My Saturn Ion saved my life!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Okay, it’s been about a week and I finally feel comfortable writing this thread…

Set the WayBack machine to October 4, 2007, a day that will live in minor infamy…

I knew it was going to be a bad day, on the drive in to work, a large pebble was kicked up from a RV, and bounced off the Ion’s windshield, I was expecting a bullet break or star breakm but no damage occured, however, that pebble impact set in motion a set of events that would culminate in the live-test of the Saturn Ion’s spaceframe…

fast forward through a mundane day at work, nothing memorable except for one of my favorite customers coming in to drop off her MacBook for an optical drive replacement, we chat a bit and she leaves

I get in the Ion, buckle up, and head home, on the drive home, (7:00 PM, quite dark out) I decide to take a backroad just for fun, muscle-memory has me glance down to where the speedometer should be, behind the steering wheel, I then realize, oh yeah, it’s over ther…HOLY CRAP!, as my eyes return to the road, I see a Jeep Cherokee stopped dead in front of me, no brake lights on, no turn signal, in the middle of the road (Route 236 in Eliot Maine)

I stab the brakes, speed drops to around 25 MPH and dropping, and swerve to the right, it looks like I’m going to make it…

…WHAM!!!

I strike their right rear quarterpanel, crap, guess I didn’t make it

…at this point, time slows down and I become very analytical…

okay, I’ve just been in an accident and my car is sliding towards the edge of the road, keep the brakes on, and try to steer the car to a halt…

oh great the car’s now sliding off the road and down an embankment, well I guess I should countersteer to prevent the car from rolling over…

Okay, I’ve now come to a stop in a gully, let’s take stock of the situation… I’m not injured, the airbags have not deployed, time to try out the OnStar Emergency button…

it worked as advertised, they had emergency vehicles enroute in minutes, so I got out through the passenger side, and went up to check on the Jeep people

the good news was no one was injured, and the Jeep had minor rear quarterpanel damage, but the Ion needed to be wreckered out of the gully and towed away, emotionally, I was devistated and everyone there was afraid for my mental health, as I was clearly suffering from shell-shock…

during the vehicle recovery and the police interviewing and information gathering, almost everyone was asking me what kind of car mine was, as no one expected me to emerge from the car without even a scratch, needless to say, I think I sold a lot of people on the durability and safety of Saturn cars that evening

Oh, did I happen to mention that Oct. 4 is my Birthday?, what a present to give myself, a car accident and complete mental breakdown…

on the upside, my insurance company got me right into a rental, and the car is repairable, the body shop says this is a light impact, the spaceframe wasn’t compromised and it was basically cosmetic damage and suspension damage, all replaceable componentry

basically, the side of the car from the side of the headlight back to the drivers side door was damaged, the body panels shattered and broke away, but aside from that, no major structural damage, if you looked at the car side-on from the passenger side, you coldn’t even tell it was in an accident

the Saturn spaceframe works, and works brilliantly well, the fact that I was able to walk away without even a scratch from an accident that basically removed the front half of the driver’s side of the car is a true testament to the safety of the Saturn design

in two weeks or so, I should be back on the road in my Saturn, I miss her already, I’m stuck in a boring, mundane Chevy Malibu rental until then

things I’ve learned from this

accidents happen, so don’t beat myself up for getting in an accident
Route 236 apparently is notorious for this kind of accident, it’s a long, straight, level road, and people are known for sitting at an intersection waiting to turn with their foot off the brakes (hence no brake lights)
my unfamiliarity with the offset gauge cluster was a major factor in this accident, the time it took for a glance down to where the cluster “should” be, then over to the cluster and then back up was enough to cause the accident
Seat Belts save lives, I used to be lax about seatbelts (I was wearing one the day of the accident, but I wasn’t religious about it, some days I wouldn’t wear one), but now, every time i get into a car, the first thing I do is buckle up
the Saturn Spaceframe works, it really works, as does OnStar Emergency Response
cars are replaceable/repairable, people aren’t, the most important thing here is that no one was injured

2

About the use of seat belts, when you get a chance raise a glass to this guy for inventing them.

Glad you are OK.

3

Man, I just can’t wrap my mind around that one. I’ve seen all sorts of idiotic driver behavior over the years, but that’s a new one on me. Stopped right there in the middle of the road without your brake light on … They may as well just buy a bumper sticker that says “Please Rear End Me!”. Daaaayyyyyum.

Hope things have improved somewhat since the 4th. :slight_smile:

4

I’m delighted no one was hurt and that your car performed so well in the, well, crunch!

I am also happy to hear you’ll be buckling up henceforth.

Were I you, I’d be buying some lottery tickets.

Clearly you are a very lucky person!

