Like good things, bad things also happen in threes. It is what is called the three-strike curse and it is all the more frustrating when such things happen to the S2000. Some of us are lucky to never have experienced this and yet there are stories out there on the forums about dame luck ditching our fellow owners on three separate incidents.
Such incidents could take the form of a ding, followed by a tear in the soft-top and then the eventual discovery that someone had attempted to use a set of keys to scratch a modern art masterpiece on the body. The very thought of such things happening is scary.
To illustrate:
- A Spa Yellow AP1 I know of hopped a curb and was hit two different times while parked all within a couple of months.
- Then, all on separate occasions, a Berlina Black AP1 was backed into, was backed into again and then scratched and keyed.
- Yet another Berlina Black AP1 got a little squirrely on a spirited drive ending up in a ditch, collided with an oncoming vehicle that was turning left in front of her and led to the driver dealing with the hassle of repairing their own car and the other car.
- A Rio Yellow AP2 was nailed by a WalMart plant rack due to 70-mph winds and then rear-ended by a Pepsi truck on a snowy day.
- A fellow news team member discovered a tear in his soft-top, and a little later was rear-ended driving another car. The next day this other car was struck yet again in a parking lot.
Make us wonder, whether one must wait to begin work on any damage incurred, just in case they have been struck by the three-strike curse. With the inclement weather out there, the probability of incidents occuring is higher.
For that matter, it does not have to be mutliple incidents. Even a single incident could be a game changer. Therefore, please be careful out there this season.
Have you been struck by this phenomenon called the “three-strike” curse? How did you cope with it?
- JulieU
Image courtesy of Orange2K
NOTE: S2KI welcomes the opinions of its members on the S2000 and on all topics related to the S. Should you feel the creative urge to pen a few words then by all means do so and PM Energetic, Aashish2, Onehots2k OR GavinSSAP1 OR send us links to what you would like us to write about and we will feature you (or your community) on the S2KI Home Page.
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on Jan 21st, 2011 at 7:32 am
O ya I’ve had this curse. First tranny whine got that fixed 2 weeks later spun the 4th rod bearing. Then month later my soft top gets cut up.
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 7:34 am
ive got a good one, car life related, lost my business/job, ruptured a disc, lost the gf now selling the S2k to live, till i get better and find another job
lucky i live at home and still positive about it all…
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 7:45 am
i found a tear in a soft top, than went too the park to play some ball and some one backed into my driver headlight and damage it, the hood,and fender. the next night i got keyed on the passenger side, from the fender to the rear pannel.
i was pissed, than i thought to my self the only one that canfix this is the money in my poket lol, so i just got it all fixed expect for the keyed part. that is still there.
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 9:07 am
04 berlina…..
rear ended at 5 mph a few months after i got it,….cracked the rear bumper in about an inch wide area near the license plate.
was showing my “friend” my “new car” and her boyfriend thought she was going home with me or something,….i got jumped from behind and my car was covered in blood and had a nice dent in the quarter panel from someones body.
about an month later in freezing temperatures,…slid off the road and came to a lovely stop against a barbwire fence….needless to say it got a new quarter panel and paint from the front to the back.
1 year later a lifted truck hit me while trying to park
less than a month later on a lovely sunday morning i was the only car on the road near the university and a football player “late for practice” decided to pull out of a drive way as i was passing and instead of looking before he tried to merge into the lane next to me,…..he decided to slam into the side of me.
5 times in 3 years
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 10:09 am
God… reading this makes me never want to take the S out of the garage. The body shop finished my car today after ~2 months of being repaired. The damage wasn’t that severe, but they took their sweet time.
I have an AP1 and the rear got loose on a cold night around Thanksgiving and hopped a curb. Strike one…?
