Cars That Are "Dent Magnets" (vehicle, red light, minivans)

[Icy Tea]

I check out other cars, particularly newer ones at red lights or in parking spaces. I've noticed some cars just seem to attract dents and dings more than other. Some don't.
The Kia Soul. This car seems to get dinged and dented all over. Not just on doors but on the fenders.
The Honda Fit. This car seems to be just the opposite. I see them and they always seem to be in great condition body wise. Is it the size?
The Chrysler Town and Country minivan. The rear bumber often has a dent or crack or it has a broken tail light.
Honda Accords.Dings on the doors.
Acuras. Dings on the doors, too. if I had an expensive car I'd park it off alone somewhere.
Fords seem to be fairly ding proof, at least the bigger ones. I've seen a Ford Focus fold up like an accordian in a parking lot crash, though.
Anybody else have any input or observations?

[hensleya1]

Hi Icy Tea--

I'm at risk of getting flamed out to no end, but if you look at any car with dents on the rear corners, it's inevitably a female driver (especially minivans and SUV's, but any cars really). A -lot- of women I know have problems with depth perception and struggle, big time, with backing cars up. I'm not sure why.

As to doors getting dinged, it's more likely to happen in the city or when you're a poor parker and have a hard time getting the car between the lines (which means the driver of the car next to you inevitably dings yours as he tries to get into his car).

Lastly, the steel on today's cars is so damned thin that even a hailstorm can cause thousands of dollars of cosmetic damage. And that doesn't count if you set something heavy down on the car, which could easily dent the new ones, too.

[Retriever]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

I'm at risk of getting flamed out to no end, but if you look at any car with dents on the rear corners, it's inevitably a female driver (especially minivans and SUV's, but any cars really). A -lot- of women I know have problems with depth perception and struggle, big time, with backing cars up. I'm not sure why.

The biggest tip-off that a woman is the usual driver of an SUV (or other vehicle with "white letter" tires) is the appearance of the sidewalls of the passenger side tires. If they look like the world's biggest whitewalls, that is because a someone has consistently scraped the tires along curbs for a few years, thus leading to the thin black rubber covering the white rubber being worn away.

I rarely--if ever--see this problem on vehicles driven by men, and I see this on women's vehicles VERY often.

[mkarch]

Certain brands are notorious for thin sheet metal. Some Hondas and Acuras dent just by looking at them funny.

It's just another way manufacturers cut weight to increase fuel economy.

[Swampmonster]

Originally Posted by Icy Tea

I check out other cars, particularly newer ones at red lights or in parking spaces. I've noticed some cars just seem to attract dents and dings more than other. Some don't.
The Kia Soul. This car seems to get dinged and dented all over. Not just on doors but on the fenders.
The Honda Fit. This car seems to be just the opposite. I see them and they always seem to be in great condition body wise. Is it the size?
The Chrysler Town and Country minivan. The rear bumber often has a dent or crack or it has a broken tail light.
Honda Accords.Dings on the doors.
Acuras. Dings on the doors, too. if I had an expensive car I'd park it off alone somewhere.
Fords seem to be fairly ding proof, at least the bigger ones. I've seen a Ford Focus fold up like an accordian in a parking lot crash, though.
Anybody else have any input or observations?

For the life of me I can't explain why,but it seems like nearly every single 99-03 Chevy Silverado that I have seen in the last few years is dented somewhere on the body..usually the rear quarter panels...I have noticed this mostly on the sandstone colored ones that they made 9 zillion of(my wife actually has a 99 z71 that ugly color..that also keeps magically get bent all the time)..not sure the deal but maybe its because they are kind of a ladys or kids truck around here..not sure why

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by mkarch

Certain brands are notorious for thin sheet metal. Some Hondas and Acuras dent just by looking at them funny.

It's just another way manufacturers cut weight to increase fuel economy.

My '12 Sonata has a couple of dings in the rear quarters, probably kids getting out of the back seat of neighboring cars. But yeah, the sheetmetal on my car seems really thin.

[quiet life]

Well I understand the Kia Soul getting dented. I always have the controllable urge to just push it out the way when I see one Kia+Soul is a oxymoron

[BeauCharles]

I reduce my chances of getting dings a lot just by being willing to walk a distance in a parking lot. Almost never park towards the front. I didn't worry so much when most cars had body side moldings standard, but those ended in the late 90s/early 2000s for the most part (never understood why).

[missik999]

I always park far away and walk, both for health benefits and to reduce dents.

If I do park near other cars I look for nice vehicles to park between. I never park beside a piece of crap junker or a car that has multiple dents. If someone doesn't care enough to take care of their own vehicle what are the chances they will care about yours?

[mtgmike]

The current generation Toyota Tundra has such thin metal on the bed that it will dent if a squirrel farts next to it.

True Story.

My FIL slipped while putting something in the bed of my Tundra and put a golf ball sized dent in the bed with his elbow. I watched it happen, and he says it didnt even hurt, but put a huge dent in the bed. The PDR place said they see a bunch of Tundras, and the bed is very thin.