Ka Krashing!

The Crashed Ka

Of course, nobody in their right mind wants to crash a Ka. But it sadly happens.

One of the problems with “trailing brake oversteer” is that the Ka is, essentially, in a skid. This means that it may not always behave as you would like. Add in an icy, frosty road and you can have a crash.

This Ka belonged to a friend of mine, and in his words,

“Went for a late afternoon drive, mid-February. Perfect minor road with lots of twists and turns combined with changes in gradient. Go into one bend at about 65 mph with a trailing brake. Rear end comes out so I correct. However I manage to overcorrect big time. The fronts grip and off into the verge we go. Front end gets caught. Flip into the air and into a little tree that prevents us from landing on a dry stonewall. Ended up on its side. Got out no problems with a slight cut on my thumb.”

The Damage

Understandably, this Ka was deemed a write-off. The damage to the front doesn’t look too bad, all up, but it’s when you see the rear of the Ka that you realise (a) how lucky the driver was, and (b) how much luckier it was that there was nobody in the back of the Ka.

These other pictures show the rear window and quarter light, or at least what is left of it, and the view looking back from between the front seats.

“Darling, I’ve kerbed the Ka.”

And of course there’s Kermy’s crash too.

The damage doesn’t look too bad from this angle. Note how the passenger compartment is still big enough for a full complement of passengers. If you look carefully at the windscreen you can see where it has been flattened thanks to being scraped along the road.

Also note the damage to the door.

This shot shows the point of impact (look below the shattered Morette) and again how intact the Ka is. Look for the bent roof, though. That illustrates some of the forces that were involved.