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 10:56 am
instead of in 3′s, i’ve had this happen to me in 4′s while i owned my old car. within two weeks i got keyed on both sides of my car, speeding ticket for doing 50 in a 35, then totaled my car, and broke my d80. but then i got an ap1 and things were goood
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 12:20 pm
While driving my Supercharged Berlina Black AP2, I had a guy towing a golf cart pass me in the opposite lane on a country two-lane road. Right before he went by, with perfect timing, the golfcart windshield departed said golf cart and impacted the aforementioned S destroying my Chargespeed front end and my intercooler. I had the second Chargespeed painted and installed, and I promptly rear ended someone on the interstate (don’t ask…I even have Brembos). I am now on my third front. I also had someone lean on the rear quarter panel after insisting they not. I don’t need to tell you the rest of that story. Oh, and the best one…I was retrieving something out of the passenger side, and a Diet Mt Dew slipped out of my hand and landed in the perfect position to ding the side of my hardtop with the cap. You couldn’t do it again in 100 tries. My car’s name is Christine. I just repair things and move along…..I’d be in an insane asylum if I didn’t.
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 12:32 pm
And yes, I’ve been known to track it…so don’t even ask me about my sandblasted hood.
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 12:48 pm
First I scratch the right rear fender backing out of my driveway. Hit the Accord. Then I scratch the rear fender backing out of a used car lot looking for another Honda to replace the Accord. Last thing was I locked my key in the trunk and I have to break hinge on little compartment to get to the trunk button. There you go.
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Some 16 yr old back into my car at the tire shop, when I wasnt even there. Then he tried to take off but was stopped by the tire shop employee. Then I slid off the road (My own fault) and threw rocks all under the car and scratched part of the rear bumper. Then out of nowhere it rains for 6 days in Vegas . I drive to a friends, and when I return the road is completely flooded, and the CAI managed about 2+ Gallons of water. That equaled to a 2″ hole in cylinder 4. Thankfully the s13k was the end result of the whole ordeal. Sorry to hear for everyones troubles
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 7:21 pm
i wasnt aware that there were so many damaged S2000s. this makes me wonder about my 05 i bought in 09, hmm.
sounds like a lot of the accidents that occur are due to driver error; squirrely through a turn? possibly not enough counter steer or maybe too much, braking, not powering through, powering too much?
anyway, i just hope everybody stays as safe as they can be with their S2000s, we’re a dying breed now. :’[
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Just 10 days after i got my s2000 some lady cuts from the left lane right into my drivers side door never looked never signaled. cop gets there and she tells him i hit her. told her insurance company a bunch of b.s. about how i was speeding and hit her so her insurance company said they would not take any responsibility for the incident. but in the end a few calls to the BBB and commissioner of insurance and i was 100% covered by her insurance company. it all came out ok but i was without my car for the firs 3 months of ownership.
on Jan 21st, 2011 at 9:28 pm
05 Rio
March 2010 -Hit giant pothole on I-65 going north just north of Louisville….later find out that it bent a few numerous suspension pieces.
July 2010 -Motor seized up…did a number on pistons, crank, cams, and cam tower.
Thankfully not a 3rd strike
on Jan 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 am
Hah.. I’ve had my Silverstone 04 since the end of October 2010.
It has spent more time in a shop fixing it than i’ve been driving it.
It spun it on damp road near the Nurburgring the weekend after i bought it, driver error but anyway, i clipped a roadside marker that left a dent in my front right fender.
A week later, a huge rattling noise starts coming after I floored it on a straight road, I’m like, shit this sounds expensive.. Went to my shop to get it checked out under warranty, took the shop 3 weeks to figure out what was wrong and replace the flywheel.
I got the car back and by that time it’s been freezing and snowing like crazy.. the S went in to a slide on a straight road and i crashed it into a pole and a ditch a few days before x-mass.
It still isnt back yet :/
on Jan 22nd, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Ive got the best three strikes; 1 While my husband was taking our son to work on cold dark night He hit black ice(a fire early in the day left road wet and icy). He spun and flipped. Car was repaired by a great body man. 2 Two weeks after getting car back from body shop a car rolled over in our drive and hit our poor S. Yes flipped in our driveway. Back to the body shop . Only after DBR With the damage on it ( we just painted over the damage with a dragon). 3 Okay the cars is fixed after we get back from The Dragon. We are at the beach sitting not more than 20 yard from the car and I see a woman who clearly dose not see the S As I am saying oh my God shes going to….Bang…hit the S. My husband jumps up and can see the woman is going to drive off he yells at her to stop . After she thought better she stopped and said “I did not hit your car, I did not hit your car that hard.”
