My S2000 Saved My Life
 

I've been considering posting about the accident I had back in early March for months now. It pains me to look at photos or even re-live the experience...but I guess in a way I wanted closure & to say my farewells to the community (for now). We all know how well engineered the S2000 is, but I never would have imagined I'd find out HOW well, in this way.

I'll start from the beginning. I purchased my S back in summer 2015 as a birthday gift to myself. I had always loved the S & I really wanted one since I was a kid. I found the perfect one & pulled the trigger. It needed some love & TLC, and the next nearly 3 years I really fell in love. I thought I'd have my S forever, I really felt at home when I was behind the wheel. I spent countless hours & tons of money restoring it....paint, a brand new engine & trans...the mods I always wanted. Over the years it really became mine & I was extremely proud to bring it out. It was super clean, just the way I always wanted my S2000 to be.

Fast forward to March 5th. The car had been parked all winter due to weather, I kept it covered & waxed like always. I woke up that cool morning & thought it was a perfect day to pull the cover off & take it to work. It was a Monday. I never made it to work, and I don't even remember the accident. I never saw my baby again how I remember her, how I built her. I was about a block from work, heading through an intersection with a green light. A brand new Chevy Silverado HD, without stopping, turned head on into my lane while making a left & hit me head on. I'm not sure how fast I was going, or how fast he was going. I woke up in the trauma center a few hours later. I had a fractured skull, fractured ribs, fractured sternum, a broken left foot, a bulged disk in my neck & a bad concussion...but I was alive. I had no idea what happened, I was bloody & in lots of pain. Still in shock & confused. I was in the hospital for two weeks, and as of the end of July I'm still going to physical therapy twice a week due to issues with my neck & foot.

I've felt so many things over the past few months. Anger, frustration, sadness...but mostly I'm thankful. I should not have survived that accident, even the first responders & doctors couldn't believe that I made it out of the car. I hit the SIlverado hard enough to total it as well. My car was completely tweaked, there was nothing salvagable. The driver's seat was twisted & bent, the pedals wrapped around each other, the driver's cell was compressed by 6 inches or so. Every time I think about it or look at the photos I truly can't believe I survived. I'm so thankful for Honda & the engineers that not only made the S2000 an amazing sports car but also an extremely safe one. The nature of it's chassis & stiffness certainly saved my life. Drive your S2000 with pride & know that if the unthinkable happens, she'll do her best to sacrifice everything to save your life. Mine did.

That all said, I want to say farewell for now & leave you with some photos of before & after. I'm going to stay out of the car game for awhile, but honestly I'd love to pick up another S, even though mine can never be replaced. I'll never forget the good memories made with my S.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...36c37e38e6.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...5dd116da68.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...d6fa88b3d8.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.s2k...9b82977dfd.jpg

Thank you so much for sharing... this was moving to read. I hope your recovery goes smoothly and you are back behind the wheel of something you love soon!

Post like yours just remind me, and hopefully everybody, just how incredibly lucky we are. Doesn't look like you've done anything wrong, just happened to be in the wrong spot and the wrong time.

Best of luck to your recovery man.

Thank you for posting. It underscores how fragile our existence can be, how quickly life can change. My aunt, uncle, and my three sisters had a head on collision when I was a kid. The reverberations from that accident exist today.

It is somewhat gratifying to know the car held up for you especially against a vehicle like a new full size pickup.

I hope and pray for your recovery mind, body and spirit.

I'm really glad that you're still around to talk about what happened. Thankfully Honda designed these cars with with more than just performance in mind. I wish you well with your recovery and the remaining PT. You may never be able to recall the details of the accident, and that might be for the best. When I was very young, another driver ran a stop sign and collided with the car my mom was driving on a rural road. I ended up through the front windshield (back then there were no seat belts in the back seat). More than five decades have passed since the accident and I still can't recall a single thing about it. I do remember being in the hospital afterwards, but that's it. I've been told that the trauma is likely the reason for the permanent memory loss. It's also likely responsible for other health issues that i now face, but there is no way to know for sure. I hope that you're feeling better sooner rather than later, that you are able to make the fullest recovery possible, and that there are no lingering aftereffects impacting you from this later on in life. Hang in there and thanks for sharing. Your experience is a good reminder that life is fleeting. We try to enjoy it as best we can, but it is not without it's trials and tribulations.

Oh wow! You were extremely lucky! The thing with these cars that engineering can't do much for is with mass and height. These new vehicles - all these SUV's are feet taller and at the right angle in an accident they can be right on top of you in the cabin.
Drive safely and be thankful for each and every day.
I"m glad you made it out and I"m sure with the therapy you will be back to as close to 100% as possible soon.
Thanks for sharing the story!

I am glad you made it out ok. Cars can always be replaced and I wish you all the best in your recovery. This will surely give you a fresh new outlook on life.

Glad you're alive and on your way to recovery. What's amazing is how well your car absorbed the impact from the direction it was hit. Modern cars are designed to do well in direct frontal impact, where the front frame rails absorb the energy well and transfers the energy through various paths to minimize cabin intrusion. In your case it looks more like a small offset crash, where the frame rail doesn't have the opportunity to absorb much energy.

At that angle the rocker panel had to absorb much of the impact and it's amazing there wasn't more intrusion, especially since the car was designed in the 90's before the IIHS small overlap test rating was established.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for sharing, you and the car took a massive impact which looks horrific. Extremely happy to see that your once beloved car protected you at the right moment, props to the engineers for a great structure in a roadster that does save lives.

X2
Levi