A friend of ours was looking for a replacement for her aging Citroen AX, so I suggested that she look at the Fabia. A couple of weeks later, she picked up a nice yellow 1.2 Fabia, which she was as pleased as punch with.

Unfortunately, while she was turning right on an unlit road (the A507 from Clophill to Ampthill, for anyone who's local) a truck failed to notice her and rammed her in the back. The car was spun around twice and ended up in a ditch.

Luckily she got away with a couple of cracked ribs, from the seatbelt, and a bang on the head where she hit the 'B' pillar. The cop who attended reckoned that she'd have ended up in intensive care or the morgue if she'd been driving the old Citroen. He said he'd seen a few prangs involving small hatches, and Fabias and new Polos seem to have very strong passenger cells. "Tough little bu99ers, these" In his words.

The car's probably going to be a write off, but she wants another one. Preferably with curtain airbags next time, so she can't bang her head. I just wanted to thank Skoda for making sure I've got a live friend, not a funeral to go to!

Phil

Another reason why I went for the Fabia, they are tough, solid little cars!

Good to hear that she walked away

They can take knock or two!

I remember when I had my Citroen AX GT & somebody tapped the back of it @ low speed.

Took it to get a quote for repair & among other things they listed straightening the boot floor!!

I was involved in an accident at 98mph in a Citroen AX into a stationary Sierra - both myself and the other person walked (hobbled) away from the AX (which was on fire with a ruptured tank). The build quality is **** but they're actually bloody tough too!

i'd agree there. Citroen Ax's are coke cans on wheels. a friend of ours turned right across a junction as some 17 year old muppet decided to run a red light. He hit her on the driver's side, the car spun round and the drivers side was written off by a pedestrian railing which she ploughed into. They found her in the footwell on the passenger side. She suffered a broken leg, broken arm several broken ribs and concusion. Fire brigade had to cut her out and said it was a miracle she survived.

The solidity of the Fabia is definitely a plus. It just feels safe too, like a much bigger car.

All modern cars are miles ahead of cars like the AX in terms of safety though... Come off on the wrong side of a crisp packet and you've had it!

To qualify that, we were in the AX, not the Sierra - much more solid (M reg so a pretty late model) than you'd believe!

To qualify that, we were in the AX, not the Sierra - much more solid (M reg so a pretty late model) than you'd believe!

why was you doing nearly a ton into s sierra in the 1st place? :confused:

why was you doing nearly a ton into s sierra in the 1st place? :confused:

More to the point how did you get up that speed in one :P

More to the point how did you get up that speed in one :P

was it down hill???

Ey up... some of the AX's do half shift. My dad had a 1.4 TZE and it moved quite well. I test drove a GT when I bought my Fiesta Si and I loved it. If it wasn't for some dodgy rot I'd probably have had it!

Tom I was jesting my old Metro could hit 90 and that was an auto :P

But really why did you hit the sierra at 98mph? I really cant see you walking away from that one!

Well you did I guess other wise you wouldn't be talking about it now, but surely the impact speed could not have been 98mph?

....maybe it was 30mph? but he just had huge rims on lol

The AX GT I had was rapid due to it weighing the same as a Rizzla!!

Wafer thin panels, Polycarbonate boot lid & a 1.4 with twin choke carb.

Nice one! A real pocket rocket the old GT's... the GTi's were slower though.

I seem to remember nice bucket seats and a very square dash...

Mate (who was a loon) was driving down the A59 up north to a notorious junction with A56 (now a roundabout there due to number of accidents) and his 1.1 AX would do (indicated) 98mph, never 100 so his mission in life was to get 100 out of it. Told him about the upcoming junction and he chose to ignore me.

Sierra pulled out, hadn't even straightened up and bang! One dislocated shoulder, kneecap and a broken rib later I hobbled out and awaited assistance (before mobiles etc).

The rear of the Sierra was gone, anyone in there would have been dead without a doubt.

My mate did brake but locked up and shed virtually no speed at all. Ambulance man put his gloves on before approaching the car - admitted to me he expected lots of blood :eek:

Phew.Glad she is ok.Two things surprise me though from the post though

1) yellow fabia

2) a truck failed to notice her

one of the reasons you buy a bright coloured car to be seen in:D

Auto Express say that because the Smart is basically a merc, they have the same crash protection as an E class. I know which one i'd rather be in if I was in an accident.

There are a couple of rollovers on here who can verify how tough the little furby is.

Johnny - the smartclub had a euro encap video of a Smart in an offside crash into a c class ( i think), the smart bounced off the bigger car, and considering the impact, the damage was bad, but could have been a LOT worse if they 2 had stayed together.

There are a couple of rollovers on here who can verify how tough the little furby is.

Johnny - the smartclub had a euro encap video of a Smart in an offside crash into a c class ( i think)' date=' the smart bounced off the bigger car, and considering the impact, the damage was bad, but could have been a LOT worse if they 2 had stayed together.[/quote']

the Smarts are unbeliveably strong tho.. there was a bit on 5th gear about it... they are stronger than most modern small cars, they plowed one into the armco at 70mph, and the passenger cell was still intact (they could open the doors)

then they tried it with a corsa....... which didnt do so well :eek:

Colin

Ask davidcollins01 about a smart bouncing into the central barriers @ 70 side on, aftre bieng clipped by a police volvo doing close to 100.

It's a good thing Smarts fair pretty well in accidents judging by the handling test they did on Top Gear.

Doesn't the car survive but a humans internal organs are ripped from their mountings and splatter all round the inside of your body anyway? Thats how I understood it.Any Doctors to verify?

Best not to crash at silly speeds,however tough your car is :(

Its not the impact or damage to the car that kills it's the sudden stop.

The force will pass through the car regardless of how tough it is, the softest bit of the car (you) will come off worse.

I can remember the race cars of the 40's & 50's used to be tough little buggers they would roll and crash at high(ish) speeds and the car would be intact. The driver inside did fair so well as they took all the force of the impact.

The crumple zones are there for that reason to take the force out of the impact.