My 16 year old son was involved in a three car accident today while driving the 95 850 Turbo we bought him. Bottom line is that he is fine and that is simply the best part of the whole story.

He was driving about 40 MPH on a two lane road when a car driven by a drunk (guy blew a .18 at the scene!!) travelling in the same direction about 3 car lengths ahead of him sudennly crossed the center line and hit the drivers side front end of a Toyota Tacoma truck going the opposite direction. The impact blew the airbags on the truck and torethe drivers side front wheel, axle, and part of the transfer case completely off the truck. After the impact, the truck then careened head on toward my son, who slammed on the brakes on the 850 and spun the wheel, putting the car into a 5 foot deep 6 foot wide ditch at about 25 MPH.

When I got there after getting the call from my son, I was sure, after looking at the mess, that he was hurt and/or the car would be damaged. He was absolutely fine, not a single scratch on him. The local chief of police happened to beeating at a drive-in right at the scene of the accident and saw the whole thing. He came up to us right after I arrived, shook my son's hand, and told him he did a great piece of driving to avoid getting in a head on wreck. Made the old man proud to say the least.

Well, on to the car. After getting it pulled out of the ditch, I looked it over from head to toe. The only damage to the car was some paint taken off the front air dam, and a cosmetic scrape to the right front wheel (sort of like road rash). Icrawled under it as best I could and saw no damage whatsoever, except for a few small chunks of turflodged in the front crossmember.Ichecked all the fluids and they were fine and nothing was leaking, so I climbed in and fired the old girl up. She started instantlyand settled into a smooth idle just like nothing happened. At this both state troopers that were still there shook their heads and grinned, then I heard the one one cop tell the other one "See, I told you the car would be fine....Its a Volvo. Every accident I have been to where a Volvo was involved, the passenger only had minor injures, and the car always had the least amount of damage".

Well, I drove the old girl home and she was absolutely fine....Purred like a kitten, and was as smooth as silk all the way (at speeds up to 80). Turbo worked fine, no vibrations or pulls to one side, temp and oil pressure all normal, etc.... I'm going to put her up on jacks and give her a complete inspection over the next couple of days and also get the alignment checked, but I think thanks to a guardian angel, a good young driver, and a very solid car, my family avoided what could have been a lousy way to end a holiday weekend.

I can safely attest now that Volvo builds one hell of a car....period! I am definitely putting my youngest son in one when he starts to drive in 2 years.

Glenn

 

I am glad to hear that your sonis ok. you can be proud of him. ThisDrunk drivershould go to jail for attempting murder if you want my opinion.
My daughter just graduated and I have promised her a car, She will be driving my (her)Volvo.
Now I have to find myself another one.
AJ

 

Holy crap. Just 16, and has already been involved in a pretty major accident.

Was anyone hurt? Do you know what happened to the drunk (I hope they take his license)?

Tell your son, smart thinking to drive into the ditch. Looks like his parents raised him well.

 

The drunk went to jail after being treated for some steering wheel injuries, and the driver and passenger of the truck both got whiplash, but all in all, no one was seriously hurt...thank God. Yep, I'm pretty proud of the boy,

Glenn

 

Agreed, glad your son & the 850 were fine. I was also going to mention the inspection, but knowing you for a little while, Glenn, I knew you would go over what I would go over anyway.

It may be interesting to write about the story and send a letter to Volvo in Sweden, they would be thrilled to hear it too (but then they probably get that sort of applaud from all over the world). But you never know, they may send you a set of mugs with "Volvo. for Life" logo. I once wrote to a coffee company in Japan, commending their productsand they sent me a pack of coffee-flavoured candy.


JPN

 

Glad all is fine.
Yes a VERY smart son you got there and really good reflexes as well.

Glad the car came out fine as well.

Yes Volvo very solid,strong,and pretty good on the looks side as well.

Now you can really say "VOLVO FOR LIFE"

 

There seem to be many drunk drivers both in the States and Japan, and their common attitude is, "I'll be fine, it'll never happen to me". Not sure if they have some divine inspiration sent by the demon[8D].

BTW Glenn, what does "guy blew a .18 at the scene" mean? I haven't heard of this slang before[&:].

Toyota needs to build tougher trucks[8D].


JPN

 

Glenn, Glad to hear your son's ok.

JPN,

"Blew a .18" refers to his blood alcohol level... See the chart in the second section of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content

Basically, he's way too drunk to drive - definitely in the criminal range for most/all countries.

 

All,

Just watned to let you know I passed on everyones praise and best wishes to my son. He is completely over it and is even going out with his girl in the car tonight for a little while. My younger son was kind of interested in an older 240 sedan he saw that was in really good shape, now after the events with his older brother, he wants the car!

JPN, Good idea, I just might write and give the story to Volvo. Tech, Yep, I agree....Volvo for life!!

 

Pics?

 

Sorry, no pics, but Ill try to find the story in the on-line local paper andpost a link

Glenn

 

I think he meant pics of the 240 sedan your younger son is interested in...

 

Thanks 99VV70, appreciate it very much.

I personally think those people (drunk drivers who endanger others) deserve death sentence. The reason is, if they're let loose, they'll do it again. But if they receive death sentence, at least we can prevent the same person from doing it for 100%. Also, if they're put in jail, they'd be fed by the taxpayers' money (this money could be spent on something better, say, a cancer research). If I had a kid and was killed by a drunk driver, I wouldn't want the guy/gal to be on Earth.


JPN

 

Death sentence for DUI? In my country the local authorities would definitely abuse that to get rid of the opposition.

 

That makes it tough, Axel.


JPN