[30917]

The panels may be thin but the safety cage is tougher than on most cars and that is why the OB is quite safe. There are special marker points on the OB's A & B pillars for the firefighter to use the jaws-of-life on, otherwise they can't cut them if needed. Not too many cars have that according to my firefighter friends who deal with the many accidents we have down here.
I have soundproofed my car with Dynamat and the doors at least feel more solid than before and they oilcan less when pushed on..

 

[upflying]

That "safety cage" also has crumple zones designed to absorb energy in a collision.
You don't want a "tough" cage, you want one that gives at impact.

 

[pineywoodslim]

Yes the Outback is made of EXTREMELY thin sheet metal skin. I keep the paintless dent removal guy on speed-dial and in just over 1 year and 14K of ownership I have had to call him twice to remove dents. He says he makes alot of $$ on new Subarus and they have one of the thinnest skins of all the cars he works on.

Just watch your hood when going 80mph on the freeway, it literally is "flapping" in the breeze b/c its so thin. At least it saves weight for gas mileage...

Mine flaps from the air blowers at the car wash. First time when my OB was new and it did that I freaked out, lol.

I got a little dent in my fender a couple of months ago by, literally, bumping into it while getting out of the car and squeezing through a tight spot in my garage. It's no bigee, but I'll check out the paintless dent guy since I can't pop it back myself.

If I'd bumped into my 83 coupe de ville's fender, my butt would have been the thing dented. lol.

 

[G-Omaha]

Mine flaps from the air blowers at the car wash. First time when my OB was new and it did that I freaked out, lol.

I got a little dent in my fender a couple of months ago by, literally, bumping into it while getting out of the car and squeezing through a tight spot in my garage. It's no bigee, but I'll check out the paintless dent guy since I can't pop it back myself.

If I'd bumped into my 83 coupe de ville's fender, my butt would have been the thing dented. lol.

I had a '58 Buick, and it would take a "fullback running at full speed" collision to make a dent in that thing - times change. Most of the little dents "pop out"; if not, then the "dent guy" should come into play. My major complaint is the little rock chips that cause the paint to "fly away" - probably because of the newer environmentally friendly paints now in use.

 

[I call her Sheila]

Yep, mine is at the shop all this week thanks to Hurricane Sandy dropping mostly small branches on her (ok, one of them was about 3 inches in diameter and 6 feet long, but none of the other branches were thicker than an inch, or 3 feet long). Left about 7 dimples in the roof, 4 in the hood, one on the strip over the driver's door, and one big dent (from the larger branch) on the front right fender. Looks like it spent an hour at the driving range. Same parking space for 13 years of a 4Runner, never got a dent from a branch in any storm. Not sure what I will do in the future to avoid this from happening, as I do not have access to a garage, nor am I building a car port.

I'll be seeing my Subie again in a week. Meanwhile, I've got this Dodge Defender to play with. I hope it can handle my dirt road and tomorrow's forecast snow (no, it came without a snow brush, but I bring my own).