240 volvo accident - lb ca....

LONG BEACH - A solo-vehicle crash on a San Diego (405) Freeway offramp
in Long Beach today left two men dead and three people injured,
including two boys, ages 12 and 15, authorities said.

The accident on the Lakewood Boulevard offramp from the southbound 405
Freeway occurred shortly before 12:30 a.m., California Highway Patrol
Officer Anthony Martin said.

Five people were trapped inside the wreckage of the 1990 Volvo 240DL,
which went off the roadway and hit a tree, the CHP reported.

A 26-year-old Pasadena man driving the Volvo was killed, as was a 26-
year-old Long Beach man riding in the vehicle, said CHP Officer P.
Banuelos. Their names were withheld pending notification of
relatives.

A 24-year-old Long Beach woman and two boys ages 12 and 15 -- both
from Las Vegas -- suffered "moderate" injuries, Banuelos said. They
were taken to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

Both northbound and southbound Lakewood offramps were shut down for
nearly four hours during the crash investigation and accident cleanup,
Martin said. The cause of the accident was under investigation.

 

point is: volvo fatalities are rare...gusee how many folks have been
killed in volvo 240's? I'll bet you can count them on your hands
& feet......

 

yeah, those killer trees will get you every time!....

Not sure what the point was... afterall, ANY vehicle can be involved in a
deadly accident under the right (or wrong) circumstances. People have died
while riding in tanks, and even racecar drivers occasionally die in wrecks,
inspite of some of the best safety measures and devices!... Perhaps the fact
that the 3 survived is more important than that 2 died!.... might have been
all 5 dead if it had been your average Ford or Chevy!!!!....

 

The 240's never had air bags or antilock brakes. That is one reason
this model was dropped.

If you watch NASCAR, you realize that the main killer in such severe
impacts is broken necks. NASCAR has the HANS device to keep ones neck
from breaking like happened in Dale Earnhart's fatal accident. All
NASCAR drivers wear these devices now and they really work. Dale thought
it was inconvenient, but that argument died when he died. Seat belts
and air bags can only do so much.

 

Yes they did. I just worked on a '92 245 the other day which had both an air
bag and ABS.

 

I stand corrected. I gave up on Volvo in '90 when they had not adopted
air bags and ABS. I got a '90 Subaru Legacy that had both. However, in
'93 I was back and got a Volvo when the 850 came out with airbags and
ABS.

The '91, '92 & '93 240's only had a drivers side air bag, not air bags.
Those were the only years the 240's had an air bag.

In '92 only the 240 GL had ABS. In '91 ABS was a factory option
available on a limited number of cars.

In 1990 and earlier years there were no air bags or ABS on any 240's.

 

I don't see the point of this post, other than to note that an
accident resulting in injuries and death occured. Whether the
occupants survive or die is dependent on factors other than the brand
name of the cars involved.

 

The 700 series had both even earlier, my '87 has ABS and there's a provision
for SRS which thankfully is not there.

That is true, although for whatever reason I still view having an airbag as
a negative, it's one more thing to go wrong and one more thing to think
about when working on the car. I'm not convinced that they provide a lot of
added safety for a properly restrained occupant in a well designed car. I've
got mixed feelings about ABS as well, when it works it works well, however
at least in the case of the 740, the ABS system has given me some grief and
in that car as well you give up the dual circuit front calipers. The brake
system in a 240 is really excellent, it's one of the most solid and
overdesigned I've encountered and I've rarely ever had any issue with one.

 

Don't worry for me guys, but on my '93 240, I disabled the ABS by
removing the fuse from the ABS module. About the driver side airbag,
I unplugged it in the steering.

Don't worry for me, I drive with my head instead of driving with
gadgets!

And oh, I can stop more quickly than any other imbeciles out there
with his g*d d!#$ ABS. That's why cars keep so much distance between
them in city traffic, darn ABS need a greater distance to stop the
car. And one more thing, I locked my wheels anytime there is an
emergency. Tires are cheap, the car isn't .

My 2 cents.

 

Yeah, those darn killer trees!!! We should arrest them and send them
to Guantanamo prison. How come Bush hasn't done anything about it
yet?

Fortunately, here in Canada, all killer trees only want to cross the
border and go South. No passport required. Makes an interesting
tombstone when you think about it. " Here lies... killed by a tree".

It's impossible to make a judgement unless we have an idea of the
speed at which the accident happened.

"Save a life, kill a tree".

 

If you can avoid locking the wheels, it can, under special circumstances,
get you shorter stopping distance than ABS, however the ABS does give you
the benefit of being able to control the car during hard braking since it
can control each wheel separately. I have a car with and a car without ABS,
the one without has a better overall braking system and stops very well with
little pedal effort, however in rain and snow the ABS really is nice to
have.

 

I had just left a store, was travelling at about 15mph on a single
lane, short street. This small street was covered with slush and was
joining a huge 4 lanes road. As I approached the intersection at very
low speed, I pressed the brake pedal since there was a stop sign and I
had to stop because of the traffic. Too bad, the stupid ABS couldn't
get a grip on the road because of the slush, so it DID NOT brake. It
kept me going and goind at very low speed until I was right in the
middle of the four lanes road. If it's not for the fact that the
traffic was unusually light on the 4 lanes road, you can be sure that
I would have been hit hard on the side of the car.

Drivers tend to drive quite fast on the 4 lanes road. I was screwed.
Only the fact that there was very little traffic at that moment
resulted in not being involved in an accident.

Right after that, I disabled the ABS. Btw, when it's raining or
snowing, I drive more conservatively.

I still believe that ABS is a system that increases the number of
accidents and fatalities on the road. But eh, to each his own.

People tend to prefer gadgets and what is popular over common sense.

 

I suspect the ABS did get a grip but ABS or no ABS, stopping in slush is
hard.
my volvo with ABS didn't stop me in soft snow but it was not the fault
of abs; nothing would have.

i had a driving course ride with a volvo instructor on ice to show the
performance of DSTC when it first came. it was amazing but he said the
instructors had set up a 2 km course and they could get through it
waster without DSTC than with ... but for the other 99.9999% of user,
such aids are wonderful.

and when i took my 'skid pan course' for my swedish driving license, i
had two braking series:
on wet asphalt without abs to stop in a straight line
on wet and glass smooth concrete with abs to stand on the brakes and
steer around an object (evasive maneuver)
and no matter how fast we could make the evasive maneuver with abs, we
went through again 10m/hr faster ... and then enjoyed a slow loop down
the pad!

believe me, i'll go with abs.

and after i saw a head on in argentine and the people in the car with
airbags walk away, i'm convinced to take my chance by having them ON. no
way will I pass up that extra safety bit.

i think your real problem was 'driving too fast for road conditions'.
sorry. don't blame that one on volvo or abs!

very special

i also have one of each and unfortunately the one without abs is the one
i have to drive where i am on iced and snow packed roads in february and
i sure would like to have the abs!

 

I would like very much to say that you are correct, the problem was
mine and that ABS are a gift from God, but unfortunately, I would be
lying.

My speed was 15mph! No one else was on the road. The street limit is
30mph. It was the end of winter, few inches of slush all over the
road. It seems to me that because the tires could have a good grip on
the road, the ABS kept applying pressure and then released it. It was
like the wheel would lock and then go. There was nothing wrong with
the ABS unit.

It is my understanding from taking with others who have experienced
the same thing that ABS in the slush are worthless and in fact makes
things worse.

On dry pavement for an evasive maneuver, ABS are unbeattable. But for
less than perfect driving conditions, no ABS for me.

And btw, I'm an outstanding driver