Yesterday my son was traveling north on I-5 at 70mph and fell asleep at the wheel of our '99 S70. He ended up into the guardrail and ran over a light pole. The airbags went off, the front end is toast and the windshield caved in. An off duty EMT came up and wondered about whether someone survived or not. My son walked away with only a scratch or 2 on his forearm. They took him to the hospital to check him out but even today he doesn't even report any soreness. I've already started looking for a replacement Volvo. It'll be my 7th Volvo - '92 960 wagon, 97 960 wagon, 97 S90, 99 S70, 2000 V70XC, 2001 V70T5, and the replacement, probably another S70. Sorry, no pictures yet.

Three weeks ago my son was back ended while driving my 2001 V70 (107K). The driver of the Saturn Vue that hit him admitted to traveling at 45mph when he hit my son. My son was unhurt and the wagon needed about $3800 worth of repairs to replace the tailgate (fiberglass btw) the bumper cover and a small amount of work to the spare tire well. All covered by the other drivers insurance!

It appears that the Vue's bumper went under the volvo bumper upon impact. The front end of the Vue was wiped out and it needed to be towed away.

Last Friday my son called and asked if I would believe if he told me had been hit from behind again?! This time he was driving HIS '98 S70 (222k)which I had handed down to him.

He was again unhurt, as was his girlfriend, and the 2004 Pontiac Grand Am that hit him was towed away. The S70 at first only appeared to have suffered a damaged bumper but upon noticing that the trunk lid was out of alignment I looked further and could see a small kink in the C-pillar, the frame is bent. Estimate of $5200 this time.

Well I am now shopping for a replacement vehicle for the S70, and while I agree that most new cars are pretty safe, my wife says we are not buying anthing but a Volvo for junior.

My sister died almost twenty years ago, less then a mile from where my son had that first accident, on the very same road. She was rear ended by a drunk driver while she was in a 3 series mazda.

I will not be arguing with my wife about this next car purchase. In some ways it seems my sister must be helping to look after my son!

May you and yours enjoy a long and safe lifetime on the roads, and trust me you never want to look back after an accident with regrets about the safety of the vehicle your loved ones are driving.

Dan,

Bummer about the S70.

I guess that your insurance company will total out the '98 since the repair exceeds book value.

My ''98 was rear-ended by an SUV years ago, probably +/- 35 mph at impact according to police, and the car did what it was supposed to do and protected my wife and me from any injury.

The progressive yielding of the structural components as the force of the impact moved toward the safety cage bent the frame as you described, creasing both C pillars, the roof and folding the L quarter panel. The trunk components, bumper, lights, etc. were toast.

My insurer, Liberty Mutual of Canada, agreed to fix it. It has served me faithfully since.

Glad that no one was injured.
Bryan

My next door neighbor's daughter took a left turn directly into the path of a 2007 Ford 250. She was driving a 1999 S70. Estimated head on speed about 75 mph. She suffered some facial burn from the air bag and a small bruise on her arm. Spend 3 hours in the hospital.

I have a 99 S70 GLT. My 15 year son already know it will be his. Same reason.

... and how did the Ford and its driver fare in the collision?

The ford was badly damaged and the driver had a broken leg, a minor concussion and internal bleeding. He recovered. The Volvo was totaled, but it looked like you would expect. It was crumpled along the front fenders, the engine was moved out of the way, air bags out ect. But from the passenger compartment back other than air bags deployed it looked good.

VOLVO - 1; FORD - 0

The Ford never had a chance. :-)

You just reminded me why I own mine - and I was considering trading it in due to the latest repair bill. I survived a front end collision on a very snowy night in 2004 - a woman ran a stop sign and I was able to slow down enough so I hit her instead of getting hit in the driver's side. Her Bronco was totalled and I had $10,000 in damage - but not a scratch, muscle pull, strain - nothing. I barely felt a thing as I saw the Bronco flip over twice and end up on its roof in a snow bank. The firemen told me what saved me from injury was the Volvo. I'm still driving it (93,000 miles to date.)

Over on volvocars.com, there is a section under owners that you should add to.

Meanwhile, start looking for a good car.

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/cto/1312452518.html

Klaus
--
The more I learn, the more I forget. So why learn?

Wonder how this story would have ended had it been a "sensible, environmentally friendly, green" Prius or Smart Car or Chevy Volt.

Your 99 S70 is only 3 MPG away from being defined as a "Clunker". Interested in trading it in?

They will have to pry my 98 T5 w/enhancements from my cold dead hands.

Well, I have seriously toyed with the idea of trading in my 1993 965 for a new car, but I'm a little leery about the quality of the newer cars, not so much the safety. All in all, I think the newer cars are at least as safe as our Volvos, especially with the addition of curtain airbags. True, if the strength is not there in the side pillars and door reinforcing, all the airbags in the world will probably not do a lot of good, but I have to think that the crash tests that IIHS does (along with others) at 40mph are a huge improvement due to the rigidity of the car's basic cage. In fact, if you look at models just a few years old, there is often a drastic improvement from one year to the next.

Thanks for the story. My daughter has the family 1999 V70 at graduate school, and yes, it does sound corny, but I'm glad she's driving it instead of some flimsy economy box. For your son, consider the 2001-2007 version of the V70. It gets top crash rating from NHTSA.

S,

Glad to here your son wasn't injured.

I agree with RK, that's the reason we put up with these high maintenance machines.

Bryan

Deep down that is why we all own a Volvo, self preservation. That is why we do Volvo preservation and upgrades. My daughter is driving my 96 850 wagon right now about three hours away and I just feel so much better knowing she is in one of the safest cars on the road, even though I bought it on E-Bay for a song.
Be Safe RK