Have any metros hit a deer?

I live south of Spokane, WA where there are more deer than you can shake a
stick at.

They come out at night (sometimes even in daylight!) and now I drive in the
evening to teach a night class.

I have always been scared of hitting a deer - some are huge!

My son had a large Buck with a huge Rack jump out in front of him and it caved
in his hood, jumped up and ran away!

I am supposing that hitting a deer in a low, sloped Geo Metro might end up with
the deer in the driver's or passenger's seat....

So I'd like to know if anyone has had this experience or know of such....

DoctorBill

Not in a Metro, but I hit one with a Hyundai Elantra a couple of years ago and it did a ton of damage. Last year my son hit one with a Hyundai Accent which is very similar to a Metro and did very little damage. Both deer ate pretty good though. :)

i have one here that hit a telephone pole, does that count?

:runaround: i have one here that hit a telephone pole, does that count?

Whoa?:runaround: You got a Deer that hit a telephone pole?:yikes:

I've hit 2 at once when driving a semi.....and another at a different time...again in a semi. Tore the crap out of both trucks!:icon16:

Hit a coyote in the Metro, bout the size of a baby T-Rex as I recall.:runaround:

Two more and I'm an ACE!

I took on a deer 3 weeks ago going 55mph Hood was bent is all. I got lucky. The deer flew over my car and killed. Radiator didnt even leak!

My wife hit a deer in our 1996 metro on the intersate doing 65 mph it caught the front driver side bumper and went over the top of the car.Damage was in need of an outside mirror,wiper arms,cowl,radiator and of course a hood.I was surprised that the air bags did not deploy.The deer didnt make it but the little metro ran all the way home!

I've been SO WORRIED that the Deer would come in thru the windshield!

Looks like the FLYING WEDGE shape of the earlier Metros scoops them up and
over the top...God, I hope so when my turn comes!

We have more of these damned Deer around here than you can shake a stick at!

Big suckers, too! Even had a Female Moose eating apples off of a tree in our yard.

Talk about homely beasts....

The Deer like to pop out of the tall grass or shrubs at the side of the road and
stare at you as you slam the brakes on and scream obscenities at them...then
slowly walk away as if you are something too stupid and annoying to bother with.

I'm all for free deer hunting licenses to everyone who wants to hunt them.

The worst of all, however, are the dumb, pea brained Pheasants. Gozillions of them
around here.

Pheasants walk along the roadside and just as you get close to them, decide to FLY
across your path - at low altitude. Bam! Out goes a headlight! Plastic headlight frames
don't do well when Pheasants hit them at 55 mph.

We have huge raccoons too! Big as a large dog - and into everything!

Lot of skunks - makes your vehicle really aromatic when you hit one!

Aahh, the wilderness.....settlers in the old West must have eaten well.

DoctorBill

I am considering moving out in the country and would have to travel a windy road that has a lot of deer and was wondering and this may sound stupid but could a brush guard be installed on a Metro front?

I know it might look kind of lame but hey if it saved car damage if deer hit car it would be worth it.

Mark

How would you weld a Brush Guard on a Metro? !! then again - Brush and
Deer are a tad different in mass....

If you hit a 150 lb buck at 55 mph, I doubt that anything except a FULL METAL
JACKET welded as a cage inside of which is the Metro would do you any good.

How about three 4 inch Chromed metal tubes in an inverted "C" shape running from under
the front bumper over the top of the car and curving back down under the back bumper?

You'd look like some sort of amusement park bumper car plus Roller Coaster car all
rolled into one vehicle. Bet nobody'd pull out in front of YOU !

Invest in six or eight DEER WHISTLES and place them all over your car!
City folk laugh at me - "Do you have enough deer whistles!?"
I answer - "No. I plan on buying more. Just don't have any room left for them!"

I have SIX deer whistles on my '93 Metro....!

I sound like an approaching 107 mm HE Howitzer Round when I drive!

I repeatedly toot the horn near roadside brush when I drive at night on the 55 mph road
going to my house.
Tells the Deer I'm coming....lets them get ready to jump out on the road as I just get there!

I have seen vehicles that had hit deer. BAAAAD....!

Once in a while mooses (plural is meese?) show up around here!

Can't imagine hitting an adult ELK!

Might as well hit an Elephant.......

Then there was that night when I almost hit a UFO sitting in the middle of
the road.

No night running lights on it. Shot up into the sky and I nearly dropped my
can of beer!

Just kidding, folks -

I never drop my beer!

I've dropped a lit cigar in my lap - now that hurt the little Doctor....

DoctorBill

How would you weld a Brush Guard on a Metro? !! then again - Brush and
Deer are a tad different in mass....
DoctorBill


Like I said, probably a stupid idea. I do know they have brush guards for GEO Trackers. Some of the guards are pretty solid and are designed for more than hitting brush.

I always thought deer whistles were proven NOT to help at all. Maybe they do work

Mark

I've nearly hit elk and deer, both in my Swift and on my motorcycle. An elk would total a metro/swift if hit at highway speeds while a deer would cause major damage. A large bug causes a dent in the sheet metal of a metro/swift. One night while riding my motorcycle I came around a high speed corner and saw something in the road. Managed to swerve just enough to miss it with my front wheel and graze it with my foot. It was a porcupine! Man that would have hurt! Another time while riding my motorcycle in eastern Oregon I had a pheasant come through my windshield and hit me in the chest. Scared me to death! No meese here in Central Oregon but lots of dear, elk, cows, pronghorn, porcupines, coyotes, rabbits, etc.. Deer are in my yard almost every day.

