My wife was hit by an Elantra. Both cars were totaled. As much as I loved the 2012 Fit I was blown away that such a small hit would total the car. Its time to move on to a bigger car. I loved the forums and you guys have been great help.

Spam... I do have the rubber floor mats and a hitch if anyone is interested.


I'm thinking a CRV might be our next car.

 

All cars, including CRVs are unitized body construction with clever designs to flex during impact, absorbing energy. This makes damage extensive and expensive to repair. On the other hand, as your wife can attest (hope she's ok!) it reduces the possibility of injury. The Elantra is a heavier car and it fared no better, apparently.

Anyway, if it's time to move on to a bigger car that's great.

For comparison, here's a recent photo of another collision involving a Fit and an SUV in an offset impact. The SUV seemed to be in worse shape (although the Blazer is a truck with a conventional ladder frame, they could probably bolt on a new fender, grill, replace the wheel, and go hunting for more Fits)! Complete thread.

 

Don't get me wrong. I loved our Fit. The Elantra was in worse shape and their airbags deployed. The Fits airbags did not.

 

None of them? Then none of the sensors were triggered based on the impact. It takes a certain amount of force and points of impact around the car to trigger the appropriate air bags(front, side, curtain, etc).

And like mentioned above, don't let size fool you. There are plenty of compact and mid size cars that do worse in crashes than the Fit or other sub-compacts. Size does play a role, but design is what makes all the difference. You'd be surprised what you might consider a minor collision, can total a car. Better the car take the impact and kinetic energy, than your body. That's why when I hear people say "they don't build cars like they used to!" I say THANK GOODNESS they don't!!!

 

None of the airbags went off in the Fit. Both front airbags went off in the Elantra. The front end of the Elantra hit the drivers front corner. The axle was broke, the transmission had a hole in it and it needed $7000 in body repair.

 

The senors are set up for a direct hit to the bumper, but obviously that didn't happen. I'm guessing based on the hit, the Fit got spun?

 

Oh rear end collision, yeah no airbags needed probably.

 

Front end collision. The front driver's corner was hit so hard the rear of the car went in the air and spun 90 degrees. It was a hard hit.

 

That sucks man, I'm glad your wife is ok. You never mentioned if she was.... so I'm assuming she is. My cousin has a new CRV and loves it. You can't go wrong with it. They seem to be selling like hot cakes and holding their value really well. Only bad thing about the new CRV is that they don't sell a MT AWD model anymore. You know the AWD system is proven too. They actually changed the 2013 Acura RDX SH-AWD back to the CRV style All-Wheel Drive with Intelligent Control system for the 2014 RDX model. If it's good enough for Acura . I think it's only 10% or 25% to the rear when the front slips, but it seems to work. I'm still kinda of frustrated that we don't have an AWD option for our FIT.

 

Wife is ok. She was super bruised and is having a hard time driving right now though. She is a little gun shy.

She saw a WRX today and loves it. Its not much bigger than the Fit! What the heck. I don't understand women.

 

AH nope they are set up and monitor all kinds of physical impact forces not just a direct hit to the bumper. If they were just set up for a direct hit to the bumper how would the side airbags go off?

 

I'm pretty surprised the airbags didn't go off. A few of my buddies said I should have Honda look at the car to see what happened. In this case Im glad they didn't go off, but with such a hard hit Im surprised they didn't.

 

Again, its not about how hard the hit is, but where it's hit that matterr for airbag deployment.

 

What should matter most for airbag deployment is how the passenger cabin of the car is accelerated. Their purpose is to keep your soft bits (moved by their inertia) from smacking into the hard bits of the car. It's entirely possible that the bumper could be destroyed and the airbags would have no need to deploy...and also that the bumper could suffer little or no damage and the airbags would be of use, say if the axle or undercar framework was snagged by something immovable.

The sensors that deploy the airbags are not perfect, of course, and probably are affected more or less by where the car hits rather than what forces the hit applies to the car; but there's more involved than just a switch in the bumper.

At any rate, it's very good to hear that the protection mechanisms and crumple zones in the car worked as designed and protected your wife—and, I assume, likewise for the other driver. IMHO breaking an axle, puncturing the transmisson, being spun around in the air, and causing extensive body damage is hardly a "small" collision; there's a lot of kinetic energy in a car moving even at comparatively slow speeds.

Good luck with your car shopping. There's lots of decent vehicles to choose from these days, and plenty of advantages (and drawbacks) to larger vehicles. I hope whatever you end up with works out really well for you.

 

Crv is based on a civic, the gas mileage will suffer a lot. The new Crv is not exactly attractive.

Consider an accord, camry, or acura tsx if you can afford. Thos are some of the safest cars.

 

If anyone wants these rubber floor mats, cargo mat, or Drawtite hitch let me know. I need to get rid of them or they are going in the garbage.

 

Ill take them

 

Glad your wife is OK.
As for the FIT was totaled, I personally would prefer that. The main thing is that the car protected the occupants. Any car that's been hit and repaired will never be the same again.