This past June my wife and I were both involved in a serious auto accident. The good news is that we both were able to walk away. Or limp away might be a better term. We both suffered an array of cuts, bruises and strains.... The worse of it was a fractured shoulder and bruised ribs for me. My wife has both a messed up left knee and right hand. Fortunately our dog {who was in the back seat} escaped with out any injuries at all.

We had been driving home from a one week vacation at the New Jersey shore. I was driving my wife's Infiniti G20 along a four lane road at or around the speed limit of 55 mph. Looking ahead I saw a school bus {traveling in the same direction as we were} which had slowed and was in the process of making a right hand turn on to a small road just ahead. I moved over into the left lane to pass the turning bus then out of the blue CRASH!! We were hit by a full size pickup truck which struck our passenger side front wheel well. He was attempting to turn left onto the road we were traveling, he couldn't see us behind the bus and we also couldn't see him either. Consequently he was charged and convicted of careless driving.

Immediately upon impact our air bags deployed and the momentum sent us careening across the two oncoming lanes off the road and down the embankment. The most frightening part was the knowledge that we were still moving.... but being blinded by both the airbags and a shattered windshield we kept wondering if there was to be a second or even third impact . Fortunately there wasn't any oncoming cars. We barely missed a telephone pole and guard rail and the car managed to come to a complete stop just 10 feet from a huge tree and a billboard.

Sorry to go into all of that but is had alot to do with why we chose to buy a Volvo. Along with the habit of always wearing our seat belts, I strongly believe that our Infiniti helped saved our lives. By dumb luck we just happened to buy a car with great crash rating. We were very lucky for many reasons. The car having a good crash rating. The fact that we weren't hit around the passenger side door where my wife had been sitting, and the fact that there were not any additional impacts.

We decided to purchase our first Volvo for a couple reasons, first and foremost was
because of safety.... second... a couple years ago we rented an S60 while vacationing in Nova Scotia and we absolutely loved the car.

A used car dealer who we trust found a 2000 S80 2.9 and asked us if we were interested in seeing it. It had 110,00 mile on it, and it was in excellent condition, I ran a carfax on it and it came out clean. I know... I know... I would rather have had a 2001 or newer.... but with the both of us still being out of work recovering. We thought we'd take our chances with the 2000, Our mechanic gave it a thumbs up and we also purchased an extended warranty for it. We bought the S80 for $8300, Another important thing is that since the accident both my wife and I suffer from post traumatic shock syndrome, and we feel much safer riding in our new car.

So hopefully it will be relatively problem free for us until we are in position to buy a newer Volvo. I've enjoyed reading this forum very much and I have found it very helpful.

Take care,

Rex

 

Glad to hear that you are OK. The safety of the Volvo's is one of the reasons we bought our S60. As it will probably go to my teenage son when he gets his license in 3 years, the safety reputation of the Volvo weighed heavily in our decision. Hope you and your wife enjoy a long SAFE relationship with your Volvo.