Q

I'd just like to say that since I installed (and got it to work) my Cruise Control,
I feel safer driving at night because I don't have to constantly glance down
at my speedometer!

That is a big plus not to have to take one's eyes off the road.

Sure as Hell, glance down and that is when a Deer will pop out!

So now I can keep my eyes peeled for Deer constantly.

The Cruise Control maintains speed exactly!

No worries about that COP lurking somewhere with his RADAR.

DoctorBill

well i can't really say hitting a deer but a moose i can asure you that they can go trough the winshield of a geo .

im talking about personal expirience 5 years ago april 27th driving at night with a friend and a cuz of mine cam out of nowhere i hit the moose landed in the ditch look besides me the whole top of the car was on my friend and my side not even a bump the guy lived tho

so it is possible if my friend wasent there the moose would have been sitting besides me

I haven't come to close to hitting any deer with my metro yet, but I did come prettyclose to hitting a cow. I was coming back from a camping trip and turneda corner and there in the middle was a cow. So I started honking and flashing my lights while screaming at the thing to move. Finally after about two or three minutes it moved enough to get out of the way.

I live in CO, - many, many deer in our area! People around here call them "big rats" becuase they eat everything in sight!

Anyway, I drive an early-morning paper route and probably see at least 50 deer by the time I'm done each day. Here's what I've discovered...

I keep my brights on most of the time, and when I do see a deer up ahead, it doesn't matter if he's on the road or not, I start beeping the horn repeatedly as I'm slowing down. MOST of the time they head away from the road. Rarely, but it does happen, they turn across the road (stupid, like cats). The ones that stand their ground tend to be the larger bucks (just the ones you don't want to hit). Yesterday I came to within 4 feet of one, and almost to a complete stop before he decided that I was bigger than he was (not by much, grant you) and ran off the road.

Try the horn Dr. Bill, it seems to help.

This is purely hear say, but a guy from Michigan who travels extensively warned me that if you see a deer standing at the side of the road after dark, watch out if he turns and runs away, because he'll usually turn back again and run into your path. He theorized that the deer still sees your headlights when running away, kind of like we do when we turn off a bright light in total darkness and continue to see it. I believe this is true and keep it in mind whenever driving interstates after dark.

ha i had a 95 metro a year or 2 ago no deer but a f350 doing 50 well that will mess up a geo..i hit a deer in my towncar at about 65 and honestly besides a bunch of hair and fir in my grill no damage!! dont know how must ave some stong bumpers he he...

Holy Jeeeeez Us F*****g Christ:lol: The whole time reading this thread, I laughed 'till I almost shit my pants. The things people say and the way they say them is excellent entertainment. I do have to agree that hitting a deer is no fun. I clobbered one in my Nissan pick-up, a couple years back. It did 350 bucks in damage to my driver's side. It was that low, because I did the work. Things turned out okay, other than the crappy paint I ended up with.:screwy: Orange peeeeel. Different shade.:runaround: It all sucks. If you're worried about nailin' critters on the road, just get a little extra insurance to cover damages and rental cars and just keep your eyes on the road. Paying close attention is a big help in avoiding these mis-haps.

Holy Jeeeeez Us F*****g Christ:lol: The whole time reading this thread, I laughed 'till I almost shit my pants. The things people say and the way they say them is excellent entertainment. I do have to agree that hitting a deer is no fun. I clobbered one in my Nissan pick-up, a couple years back. It did 350 bucks in damage to my driver's side. It was that low, because I did the work. Things turned out okay, other than the crappy paint I ended up with.:screwy: Orange peeeeel. Different shade.:runaround: It all sucks. If you're worried about nailin' critters on the road, just get a little extra insurance to cover damages and rental cars and just keep your eyes on the road. Paying close attention is a big help in avoiding these mis-haps.

The problem with hitting a deer is that it often kills the driver or passengers when they come through the windshield. No amount of insurance will deal with this. Metros are small cars and could be totaled by even slight contact, so this is a valid concern. If you google "driver killed by deer" it might be an eye opener and even save your life.

howdy all,

just catching up with this thread / site. many years ago driving south to la paz and watchfully aware just after sundown .... 10 miles from my destination for the night ..... i hit a very large steer. i'd gotten around the first one but the second fooled me. going relatively slow anyway, i was almost stopped at contact but it still went almost over the top. the roof came down and the beast slid off back left. i wound up on the left shoulder of hwy and as i got my bearings, watched the cow slowly get up and walk off.

i pushed up the roof, shooed away some of the broken glass and eventually limped into a pemex station north of guerrero negro. i slept there and next day made some better adjustments. a talented glass man taped a well cut windshield into the opening and i spent a good ten days with friends down south.

got home with a bit of effort and started repairs. i beat out all the dents and shaped the windshield opening very well .... new proper glass fit perfectly. i sometimes used my backhoe as a stationary / hydraulic puller with chain attached to visegrips. there was little damage to the roof beyond a foot or so back from the rear of the windshield though the back left window had broken.

the steering wheel and instrument cluster had been damaged .... replaced the cluster ... rebent the wheel.

i left the adjusted hood on the car and wear it as a merit badge though i bought a replacement that now gathers moss / lichen in the backyard.

i was impressed with the safety of the structure overall .... and extremely lucky that a hoof or horns had not come through the windshield. in my case, along with cautious low speed [not low enough evidently], i believe the low wedge shape was the significant factor that lifted the steer .... 1000 lbs maybe? .... big! the roof beyond the leading edge proved very sturdy and apparently designed well, bearing the full weight until the wildlife wiggled off.

i did not have a digi camera at the time but will post some friends photos if i get a chance.

thanks for all the continuing good info.