I couldn’t find a thread to post such information so here it is…… Last August, we traded in our Honda Accord for our new Expy for its roominess to haul people and foremost for its “best all-around package among mainstream full-size SUVs.” As for its safety rating, I heard the salesman mentioned that it did pretty well in a crash test. That just made the purchase an icing on the cake. Little did we know that we would soon be verifying Ford’s claim for receiving the highest government rating on frontal crash tests.

Well, past December, on our way to Orlando for a Christmas Family Reunion, my wife and my son got into an accident on I95 in Jacksonville (I was driving in another car in front of them). My wife lost control of her Expy hitting the center guardrail and then ricocheting to the right across the slower lanes and then crashing into a huge tree head-on. Strangely as it maybe driving in front of her, I didn’t witness nor hear the accident. Well, to make a long story short, after realizing she wasn’t behind me, I received a call from her cell phone (she was crying hysterically about my son); I quickly raced back to the scene of the accident.

At the scene, my wife was shaken up a bit. She suffered only a small bruise vicinity of her pelvic bone (possibly from the seatbelt). As for my son (12years old), he seemed calm. He was comforting his mother as I was arriving at the scene. His comment, he thought it was kool, but wouldn’t want to go through it again. Thank god for their safety. After listening to the stories from the witnesses, the Highway Patrol and the emergency crew’s disbelief that the accident wasn’t fatal, I strongly credit Ford’s Engineers for developing an awesome SUV.

As for the Expy’s personal safety system, we can vouch for it. The tree that they hit wasn’t going anywhere (traveling 70-80mph). The tree trunk was almost as wide as the Expy’s front. The impact took out the grill only sparing the headlights. The frontal crumple zone absorbed the impact, which spared the engine from damage. The accident resulted in over $19K in damages, which includes replacing the frame, the front end etc… (All though majority of the cost is labor intensive). After 6 long weeks at Ford’s collision center, we’ll be picking it up this weekend. Awesome!

In closing, majority of the folks at the scene attributed my family’s survival to luck; however, I beg to differ. After studying the impact area, it’s clear that the frontal crumple zone coupled with the management system for seat belts and deployment energy for the airbags spared my family from harms way. Therefore, hats off to FORD! I thought I share our experience on this forum because it maybe helpful information to new buyers in the market for an SUV. And for current Expy owners, it confirms that we have a DARN good truck. I'll post pics later.

 

Good news! Glad to hear that everyone is fine.

 

I suffered a similar incident, thanks to engineering and good old physics (mass) all were fine. I wouldn't want to go through a similar incident in a neon (or similar), which kind of makes me feel sorry for those who may not be able to afford such safety.

 

Thanks for sharing. It's reassuring to hear how well the vehicle's safety features performed under such extreme circumstances. Very good to know your family is fine...

 

I can't wait to see the pics!!

Glad your family is okay!

 

Had a similar experience. My son was driving our 3 month old 03 Expy and lost control and hit a renforced concrete sign. He's a student driver so was more my fault than his. We hit the sign about 35 to 40 mph. Impact smashed the front end almost to the firewall and sheared off one of the front wheels. He had a stiff neck and I had a sprained ankle. Even though it broke the dash loose, the airbags did not deploy! I can tell you those crumple zones really work. Poor baby was totaled. Now have an 04 EB. And no, junior is going to have a few more hours behind the wheel before he gets a crack at this one!!

 

Glad to hear that all of you were OK!

At least we know that the crumple zones really works.

 

I am curious as to why people are "losing control" of the vehicle....
A thing to do would be to determine why these accidents occured and then to take steps to make sure that they don't happen again. Relying on safety systems can be dangerous!

 

Like I said "Student Driver". A guy was illegally passing on the right while he was trying to change lanes. He ended up cutting the fellow off and misjudged his speed into the turn he was trying to make. Then I guess he went into information overload and froze. Didn't brake or keep steering. The only good thing was no one else was involved and it only took a quart of paint to fix the sign!