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Safety for '94 Geo Metro (potential new owner) - any accidents to refer?
Topic Started: Jul 2 2015, 03:20 AM (2,468 Views)
Stubby79
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Mythstae
Jul 2 2015, 01:14 PM
BillHoo
Aug 11 2013, 07:52 PM
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That's ironic. There's my metro (or close enough) and there's my wife's SUV!

Maybe she has something planned for me? :scared
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Mythstae
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SUV was not at fault, nor, I believe, even involved.
The driver at fault was in a Ford F-150, driving on a revoked license.
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Metromightymouse
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Powdercoat Wizard

And the Metro was stopped in traffic on the freeway. Another high speed impact.
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Car Nut
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If you're worried about the early model, kiss your down pymt money goodbye & find a later model, or see if the dealer will find you one & buy it instead.
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perfesser
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner

Metromightymouse
Jul 2 2015, 04:00 AM
... By contrast, any year Metro is safer than an air cooled Beetle,and likely many cars built in that era, ...
I did a small offset impact test once in my '63 Beetle. (That's the test most of the companies now are having trouble passing.) Northbound '77 Buick LaBarge turned in front of me as I entered the intersection heading south. We hit right headlight to right headlight. I saw his headlights flash in front of me, turned the wheel 90 degrees to the right and aimed for the brake pedal but never made it. He was doing about 15, and I was doing 25.

When he hit, it pushed the right front wheel up through the floor into the passenger foot well. I had installed lap seat belts in the Bug when I bought it, and they saved my life! If I'd put in 3-point shoulder harnesses (which didn't really exist then) I might have avoided injury altogether. As it was, as I turned the wheel I was thrown forward and the seat belt hinged me at the waist. (Otherwise I'd have had a steering column implant as I went through the windshield :O :O ) I went forward, but still had a death grip on the steering wheel. I snapped the two sides (2-spoke wheel, turned 90 degrees) and wrapped them around the steering column. That just left the spoke vertical and I broke it off with my nose. The resulting traumatic brain injury knocked me out of school for a year and really messed my head up.

The safest Metro is the one in the garage. You can drive as defensively as possible, but it only takes one idiot with your number on his license plate to mess up your whole day!

I drive a Metro, but my other car is a tank!
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Metromightymouse
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Powdercoat Wizard

Thought of that story when I posted it. As well as several others I heard (or saw the end result of) when I was in the Beetle scene.
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Tim Keith


I bent a steering wheel in a square shape when I was rear ended by a Tahoe, not in a Metro. The rear end hit scares me the most as I can only watch the ongoing vehicle slam into the car. I blacked out from the impact and woke up in a helicopter.
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perfesser
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Elite Member - Former Metro owner

Tim Keith
Jul 2 2015, 10:50 PM
... The rear end hit scares me the most as I can only watch the ongoing vehicle slam into the car. ...
Stopped in traffic once I heard tires squealing, looked in the mirror and watched an enormous blue aircraft carrier dock in the rear bumper of the guy behind me. I was driving a '68 Mercury Monterey, the car behind me was a Dodge Dart, and the one moving was a brand new '73 Cadillac Eldorado. I clamped down harder on the brakes and watched everything go into slo-mo.

The Dodge was pushed into my rear end and buckled up about a foot in the middle. I was pushed forward from the impact about 3'. Being young and fit I was unhurt but my mother had a bad whiplash that bothered her for many years. The Caddy was a new model that should not have been shown in public yet, but a salesman just couldn't resist taking it for a quick spin, knowing he could sneak it back in and no one would be any the wiser. It and the Dart were both totaled.
Edited by perfesser, Jul 3 2015, 02:17 AM.
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Old Man


I would rather die while living than live as tho I am already dead..........

If you are that afraid of driving a Metro then don't purchase one. Matter of fact If you are that afraid then don't ever get in a car. Sit at home watching TV and shiver every time you think of doing anything outside of your front door.
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Cobrajet25
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Stubby79
Jul 2 2015, 12:10 PM
Eh, look at it this way...as long as you don't get T-boned on the driver's side, you'll be fine.
In around 2005, my little brother got T-boned on the driver's door in my former 1995 4/5 sedan by a drunk woman who punched a four-way stop in a late model Hyundai Accent. She was doing about 30 mph, and it spun his car around a full 360 degrees.

He walked away, but it was essentially one 2000-ish pound car hitting another. Metro was totaled, of course, only a month or so after I had sold it to him (and put new tires on it!).

Wish I still had it. Had I known how relatively hard to find 4/5s are, I would have kept it. But I am glad it protected him the way it did.

The later ones are much safer, and at only a small penalty with regard to fuel economy.
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EnergyLiger
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Metromightymouse
Jul 2 2015, 04:00 AM
Of course that accident is probably fatal for 90% of vehicles on the road...

The truth is that the car, at the time of manufacture, met the minimum crash requirements of that time. 1995 model year brought several safety improvements so it is safer. By contrast, any year Metro is safer than an air cooled Beetle,and likely many cars built in that era, and plenty of them are still used as daily transportation. It is all a question about acceptable risk and where that line is for you. As for putting Ir bags in a car not designed for them is certainly possible. Having them work as expected without having an engineer design the system is fairly unlikely. Loads of unintended consequences with potentially fatal results possible.
Ahhh, alright. I can agree with the air bag consequences :hiding
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EnergyLiger
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ZXTjato
Jul 2 2015, 09:44 AM
just drive fast youll be fine :lol

i was rear ended in my blue metro, my body bent the seat down to the back seat, so the impact of the other car was enough for me to fold a seat.

another member was driving his RHD metro and a snow bird pulled in front of him the front end crash was enough so his hands bent the steering wheel. i had to cut the engine out of this car.

i have a white GT (same differance) and it was in a rear quarter accident, the door wont close that well and front right window/roof beam is kinked pretty bad.

so you know your riding a motorcycle with a windshield and Air conditioning, treat a metro like you would ride your motorcycle.
Ahhh, alright! :thumb
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EnergyLiger
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geogonfa
Jul 2 2015, 10:06 AM
Just my .02...if air bags are a concern, the only way is for a srs system from a 91-93 convertible (driver side only)... :type
Eh, I don't own a convertible due to the safety of it flipping over and crushing. Wonder if those could be installed in a 94 metro :gp
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EnergyLiger
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Murf 59
Jul 2 2015, 10:18 AM
That semi would have killed anyone in any car hitting it that fast.
:drool :lol :cheers
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EnergyLiger
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Bad Bent
Jul 2 2015, 10:47 AM
Welcome to your new forum, EnergyLiger! :coffee

geogonfa
Jul 2 2015, 10:06 AM
Just my .02...if air bags are a concern, the only way is for a srs system from a 91-93 convertible (driver side only)... :type


If staying alive is a concern then there are a lot of common activities that you should stop doing. :-/

You say... "Watching the crash test video at 40mph for the geo metro has left me quite unnerved."

Watching the crash test video of the 1998 Ford Expedition Sled-Rollover Crash Test has left me quite unnerved. :scared



Well, not really unnerved... actually it is kind of funny in a sick and twisted sort of way. When we lived in McCall, Idaho the invincible SUVs would all feel so safe and protected until they hit a patch of ice with their 'I can drive on anything' 4 wheel drive and they wound up in a ditch or up against a snow bank.

I'd match the driving skills of any Geo Metro Forum member against most SUV and truck drivers, and win.

Try: Front Wheel Drive tricks
:lol :lol
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