Minnesota Focus Owners Club

Well, it happened faster than I thought it would, my son totaled his Focus (2005 ZX4 base). Apparently he went into the ditch, hit a tree and rolled it. Had to have them use the jaws of life to get him out. He got out on his own power. He had a cut on his finger and a some scrapes on his back (no blood)  from getting out of the car. That's it. The doctor just shook her head based on how bad the accident was and how little he had wrong with him. The car did its job, is what the insurance adjuster said and he added that he was very surprised that our boy wasn't seriously hurt.

I found another Focus for him as he has a new job to start, probably by Monday. I found a 2006 ZX4 with electric windows, locks and A/C. He didn't have A/C in his last car as it was as base as a car can be.

I'll try to post pictures as I get them.

Edit: After further review I'm not going to post the pictures right away, they are pretty disturbing to my wife. The car is basically bent in half, from the bottom. There's not a straight panel on the car.

I'm glad to hear that a MN car can still save lives.
Says that mild rust isn't going to compromise occupant safety much at all.

Now (knowing he came out of it ok) I want to see the pics even more.

Great to hear he came out okay Rod, I can imagine how tough it must be. You do have to admire the Mk1 Focus and how well it's done over the years protecting it's occupants.

-Steve

I will try to post pics tomorrow.

I had a sit down talk with him last night about how lucky he was. He works from 3:30-midnight so I am still a little scared of him falling asleep or hitting a deer or something dumb. I am just glad that I am not burying him after that accident, yes, the car was that bad.

As promised, here are the pictures. A week after this he started his new job.

Pass side: They had to pry this open with the jaws of life.

Drivers side: He hit something on the lower rear door, 1.5 to 2 feet more forward and slightly up and who knows what may have happened.

I was at Copart in Fridley the other day and saw this coming in the gate. My view was just of the drivers side and I thought, yikes!
That had to be one hell of a ride, it's amazing that he came out of that without any issues.  

Ford did a hell of a job engineering these things,  it's amazing some of the wrecks I've seen over the years that people walked away from with barely a scratch.

-Steve

Went out in the copart yard today and there it was. Even covered in plastic wrap it looks worse in person than the photos show.
Surprised to see the air bags didn't deploy.
Just curious, how many miles were on the car?

I think there were something like 145k on it.

If you look at the carfax on it, it was cursed. Stolen a couple times, few accidents. It looks crazy on paper. According to the Carfax it was a Washington state car (Seattle area).

I didn't get to see it in person, so I have no idea how bad it actually was. I am not sure that the airbags were fully operational, it was a POS.

My son is doing fine as far as I can tell. He's been working mid shift so I only see him a bit on the weekend. Hasn't complained of any issues lately. His leg was sore for a bit, but I think that is gone now.

Glad to hear he's OK!

[quote=Steve@Tasca]Ford did a hell of a job engineering these things,  it's amazing some of the wrecks I've seen over the years that people walked away from with barely a scratch.

-Steve[/quote]
Ford? I thought these were Mazda designed? There were so nice to work on, (unlike a Ford). Now the 2012 up look to be Ford designed. What a pos. to work on, just like other Fords.

[quote=Doc]Ford? I thought these were Mazda designed? There were so nice to work on, (unlike a Ford). Now the 2012 up look to be Ford designed. What a pos. to work on, just like other Fords.[/quote]


Nope, Ford designed. Originally built designed and built by Ford of Europe.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/new ... Focus.html


-Steve




.

Just noticed on the listing for the car that they have actual cash value as $3,301. Always wondered if they give real numbers, is that what you got paid for it? They also have a repair cost of $10,912  

I think we got paid around that. I will say this, it ran very well.

It was running rough this summer and I was a little pissed off about it. I pulled the plugs to see if they were fouled. And they looked strange. So I looked up the part number and found that I had 2 sets in my inventory in the garage. I replaced them and the car ran like a top. The plugs that were in it were not the correct plugs, they were about a half inch shorter than the Ford ones I put in.