Car crash... Feeling Lucky?

[iddibhai]

i've tried a few times with no sucess. maybe you can talk me thru?

AIM: iddibhai
ICQ: 104079359
email: [email protected]

so we can figure out what i'm doin wrong. thanks!

 

[Marshall Johnson]

Originally posted by FC.:
You are lucky that the fuel tank did not rapture. By the pics, it came pretty close...

Sorry for your car, glad that you are OK.

Do you guys want to see a pic of a bad one? Say 65mph+75mph head on?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No, it didn't come close. I have a Saturn SL2 (looks identical to his) and the exterior panels are made of plastic, but it has a space frame made of steel. If you get hit on the side of your car the panels will strip off, but the steel cage remains intact. The gas tank is on the bottom between the frame rails, it's surrounded by a steel cage. It's not going to rupture easily.

It looks like the damage on his car is mostly superficial. It looks bad because the plastic panels (the part you're used to looking at) broke apart, but the frame look intact.

 

[Saaby]

Quickbeam--

In December (They were Married in Jan) my Sister and Brother-in-law were in an accident. His 1997 Chevy S-10 hit a Ford half ton pickup when he (accidently, he did not see it) ran a stop sign. That doesn't make it right, but he didn't see it. Spun the Ford pickup.

He took it to the shop to get it repaired and they did a decent job on the body work but did not detail the interior which was saturated by hot cocoa spilled in the accident. So he took it back and they cleaned the interior--but they were complete amaetures with the detailing, his seats came back wet (Not damp wet, soaking wet) his rugs were wet. His radio still had the film on the screen--the film was bubbleless so he'd just left it on. They took it off and sprayed spray wax on the screen and on the rest of his windows. Broke his center console too. We won't go back there again.

 

[Quickbeam]

Actually, the rear crumple zone... well... crumpled - this means that the opening around the trunk is deformed/crushed, the support behind the body panel is crushed (and it's a solid part of the frame), under the car the unibody is crushed and pushed to within a fraction of an inch of touching the rear wheel - he did a pretty good job. Afraid nothing "just superficial" about it. His wheel essentially crashed into and rolled over the corner of the car crushing it - just missed the gas tank fill opening. The damage is worse than it appears.

Police report says he left 55 feet of skid and probably hit the car doing about 40 with a glancing blow which is why I wasn't really injured - the crumple zone and the truck's front suspension took the brunt of the impact - hence why his tie-rod and steering knuckle broke.

Saaby - only experience I had with body shops were good ones - you do have to be careful, though.

 

[Rothrandir]

a couple years ago, we went out of town to pick my uncle from a train station, as he was visiting from california.
on the way back, we hit a really slick patch of ice, van went off the road and down a step hill. being rather top heavy (it is a high-top) we got to the bottom and tipped over. (i had a habit of kneeling on the floor between the two bucket seats in the front, and i ended up on the right side window, with all kinds of luggage on top of me.)
luckily, i had a flashlight!! (this was long before cpf, and i just knew i would need one! it was really wierd. at that point, i don't know what cheap light it was, but i knew i would need it!)
as we crawled out of the front left passenger side window, we say a bunch of onlookers.
there were two cars that stayed. me and my uncle got into the front car, my dad got into the back to use the mans cell phone. (has one now, but not then)
as we were sitting there, a truck hit the same patch of ice and managed to hit both of the cars there to help us.

and now, basically what i wanted to say:
we took it to an shop, the steering was way off, the wood trim wasn't even sanded or finished, everthing inside was crooked, and thiy didn't even bother to replace the deformed handles. the side runner looked nice, but didn't match the other one. the outer paint job was great however.

 

[Saaby]

Full size van (Possibly GM) turned custom Roth?

 

[Rothrandir]

ryan, your superpowers are amazing!!!

a gmc vandura 2500 by custom craft vehicles.

i'm trying to talk my dad into some ls mods, but he is adamant in his refusal. (i also want to add head and fog lights to his snowblower

)

 

[Saaby]

Head and fog on a snowblower is a bit exteme. I'd stick with 5mm in a car myself but that's just me.

Superpowers? Nah I'm just a good guesser. I'm not always right, heck sometimes I'm way off...the burning example that comes to my mind is when I predicted F-C had a Taurus (He's got a Mustang)

anyway...gotta love those crumple zones!

 

[Quickbeam]

An additional note -

The crash happened on Thursday PM.

On Saturday morning I received TEN letters from various lawyers basically asking if I wanted to sue - 4 of them even had copies of the police report in them!

 

[Quickbeam]

Just an FYI update - it's officially totaled...

10 years of good service... Bought it new and drove it off the dealership lot in Nov '92.

Now it's time to look at new cars!!!

 

[Quickbeam]

An update for anyone who cares... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

After a week of intense research we settled on a Honda CR-V 4-Cyl,4x2,160 HP. After 10 years with the same car, I'll finally have a new one to beat into the ground...

Sasha - thanks for the suggestion on the Vue. That's what got us headed toward small SUVs.

Every other small SUV (besides the Honda) seemed to be underpowered in the base models - almost as if the only purpose for the base model 4-cyls is to force you to upgrade. We don't need a lot of power, but 140HP is just too little for a vehicle that size. The extra 20HP in the Honda makes a big difference.

Here's hoping I go another 10 years before needing a new car!