im knew to the whole rx-7 gig, how does car go with crashes and safety, im hoping nobody got a chance to test it, but im sure somebody got unlucky, i myself got survived and total accident in a S2k hitting the center divider on the fwy going 70, and im happy to be alive, i know the rx-7 is not the safest car, but you know what i mean, i guess after the accident i cant help but ask.

 

The only thing Ive done was spin out and run into a dirt hill at around 60mph. No damage really, I just got a **** load of dirt and roots stuck in between my bumper and lip. Other than that the car was fine. I thought my bumper fell off or something. But that spin out scared the **** out of me and taught me not to go too fast in narrow places. I'm lucky i didnt crash into the median. My only tip is dont drive like an idiot so you wont have to worry about the safety issue.

 

Search for "crashed" or "wrecked" in the 3rd Gen section. Plenty of people have wrecked their cars and lived to tell about it. Some of them put up photos as well.

https://www.rx7club.com/search.php



https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/wrapped-fd-around-telephone-pole-349620/
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/wrecked-my-fd-162895/
http://mazdarecycling.com/inventory/..._1993-1995.asp

-s-

 

In a nutshell, the car will always get 100% destroyed, but the cabin frame holds up pretty well. It does pretty good for a 2800lb car. Some people have survived some bad accidents, but just as many have exceeded those capabilities and died in it. However, it will not do as well as newer sports cars.

I suggest you get some insurance quotes on the RX-7 compared to other sub-$20k cars.

Dave

 

I tested one. Guess it worked ok your reading this (car was totaled didn't buy it back) too much stuff broke, don;t think a corner was left untouched. High speed wet condition off road excursion, trees involved it was ugly the only positive thing is it wasn't a real sports car (Automatic)

 

^^ glad your alright

 

I've seen some pics of horribly mashed up FD and few injuries. The car seems to protect the occupants pretty well.

 

Damn, that sounds terrible. Man you need to be more careful. But like you said at least it was an automatic.

 

get a roll bar and 5-point harness installed and don't worry about it. Can anyone say Hans device.

 

Yep deffinately more carefull now. The auto I had was in perfect working order, when you hit transition in dry the backend would just lite up the rearend and in most cases start to drift around (this is where the screen name comes into play) when in heavey throttle you couldn't keep the car straight in 1st or 2nd gear. Oh well it's gone and two 5 speeds later I have a reliable modestly powered 5 speed.

 

I got a direct side hit by an 18 wheeler in middle of an intersection (him running the light) both of us doing about 35-40. car is totaled, but I didn't get a scratch or bruise - just an unconscious trip to the hospital.

most people tried to get me to get a bigger/safer car. in the end, i would say "well, i got hit by a truck and didn't get a scratch!".

on the down side, the air bag didn't go off.

 

rx7 is an crunchable aluminum coke can. but that is also what makes it safe.

 

I think that's the general consensus; it's safe, but at the cost of the car being reduced to a pile of junk. The only MAJOR concern I have w/ the FD are the pics of rollovers I've seen. The roof caves in horribly, giving me chills. Personally, I'm making sure I get a roll cage in, because the pics I've seen of FDs that have flipped made me cringe. Of course, some of that is because the speeds it takes to make an FD flip are prob a good explanation, but still...

 

Can you say "Far from suitable for street use" ??

 

Unless you're planning to wear a helmet every time you drive the car you need to keep the cage a long way away from your head.

 

I thought I would dig this up to help with the visualization of what just can happen to an RX-7 and why no one should think they are invincible when driving this car (or any other car)

https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...postcount=3605

Disclaimer: I understand that this piece of information may be sensitive to some forum members, so I apologize if I stepped on any toes.

 

If it's adequately padded, I don't think that's the case.

 

They are generally very good at giving the means to avoid accidents though.

 

You expected the air bag to deploy during a side impact?

 

Initial impact was on the front drivers side fender/wheel/bumper. If I'm not mistaken, there are 4 (maybe 5) airbag sensors - two on the front, and one on each bumper edge. Given the force of the impact, I would think the side sensor would have caused it to go off.

On the plus side, now I can sell a steering wheel with airbag in tact!

 

Nope. The 3 sensors are spread across the front end and all 3 of them must reach a certain threshold before triggering the airbag in the steering wheel. This means that only an impact fully on the front will trigger the bag.

 

Well, there are 3 sensors in the front and one under the dash. However, only one of the three front sensors AND the dash sensor must be triggered (I would assume the g-level on the dash sensor triggers at a lower threshold, it's intended to prevent airbag deployment from just a parking lot fender crunch by measuring that the car itself is deaccelerating in a crash not just a body panel). Also the sensors are longitudinal g-force sensitive, thus a side or angled inpact on the front fender may not trigger it.

 

http://railgun69.homeip.net/Gallery/...2-The%20wreck/

From almost three years ago to the day (9/25/02). Hit at about 20-40 (I can't remember exactly) or so into some medium brush and small trees. Air bags didn't deploy.

 

I haven't see the member who used this avitar around lately, but he was basically uninjured in this rollover.

Hope he doen't mind me posting it.

I suspect he used it as an avitar to remind himself how close we are to disaster, and to use restraint!

 

DCrosby right?