Well after that we just started to call our S” Target”
Last year Target had her last crash and was totaled. We miss her lots and will be replaceing her soon.
on Jan 24th, 2011 at 10:36 am
Wow, I’m with smohan123. My S isn’t leaving the garage for a while!
on Jan 24th, 2011 at 11:34 am
I am a victim of the curse. in november my 01 sebring silver s2k was hit and run in the walmart parking lot. about 2 weeks later i got a quarter size tear in my top somehow just behind the driver side window. last but certainly not least i hit a pot hole on one of boone nc’s crappy roads and dented the left front wheel a little. it blows. my s2k needs a trip to the shop
on Jan 24th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
yea i had this too….the first year i had the car my ap2 s2k was keyed by a girl i was dating ex bf, and after getting it repaired the next week, that same week i got back into on the other side of the key marks…
on Jan 24th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Strike one: It was halloween the day after I got my S2000 and when driving home from work some little … hit my car with an egg which chipped the paint.
Strike 2: When parked, someone hit the back of my car taking the paint off and damaged the tow eye cover, leaving me one of the few driving around with a hole in the bumper. Got a new one now though
Strike 3: I’ve just discovered a tear in the roof.
>.<
I can at least say my 3 strikes are up and not too serious.
on Jan 24th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Strike One: 3 months of ownership of the car, my car gets side swiped while parked at the mall damaging my driver side fender, door, and rear fender.
Strike Two: 2 months ago a Chevy Express van decides to park in the ‘compact’ car parking hitting my rear bumper
Strike Three: a month ago on the 91 freeway a SUV slams right into the same spot where the chevy van hit me causing a 5 car pile up.
on Jan 25th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
First, on raced track at Summit Point, rear end got away from me, hit tire wall, cost $6500, not covered by insurance. Second, during terrible rain storm hydro-planed into guardrail, $1700, insurance covered. Third time, too heavy on the gas on entrance I-95, spun around front ended into cement culvert, I did repair work myself, replaced front bumper, radiator, wheel liners, and hypoxied broken plastic on radiator fan and blower under right fender.
on Jan 26th, 2011 at 11:29 am
I have an 01 Spa Yellow S2000, Ive had several, problems ever since I had my S2000
First Strike: I park my car outside on the driveway, then around 4:00am, I heard a window getting bashed and eggs being thrown and an alarm going off, then I see that it was mine, And my front wind shield got bashed with a beer bottle, and egged numerous times, and key’d.
Second Strike: My axle shaft snapped twice, same place, and Axle nut kept on getting loose.
Third Strike: My engine fucks up, and sounds like a subaru wrx, and I possibly have to get my Valve Clearences readujusted,
I also hydrolocked, but I got lucky.
on Apr 28th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
I bought my New Formula Red 04 AP2 in november so after driving it for a month I put it away for the winter, only put about 2000mils on it in that time, NO abuse. Well about 3 weeks ago i pulled the old girl out for a late night drive on a local mountain road. at 90mph my passenger side tire (found out later it was a stock potenza meant for the driver side, thanks Haddad’s) just let all its air out, i wanst hurt and didnt crash the car so thats good. i get the tire replaced and two days later on the next road over from where the first tire let go, my driver side tire completely blew the inner sidewall out. it fully delaminated the sidewall. Turns out the dealer put a really cheap tire on it when I bought the car, they claim that they never put tires on it but i checked at least 6 times before any paperwork was signed. now i have to pay for my tire myself, i guess thats what ya get for buying an S2k at a toyota dealer. and for the 3rd (technically 4th) strike occured when my ex’s 90 integra blew a motor and she literally stole a b18a engine and trans that i had ready to install in my crx.