Hi.

I have been driving for well over 20 years and pride myself in being a skilled driver.

This is what happened to me in my 1993 Volvo 850-GLT 5-speed manual sedan:
I was on the famous US. East Coast corridor, I-95 in Connecticut.  I was driving at a speed of around 70 mph.  I was rear-ended by a huge
tractor-trailer truck (aka Mack truck) who apparently crested the hill just after me and didn't think I'd be there.  When he hit me, I felt my car bump, then it became airborne.  It was thrown up and over the guardrail dividing the highway and onto the other side of the highway (I was driving on the northbound side and landed on the southbound side).  Upon landing, I found myself partway crashed into the guardrail.  I WAS WEARING MY SAFETY BELT.  The airbags did not deploy.  I walked away from the scene with absolutely no injury whatsoever.  I didn't even feel sore (a mild backache occurred 2 days later and lasted 1 day).  The emergency personnel on the scene (medical and police) were convinced that I HAD to be injured - if not on the outside, then it must be internal injuries.  They couldn't accept the fact that I was not  injured.  One by one, maybe three different ones came over to talk to me to say that I really should let them take me to the hospital because I was probably in shock (I wasn't) and coudn't feel the pain of the (non-existent) injuries.  When I refused, they'd walk away shaking their heads.
 
When I got out of the car and saw the wreck, I could see why all the concern.  The car was absolutely totalled.  There wasn't any way to identify what type of car it had been, even.  The only part of the car that was not literally mangled was the cockpit.    When the insurance adjusters came and saw it, they wanted to take an extra photograph of the wreck to send to Volvo with a note saying I'd walked away uninjured.  They were very impressed.
 
That's why I've owned only Volvos for many years, and now, and will as long as I drive.
 
Jennifer of  Tiverton, RI  02878 USA