Totalled my LPG 1.4

D

Dougie444

A2OC Donor
I have lost my beloved A2.

I was keen to keep it for sentimental reasons as I had sourced it for my mum. When she could no longer drive

I was keen to keep it in the family and had it converted.

Before the insurance company took it away I liberated the tax disk, LPG system, and a set of set of High performance 10mm HT leads.

Sad to lose it but consider myself lucky to have gotten away with just a couple of bruises.

Thanks for all the help and support that I have had from the group.
 
Sorry to hear that mate but you walked away with no real problems so good times overall. You can be back in another one soon if you wanted. :cool:
 
Dougie444 said:
I have lost my beloved A2.

I was keen to keep it for sentimental reasons as I had sourced it for my mum. When she could no longer drive

I was keen to keep it in the family and had it converted.

Before the insurance company took it away I liberated the tax disk, LPG system, and a set of set of High performance 10mm HT leads.

Sad to lose it but consider myself lucky to have gotten away with just a couple of bruises.

Thanks for all the help and support that I have had from the group.
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Very sorry to hear that, hope you weren't hurt too badly. May I ask what happened? I take it that you having extracted the LPG system and other bits means you'll be back in an A2 again?



Cheers
Sarge
 
Thanks for al the kind comments.

It is after all only a car, (glad me and more importantly the wife were unharmed) first car crash proper that I can recall in 35 years. We were hit side on and spun 180 degrees around and backwards yet the airbags didn't go off!

I couldn't bear the thought of my LPG system going to waste in a scrap yard and hope to fit it to another A2.

Prices of A2's seem to vary a lot so we will see what the Insurance company says.
 
...that sounds nasty, glad neither of you were badly hurt.

I've always wondered about airbags. I remember reading somewhere (poss a VW Lupo manual) that they need replacing after 10 years....In fact that Lupo was hit badly enough from the rear to write it off and none of those 4 bags went off either...they obviously require quite a shunt to deploy.
 
CaptVimes said:
In fact that Lupo was hit badly enough from the rear to write it off and none of those 4 bags went off either...they obviously require quite a shunt to deploy.
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Hi,

Airbags are not designed to go off when you are hit from the rear, they would offer no protection and actually cause more harm than good.
Airbags are supposed to only go off to when you are thrown forward (or sideways if it is a side airbag).

So rear end shunts very rarely trigger the bags (unless the rear end shunt pushes you into a car at the front).

Steve B
 
The original VW guidance was for airbags to be changed every 14 years. However this was a sort of best guess.
After reviewing various airbags and testing them outside of this timeframe the advice was changed such that they only require replacement if faulty or deployed.
I think Volvo and SAAB for example never limited the life of them and regarded them as a part for the life of the car from their first installation.
 
Birchall said:
Hi,

Airbags are not designed to go off when you are hit from the rear, they would offer no protection and actually cause more harm than good.
Airbags are supposed to only go off to when you are thrown forward (or sideways if it is a side airbag).

So rear end shunts very rarely trigger the bags (unless the rear end shunt pushes you into a car at the front).

Steve B
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Steve got in just before me :p. Front and side airbags rarely go off from rear end shunt, unless that shunt involves other additional impact from side or front direction as well.

Think about it, your body is thrown into the direction of the impact, therefore a straight and clean rear shunt will throw you backwards, and no use for the front airbags to be deployed. Is there any cars with rear airbags?! :)


Cheers
Sarge
 
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John L said:
The original VW guidance was for airbags to be changed every 14 years. However this was a sort of best guess.
After reviewing various airbags and testing them outside of this timeframe the advice was changed such that they only require replacement if faulty or deployed.
I think Volvo and SAAB for example never limited the life of them and regarded them as a part for the life of the car from their first installation.
Click to expand...

that's good news
 
Dougie444 said:
..... We were hit side on and spun 180 degrees around and backwards yet the airbags didn't go off!
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The point of impact was at the front nearside at the wheel/wing area which is why we were spun around and back the way we came.

We were both flung towards the nearside of the of the car with bruising to my wife as she hit the passenger door and to my right knee as it was flung to my left impacting on the steering column underside (I have short stumpy legs and have the seat near because of this).

As I said we both consider ourselves lucky but if it had been 3 feet further back would the Airbags have gone off?

The guy who collected it said that he collects a lot of write off cars where the airbags don't go off.
 
I'm intrigued by how well A2s stand up in accidents. Do you by any chance have a photo of the damage? Not being morbid but interested to know how well they perform.
 
That's what the seat backs and "head restraints" are for. Was it Saab, or Volvo, who designed an active head restraint that moved forwards in an impact to reduce the whiplash on the neck?

As posted elsewhere, airbags don't go off for any old shunt, but deploy in certain pre-defined crash scenarios above a certain deceleration threshold - heavy forward impacts, and if you have side-guard bags, some side impacts.

Sarge said:
Is there any cars with rear airbags?! :)


Cheers
Sarge
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Here's a couple from my archive to show how strong this space frame is :)

Exhibit2.jpg Exhibit1.jpg




Cheers
Sarge
 
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how did the car end up in the water? have i missed something here? did the car fly off bridge and into the water????

very lucky if it did!!!

cammy
 
Mr Angry said:
how did the car end up in the water? have i missed something here? did the car fly off bridge and into the water????

very lucky if it did!!!

cammy
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These pics are not the original posters, I uploaded them to show the strength of the A2. Yes this car in the pictures has gone off the bridge and landed in the water below, but hasn't deformed quite as much as some others would have, keeping the essential cabin area intact.

Cheers
Sarge
 
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Here are the photos of the damage to my A2, bit of an anti-climax after the 'bridge' photos.

Sorry for the delay but Flckr chose to recycle my account as I was not 'active' enough, no such problem with Photobucket.





 
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