A guy in a minivan turned left in front of me at an intersection to get on the interstate. I hit him broadside and almost flipped his van.


He admitted fault and will be cited, so that's cool. His wife left in the back of an ambulance, so that's not cool.

Damages on my car were the front bumper, passenger fender, hood, airbag, and the explosive seatbelt thing. Probably more under the hood, but I didn't open it to check, and it's at a wrecking yard waiting to go to the bodyshop tomorrow.

Now to deal with insurance...

 

I hope the guys wife is ok.

But what was this guy thinking cutting across traffic like that. Thats how people get killed

 

D@mn, that sucks. Hope the guys wife comes out of this O.K. The cars can get fixed/replaced. Hey, what's this "explosive seatbelt thing" you mentioned?

 

That would be the seat belt pretensioner. Check out the link below for more info if you're interested.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/seatbelt4.htm

 

Ford uses an explosive charge to pre-tension the seatbelt when the airbag goes off. But it destroys the seatbelt retractor.

Tell ya what though... Their safety stuff works.

 

That's pretty cool. Learn something new everyday...

 

Thats cuz they got their asses sued off with the Firestone fiasco

 

Sorry that happened to you. Good luck with the repair.

 

Screw the dudes wife, how's your car???????????

 

Not sure yet. I'll be going to the bodyshop tomorrow with a camera.

My car is an exact clone of the one you ordered and changed color on.

 

Sucks to hear about your car. Good thing is with a good body shop nobody else will evere know it was hit. Nobody can tell mine was twice.

 

Good luck. Do you know what the limit is to total a car where you're at? Some states set it at a certain percentage of the car's value. Also, they'll look at how certain they can be that the car will still be safe once repaired. Dealing with crumple zones (especially in the front end) they'll ere on the safe side).

How fast were you going? I was doing about 35 before I put on the breaks, probably 25 or less when I hit the car that ran a red in front of me. The front frames tweaked a lbit because of her momentum to the side, and they ended up totalling my car. But the limit here in Nevada is 65%, and it was a pretty close estimate. So if the mandated limit is higher where you're at, they'll rpobably repair it.

Good luck, and let us know how it comes out.

 

Sorry to hear about this. Was just in a similar incident with a mini van. Hope the repairs go well.

 

I was going through the intersection at about 30-35 MPH, and probably had a second to a second and a half of full braking. I'd guess I hit the van at about 20 MPH. The fender isn't folded up and the hood only had a slight buckle.

I'll find out today just how bad it is when I go by the shop.

 

I'm glad everyone's ok, but I'm really sorry about your car. Hopefully you have some recommendations for quality body shops in your area. I generally try to avoid dealer shops based on past negative experiences. Good luck with your repairs. Hopefully you won't be too sore tomorrow.

 

Well, at least he was honest, and respectful. Hopefully his wife is alright. Your pony, too.

 

Did you have any photos of the wreck?

 

I'll start another thread.