5

Did you even get a chance to peel off the window sticker after you bought the car? :smack:

Good to know everyone’s unharmed and that the car is repairable. I’m guessing that Neon would have wadded itself up in a little ball with you in it at the bottom of the gully. At least the firefighters would have an easy time on the extrication - two of them could just grab the frame with their hands and pull. No jaws of life needed. :smiley:

6

It’s funny, I’ve always heard about the difficulty people who have been in an accident had getting back behind the wheel, I always thought they were exaggerating, or just being drama-queens…

they weren’t, for at least three or four days after the accident, I had trouble getting behind the wheel myself, the very thought of driving…unnerved me… heck, the Sunday after the accident, I almost wanted to park the tractor and run away while I was mowing the lawn (we have a large lawn and use a Kubota G5200 garden tractor to mow the lawn, takes me about 2 hours to do the entire lawn)

the idea of driving made me sick to my stomach

however, I’m now past that, while I don’t enjoy driving as much as I used to, neither am I white-knuckled when behind the wheel anymore

of course, part of the reason that I’m not enjoying driving as much now is quite simply that the rental car is rather mundane, leans more to the “luxury” side of the driving equation than the Ion, which leans more to the “Sporty” side, the fact that the rental is a sludgebox doesn’t help matters much either

I guess it’s good that the rental is mundane though, it’ll help me get back my “driving legs”

…I’m still shifting it manually though, using the “Manumatic” “Low” transmission setting and going up/down through the gears sequentially, I really don’t trust automatics, I feel like some of my control over the car (specifically, the gear ratios) is missing, and it just feels…wrong, and I hate it

oh well, crap happens, and in two weeks, I’ll be back in the Saturn :slight_smile:

7

Oh yeah, and Gotpasswords, I have been thinking, replaying the crash in my mind, and have come to the following conclusion…

all things happen for a reason, I was meant to get the Saturn, and was damn lucky it performed as admirably as it did

had I been in the Neon, with it’s rotting subframe and failing ball joints and tie rods, the accident would have been a HECK of a lot worse, I probably would have sustained injuries, potentally heavy injuries, and the car would be totalled and absolutely useless

Had I purchased the used Scion xB, the vehicle would have probably rolled over in the emergency maneuver, or when I went into the gully, that vehicle would also be totalled and I’d be stuck paying off the loan for a vehicle that was dead and totalled, and I’d need another vehicle to replace it

all things considered, I was meant to get the Saturn

8

Too bad it wasn’t a Volvo, you could have joined their club!

9

Am I the only one that feels like the Saturn’s offset cluster is what caused the accident in the first place? I’d think keeping it standard would be a good idea.

Glad you are OK, though!

10

I’m so glad to know that you are alright, MacTech, and also that your Saturn performed exactly as it should have. That OnStar is pretty nifty, huh? Hugs coming your way!

11

Whew. The most I’ve done is a 180 onto the shoulder and that shook me up bad. I’m glad you’re OK! And I know what you mean about loosening up again behind the wheel.

12

Glad you’re okay. Must have been scary.

Here’s another testimonial. My wife was in my '93 SL2, in the center of town on a Sunday afternoon. She drove through an intersection with a green light, wasn’t even the first car through, and wham. Some moron went through the red light and hit her dead on in the driver’s side door. I got there in time to see her loaded onto the ambulance - but she was out of the emergency room in three hours. She went to some physical therapy, but nothing major. The guy at the body shop where it was taken (totalled, of course) said it was the worst crash he had ever seen without a major injury. The frame saved her also.

I naturally got another SL 2. That was almost 10 years ago, and it’s still going strong. I’m happy to hear that the Ions are just as good.

13

I’m definitely convinced the offset cluster was the cause of the accident, as I’m a safe driver, this is my first accident, and I always drive conservatively, my muscle memory was trained to glance down to check speed, that’s what I did, and the second or so delay to glance over to the offset cluster then up was definitely the primary cause

the secondary cause was unfamiliarity with the emergency handling characteristics of the car

it’ll just take some time to get used to the offset cluster, and I’ll need to find an empty parking lot to practice emergency handling maneuvers in

thanks for the well wishes, i’m still a tiny bit shook up, but i’m almost all better now, as stated in my OP, the important thing is no one was hurt

I’m also a bit annoyed that Saturn is no longer going to be making the spaceframe/polymer panel design and going to a more conventional sheetmetal panel design, the spaceframe design has numerous advantages

14

I hadn’t connected it with it being the poster with the new Saturn! I’m so glad you’re all right.

And Voyager, I’m glad to hear your story, because I’m driving a 10-year-old SL2!

15

Glad you are OK.

I had a '94 Saturn SC2 let me walk away from a nasty wreck. I was broadsided at about 30 mph. The car was trashed, but all I had were a few bruises and a need for some minor physical therapy.

My mom has an Ion, so I am glad that they protect the way they should.

16

My sister just totaled her Saturn recently, too!

She was trying to change to the left lane on the freeway and did not see that the cars in front of her had either slowed enough or stopped so that she rear ended someone. It was heavy traffic at a difficult merge and exit combination.

The side curtain airbags went off but not the driver’s airbag. The front end crumpled nicely. She only suffered a slight seatbelt rub to the neck. Yay, Saturn.

17

Glad you’re OK. I’ve been in a similar situation and I know how amazing it is to walk away.

18

I’ve had a Saturn Ion a couple of years now and I agree that it takes a while to get used to the speedometer placement. Lucky for me that it was practically my first car, so that muscle memory hadn’t been in place for years.

Now if I get into another car I automatically look at the clock. I’ve said to myself, “why do I keep looking at what radio station it’s on?” Then I remembered that’s where my speedometer would be on my car.

Habits are hard to break sometimes.

19

The Saturn is a pretty safe car. My scariest wreck, hands down, was in a 96 Saturn. Some pulled out in front of the car in front of me. I might have been able stop except for the car behind me slamming into me. I bounced off the car in front and careened into oncoming traffic where I was hit again. Walked away without a scratch. Even drove it home(slowly. It was totaled after all. Frame bent)

20

Is there any explanation for why the instruments are over to the side instead of in front of you? If God had wanted us to look to the side while we were driving he would have given us herbivore eyes.