Last Night A Ranger Saved My Life

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Ford illustrates the ugly side of social media-based advertising: exploiting and promoting baseless prejudices by reprinting ignorant opinions. Like this misguided and misleading “thank you” posted at Thefordstory.com.

I am here today because 5 years ago, I was driving my 1993 Ford Ranger XL. Thats a midsize truck, but not midsize in saving my life. I have not ever written about this before, but I thought Ford (and all its engineers) would benefit in knowing that they have been instrumental in saving my life. The reason I can say this with certainty, is because of the nature of my car crash. I ask you, if you were broadsided at 60+ ( I was on a highway in Ca) and all that saved you was your vehicles chasis..if you were driving say, a Honda..would you be here reading this?? Maybe, but not likely. All that happened to me was, I had a heck of a bent truck frame (rear suspension) and a minor seat belt bruise! I almost tipped the truck over on its side, I was hit that hard..but luckily, she righted herself in time! (I know its silly, but you got to name your trucks) This was my first Ford, and god willing not my last. I may have lost traction, due to the road being wet..but I tell you I would not be soo lucky driving anything other than a Ford. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. I just thought it would be nice to tell someone. Thanks..I could never be more grateful for your company, God bless you.

Your friend,

Rose

[Note: the Ranger pictured above is not the one from the wreck]

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • ZoomZoom ZoomZoom on Nov 23, 2009

    Most of you are missing the fundamental math difference between Canada and the US. The original quote says the survivor's Ranger was broadsided at "60+". 60 what, I ask you? The survivor is Canadian, so naturally I would assume that this is "60+ KPH", not MPH. So what is that...something like 37.2 MPH? Still fast, but not 60 MPH. There's a lot of difference between being broadsided at 40 and at 60. MPH, that is...

  • Rspaight Rspaight on Nov 23, 2009

    Combining the above posts by ZoomZoom and 210delray, this becomes unremarkable. My wife survived a "t-bone' side impact ~30 MPH to the passenger side of the bed in a '93 Toyota truck with no injuries at all, and the truck (eight years old at the time) wasn't even totaled. (The spare tire was launched about 75 feet down the road, though.) It was certainly scary, though. Regardless, there's nothing inherently "safe" about that truck -- no airbags, no ABS, terrible rain traction, lousy brakes. In fact, reading between the lines of the original post suggests the truck got into the accident in the first place because of wet road conditions that something with some weight over the drive wheels wouldn't have had a problem with.

  • Texasred Texasred on Nov 23, 2009
    "I may have lost traction, due to the road being wet.." Maybe if you had been driving a Honda or driving the truck as trucks should be driven (especially in the wet) you wouldn't have lost it. My little vignette. Two years ago, I bought a clean 2003 Mazda B3000 extended cab (Ranger rebadge) Last February, I got run off the highway at 65 trying to avoid a drunk driver. I went airborne and landed on top of a concrete drainage culvert. I had a little blackout with disorientation and vertigo for several hours. Don't know if I hit my head or what. No bumps or bruises. Why the cop didn't do a field sobriety test or call an ambulance is a mystery. Anyway, the truck's exterior looked quite reasonable with just a couple of bent panels. The body shop found the frame broken in two places. A total. And all I got was the disorientation, which cleared up in a couple of hours and has not bothered me since. No bruises, broken bones or anything. Two thoughts on this: 1. The truck certainly fared well. The frame broke in two places without destroying the integrity of the body (and me!). One of the breaks was under the rear of the cab. 2. Why the f^ck didn't the air bags deploy? Irregardless (which isn't a word), I looked around for a replacement truck and bought a 2002 B4000 Dual Sport 4-door, fully decked out from the original owner. Hadn't planned on buying an older model or even the "same" truck, but this guy had receipts for every maintenance and oil change since new. Runs sweet at 20mpg in the city all day long. Now I just gotta keep clear of drunk drivers! C.J.
  • Accs Accs on Nov 29, 2009

    Id just like to add my little nickle in to say... Since when was a RANGER ever midsized? Its been compact for as far as I can remember. And remember.. its lineage can be traced through Explorer.. right back to '86.

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