When we bought our new Insight in April, I gave some fleeting thoughts to the safety factor; how would it respond in an accident? But I was so excited about the technology and the styling that I was an enthusiastic new owner.

In July, we were rear-ended. We stopped for the light; the guy behind us didn't. As he bumped us through the intersection, in front of a cop sitting at the light on the cross-street, I was heartsick over the damage to the new car.

Well, his car looked a lot worse than ours did. He was braking, so his front bumper hit our crash bar dead on. The end section was knocked a little askew, the finish was damaged, the crash bar was snapped, but we were safe and the car was completely driveable. The guy who hit us commented, "I was admiring your car right before I hit it."

When we took it to the body shop, we expected our Insight to be the first one in our area for repairs. Nope. The owner said he'd already worked on another. He thinks other drivers are admiring the car instead of concentrating on their driving.

So, a month later the car was fixed and as good as new. We drove it for three more weeks, and then I drove home from work into a monster, dangerous thunderstorm. A front was rolling through with head-splitting thunder and lightning and incredible wind. I was trapped between two SUVs that couldn't handle the wind and we were doing 37mph. I watched as the trees bent in the screaming wind and the dead top of a huge pine tree broke loose and hit the hood of my car. I was terrified. I hung on to the wheel, kept the car on the road, and noted with relief that the car seemed to be running fine. So I headed for home in tears. The thunder and lightning were simultaneous, the sky was purple and the wind was howling. The Insight hugged the road, and kept on going.

At the next turnoff, I finally lost the SUVs, and hit the gas. The Insight was doing 55 in the storm and handling beautifully. I decided that I was going too fast for conditions, so slowed to a more sedate 45 as lightning hit a transformer about 100 yards ahead of me. The whole sky turned electric blue, and every car on the road came to a dead stop. We all just breathed for about 4 seconds, then put our vehicles in gear again.

Once again, the cars around me pulled off the road at the next opportunity, and again I got the Insight up to 55.

When I finally arrived home, I sat in my car and had a good cry. My companion came out to check on me, and Estimable Man, was much more concerned about me than about the new damage to the new car.

It has been to the body shop for a new hood and headlight, and once again is the beautiful, round, engineering marvel that's also the cutest car on the road. My repairman does request that our accidents continue to involve parts that can be unbolted off and bolted back on. He doesn't have the capacity for welding Insights yet.

So, if you're having nagging concerns about this lightweight car in the big, bad world, believe me, it's safe in accidents and heavy weather.