on a Tuesday and I was driving the car again on Thursday.
The worst thing was the seatbelt broke and my forehead/upper nose smacked the steering wheel. I had quite a gash and a huge bruise for awhile. Probably should have gotten stitches for that one...
Also, I think my steering wheel is slightly bent now.

[Tim]

I resurrected a Festiva that was in a bad wreck with a deer. Looked much worse than some of the cars in this thread. The good (or bad?) thing about these cars is the thin sheet metal, it's easy to hammer out. A little creativity plus new fenders, a hood, a windshield, and a radiator was all it took to put it back on the road. I think I had a grand total of $100 invested in the car - 50 bucks for the car, and another 50 in junkyard parts. Drove it for quite a while until the tranny gave out, at which point I sold it for a nice profit

[Safety Guy]

Brag on Tim!

Karl