Originally posted by cindy:
I'm glad you were alright. It amazes me to see how many people that have been in a roll over accident with their Contours actually walk away. I really hope they insure you without any flack about racing it. I know my insurance will not cover the car if I'm racing. That's probably why I am a little afraid of pushing the car at some courses.
Cindy... I also wondered about the insurance. What's the story Rick?
And as for rollovers, I have to concur with Cindy on that one. I was in my Contour one day driving behind an older woman also in a Contour on a road that had a traffic light followed by a *very* gentle "s" bend. The speedlimit was 45, but she was going like 35 or so. As the road started to bend to the left, I thought about passing here on the following straight. As I thought that, she sped up to the speed limit so I thought all was well. But she failed turn to the left to match the bend in the road. I slowed a bit because I knew what was going to happen next... and it did.
She snapped to attention as soon as her wheels hit the gravel on the right. Unfortunately, she also snapped the steering wheel. That got the car majorly upset (loose) and it the car shot back off the gravel onto the pavement. She overcorrected and spun it backwards into the ditch on the right side and over it went.
There was surprisingly little damage to her Contour. She was (fortunately) ok. It probably didn't hurt that she scrubbed a lot of speed off in the manouever, nor did it hurt that she landed in a semi-swampy area (no standing water, but plenty of cattails). But it held up well.
I felt better about the Contour's rollover safety after that, and after watching Rick's which was a far more violent roll.
--Dave
