Last night, a friend of mine was driving his VW Golf on Highway 20 going about 70 MPH when he reached down for a Gatorade bottle and ended up drifting onto the gravel shoulder. He tried to correct it but lost control and rolled into the ditch at least five times according to witnesses. He hadn't been drinking or anything.

Luckily, he was wearing a seatbelt and the airbags went off. If you look at the roof on the passenger side, it's dented in pretty deep. Another friend of mine almost rode with him but had to change plans at the last minute. If he had ridden with him, he probably wouldn't be here today. Scary stuff.

He ended up walking away from the scene with minor injuries after briefly losing consciousness. They had to take him to the hospital to pull glass out of his head and hands and put his arm in a sling, but otherwise nothing was broken. He definitely had luck on his side that night.

Moral to the story: wear your seatbelt! It saved his life.

Edited November 5, 200619 yr by mustang84

(That's no Jetta! Whatchoo smokin', boy?) :AH-HA_wink:

Damn Stang, I mean, I'm glad your friend's ok, but it's sad to see a GTI 1.8t destroyed. They are awesome little buggies.

Edited November 5, 200619 yr by ocnblu

I'm glad to hear he's okay. Tell him to get a new GTI... stability control and curtain airbags are standard. And it's 80% stiffer.

Edited November 5, 200619 yr by empowah

I don't know a whole lot about VW's....what exactly is a GTI? Is it a Golf or a Jetta? It looks like a Golf, but I think his was an '03 and I didn't think they were selling Golfs here in the US back then. Me confused...

I think it's good to get in wrecks in German cars, which are generally well-built.

The GTI is based on the Golf, which was known as the Rabbit in its first and current generations in the U.S. The Jetta was always a sedan or wagon version of the Golf.

Ouch. Glad he's alright.

As far as wearing a seatbelt, I definitely agree. I just find it funny that the two family members of mine that were in serious accidents (my mom with the Blazer and my cousin with his old Firebird), both were better off not wearing a seatbelt.

Yikes! Poor car, good thing your friend is ok. Yep, seatbelts are important to wear, it's one of the rules I have for people riding in my car.

Holy $h! that was a wreck. You aint kidding either about luck being on his side.

Something made those dents where they and its a good thing no one was there

when it happened.

Great to hear everyone walked away. As corny as it sounds seatbelts do

save lives. As bad as it was it wouldve been worse.

Thats just common sense.

The only way the car can protect you is if you are in place for the safety systems to work. Too many variables if you are flying around unbelted in the car. He could very well have been thrown through the sunroof and crushed if he had not been belted in. Also, it looks like the right side B-and C-pillars did hold up pretty well where a passenger's head would have been. They're folded over some, but not flattened.

I found my '00 GTI (silver with black leather, just like this one) to have a very solid body structure. These gruesome pictures confirm that. This was a 70 mph crash. The car did very well, I'd say.

After this, if I were your friend, I'd have another VW. They're very stoutly made cars.

Edited November 5, 200619 yr by ocnblu

I guess you're right Ocn, but I wouldn't have wanted to be his passenger.