Has anyone here gotten into a crash with a Geo Metro or some other fuel efficient car?
 

I am asking this because I am considering getting a metro as my first car and I would like to hear first hand accounts of what the safety is like. Stories of crashes with other cars from late 90s or early 2000s also allowed.

Safer than a motorcycle?

That's about it. :) It's a safety third situation.

Look for a Metro parked next to an F-250. You'll see a big part of it.

My niece in her little Ford wagon head-on-ed a Metro on a 2-lane curve. One of them didn't survive. It was after that I went out and bought one.

My father was in several situations where someone crashed into his motorcycle, does that count?

My Comutacar had both crash bumpers demolished was junked then pulled from the yard and rebuilt

I’ve hit a deer with my old Insight

When I was a toddler in the back of my parents like new Renault my father was in a left turn lane waiting to turn and a woman in a big truck swerved to rear end him demolishing the car, cop blamed the accident on my father even though the woman admitted to being in a rage about something at work and smacking us, witness also argued with the cop.

My Cobalt was parked in my driveway and some guy backed a long trailer in our driveway early and apparently smushed my rear fender then left, great way to be greeted in the morning

I can likely think of others if you give me enough time

A 95 and newer Metro is safer than an earlier one. They added side impact beams in the doors and 2 front airbags.

It's probably safer than many late 80's / early 90's econoboxes.

As a vote in favor of the later model Metro...

We (our family of four) had an accident earlier this year on the interstate in our green 2000 model. The interstate we were on (I-81 in VA) is two lanes in each direction, with a median in between.

We were driving along at 60 MPH in a 60 MPH speed limit zone, in the right-hand lane, when a tractor-trailer comes up from behind in the left hand lane and starts moving over into our lane (he apparently didn't see us or wasn't looking). When he clipped our rear bumper it rotated our car sideways(!), perpendicular to the flow of traffic, and we ended up with the driver's side of the car resting against the truck's grill/bumper--and were pushed sideways for several hundred feet (with our tires smoking and squealing) until the truck came to a complete stop.

None of us were injured.

The DS front fender, door, and rear quarter panel were all dented, and the DS front strut was bent slightly, giving the front wheel excess camber. But otherwise the car was OK, and we drove home from the accident. I replaced the door, fender, strut, and tires (the treads were ruined, obviously), pushed out the dents in the quarter panel, and had it aligned. That was all it needed.

The replacement door just bolted on, and works perfectly. In other words, the structure of the car wasn't bent or affected at all.

It drives just like it always has, and we made a decent profit from the check we received for the "totaled" car.

We found another low mileage 2000 Metro (a blue one) a few weeks after the accident and bought it, and eventually sold the Caprice wagon. Now we've got two Metros. If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is!

The funny part is that we almost never take the interstate, and we took it on this trip specifically for the purpose of seeing how much time we would save and how much extra fuel we would use if we did--in other words, to see if taking the interstate was "worth it". Well...we got our answer! We're back to sticking with state highways as much as possible.

-Funkhoss

The problem with the question is that anecdotes aren't the answer.

Correct!

In my mind:

• The later model Metro is (objectively, per engineering and testing) a safer vehicle than most econoboxes from the 80's and 90's; and
• The benefits of driving them far outweigh the risks.

...but interesting anecdotes are fun!

-Funkhoss

Thread title says "...a Geo Metro or some other fuel efficient car?"

On the subject of 'other fuel efficient cars', my Type III notchback in the 1990s ran European Klebers staggered 145 and 165 and it was balanced and poised and went where it was pointed. But it felt uncomfortable downhill in the mountains where the brakes could overpower the front tires. The Superbeetle runs 165/50 and 165s front and rear; and it exhibits terminal oversteer like a Porsche.

The Metro XFi feels uncomfortable in corners, you can't point it with the throttle.

Anecdotes are fun.

Once crashed a 2001 dodge intrepid into a concrete barrier somewhere around 50 mph while airborne.... the car didn't survive obviously but my passenger and I weren't hurt and I actually pulled the engine and put it in another car.

Airbags seem scary until it saves your face (and likely life) from being K.O.'d by the dash/steering wheel.