Sleepy engineer wrecks Pontiac G8
Pontiac's famous tagline is "We build excitment". What does it say about the new Pontiac G8 that yesterday morning an Australian engineer driving a test car fell asleep at the wheel and piloted it down a 100-foot embankment, striking a boulder and flipping the car end over end? Well, the Pontiac G8 will surely be one of the more exciting vehicles from the brand in recent memory when it goes on sale early next year, but apparently for the engineer, 41-year-old Rolf Glenk, it wasn't exciting enough to keep him awake.
Glenk was the last in a convoy of G8s that were traveling on Highway 82 in Colorado yesterday morning when the accident happened. Being last in line, it was only after another engineer noticed their group was one short that Glenk and the totaled G8 were found flipped upside down at the bottom of an embankment. Glenk was taken to Aspen Valley Hospital and treated for minor injuries, while the G8 didn't so fare nearly as well. Glenk was also given a citation for careless driving.
[Source: Aspen Daily News via Jalopnik]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
chevyman 1:55AM (7/30/2008)
who ever made this stupid aricle is a queer!
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Thomas 3:03PM (9/28/2007)
Well I guess it's good to know that if I ever do something like that I could probably live. I'm kinda surprised it's not more messed up than it is.
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Beat-it-nerd 3:03PM (9/28/2007)
The slogan is "Pontiac. Action." dude. And, that was clearly some action...
http://gmaccessoriesstore.com
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antrow 3:04PM (9/28/2007)
I am not a fan of Pontiac styling or the new G8 but I have to say it is impressive that someone could walk away from a crash like that.
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Frank the Tank 3:11PM (9/28/2007)
Sigh... what a dumbass
Glad hes alright though
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Thom 3:06PM (9/28/2007)
Real World crash test results before the car even hits the market! WOW!
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UltraP 10:19PM (9/28/2007)
New slogan: Pontiac. So BORING it will put you to sleep.
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94 taurus owner 5:15PM (9/28/2007)
woow
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94 taurus owner 5:15PM (9/28/2007)
that is really impressive
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Jugomugo 3:23PM (9/28/2007)
Think he'll have a job when he gets out of the hospital?
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Mark 3:50PM (9/28/2007)
My new car is sleep proof, awesome! No really I'm in love with this car.
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sw 3:30PM (9/28/2007)
WE BUILD EXCITE..z.zzzzzzzzz
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TriShield 3:31PM (9/28/2007)
Pontiac just updated the G8 site with colors, features and some pictures this week.
http://www.pontiac.com/g8
Prices should be out very soon ($25k base V6, $31k base V8). A six-speed manual will be available by March.
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sydbot 3:39PM (9/28/2007)
So does this mean we will see a 2008 1/2 model featuring a sleepy-driver alert system? I got to see a lot of crashes working at a photo lab (the road commission did their photos through us) and this one looks a lot worse than many where the driver/occupants were killed. Props on crash survivability.
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Frank the Tank 3:40PM (9/28/2007)
That stealth blue metallic is pretty wild
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Stumper 4:06PM (9/28/2007)
wait...since when does light purple = blue?
TriShield 4:00PM (9/28/2007)
Rolf likely has the distinction of being the first person to wreck a G8 on US roads.
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Nr9 4:15PM (9/28/2007)
he crashed because of unreasonably low speed limits in the US that cause drowsiness, especially in a V8 where its geared to run at 1000 rpm at that speed limit.
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SPG 4:16PM (9/28/2007)
Pontiac, we build safe cars.
Now to find out where I can get the parts from that car.
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paul34 4:27PM (9/28/2007)
"whoops"
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