Ug Car Sandwich on the 10 Freeway

[fuzzdevil]

Hello,
I was at a full stop on the freeway this evening, when a unisured driver plowed into the rear of 02 little bird, forcing me into the rear of the stopped Lexus SUV in front of me. From the general appearance, the rear bumper is destroyed, front bumper destroyed, right rear muffler was forced into the rear tire. Other than that, it looks like that is all the damage (will find out when it is put up on the rack).
I am wondering if anyone else has had any damage to there cars, and what came of it. I am hoping there was no frame damage, I was able to drive the car off the freeway with the muffler scraping on the tire.
All in all tho being hit so hard the impact to me does not seem so bad, probaly have some sore muscles, as my neck and back is already a bit sore.
The airbag did not deploy, and I can't find any information on what force it would take to deploy it.

Cheers

Johnny

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[loochie]

So sorry to hear this news....glad you seem okay, but sometimes it takes a couple days to get the full effect. See a chiropractor or a massage therapist to get yourself realigned and un-spasmed!

Hope your bird will be okay. VERY unfortunate it was an unisured driver. Were the police called to the scene? Let us know how things turn out. Best wishes for a full recovery for both of you!

 

[tbird]

Originally posted by fuzzdevil
Hello,
The airbag did not deploy, and I can't find any information on what force it would take to deploy it.

Sorry to hear about your wreck, I hope you have a full recovery from any after soreness!

Airbags have come quite a way. I remember many years ago seeing a Dodge Neon bump into a Ford Escort on a dealership lot while the lot guys were moving the cars around. Impact speed was about 5MPH and the airbags deployed on the Dodge but not on the Ford.

The airbags are designed to deploy in a front end collisions of 30 MPH or greater if my memory serves me correctly and Ford airbags don't usually deploy unnessarily from my experience.

 

[Brad]

Fuzz, You've got some very valid concerns. Make sure you have atleast several reputable shops inspect for the hidden damage. Be very carefull using a shop your insurance company recommends (there has been alot of press about insurance companies making customers use shops that they actually own).

As it sounds like you are aware, they can slap it all back together and make it look pretty without ever fixing structural damage. To avoid multiple tows, you should see if you could pay a couple guys to go look at it all @ the same shop. (I realize that might be a stretch to find people that would agree to it).

Before you get it fixed, take a close look at all the undamaged body panels..doors, trunk, etc. to see how they line up and close. If any of them are different than they used to be, then clearly the damage went beyond cosmetic. They may only need re-adjusting, but it does tell you something. Also, before and after, put your hardtop on and off a few times to see if it still fits correctly. Also try the covertible top. I'd also advise checking for water leaks.

I believe generally speaking convertibles are not as strong as other cars because of the missing room. (reason for X braces)

Make sure any cracked panels are replaced, and NOT repaired...A repaired crack could come back to haunt you a year later. Does anyone know if Ford uses a rubberized paint on the bumper covers like they used to?

If you're gonna take a check from insurance and get the work done yourself, there was a Mint green front bumper on E-bay.

Finally...if you get it back and it's not right, trade it in right away. Those rattles and other things with repaired cars get much worse over time

 

[George]

My opinion

Johnny: All very good advice from others. You may not need any more, but I would also suggest finding a Blue Oval Certified Ford dealer that has a body shop as well, for another estimate.
The Ford dealers may get parts faster, will use Ford parts and probably not after market parts like many other body shops do to cut costs, match paints and if you get a rental car while its in and don't like the job done, keep it until done.....maybe easier to interface with a dealership as opposed to a single shop owner. After all they have a potential customer on their hands and should want to treat you right. Especially if they think you may trade it in there, eventually, if treated fairly.

 

[Sophia]

Glad you aren't hurt too bad, and also hope your car comes back to you in A-1 shape.

 

[TennEngr]

Re-tread Damage

Glad your all right FuzzDevil.

My damage is not as severe as yours. I was following a car when it swerved to miss some tire parts in the road. Unfortunately, he ran over one and shot it like an arrow straight into the front of my T-Bird. When I got to work, I found the re-tread sticking out just below the front grill. Broke all but one of the vertical pieces below the grill, damaged the radiator condenser and appeared to make the front clip (I guess you call it that) move away from the hood. I hate driving in Atlanta.

I didn't get to this forum until after I took the car in to have it fixed. Hopefully Allstate knows what it is doing. I took the T-Bird to Sterling Auto Body and requested all Ford parts.

I'll keep you posted on cost and any problems I might have.

 

[Sophia]

shot it like an arrow straight into the front of my T-Bird

Wow, good thing it didn't hit your windshield, might have caused you to swerve into somebody.

 

[Jeffn]

As a retired chiropractor, loochie has some good advice. Get examined and worry aboutt he car afterwards. Good luck with both.

 

[Quickdraw]

Jeffn,
read your private messages.....

 

[fuzzdevil]

the car is back!!!!

got the car back today looks great!! drives like it used to very happy!!!

11,000 dollars later, glad i have some **** good insurance!!

btw still have not had any back problems, very good car

 

[saj]

fuzzdevil,

I'm really glad to hear that you're doing alright.

Sorry you've had to go through this, but it is nice to have a data point that backs up some of the tests of how well t-birds protect their occupants when bad things happen.

Also glad to hear the shop was able to fix your baby. May you have no more troubles!

 

[Brad]

When getting a car back from a body shop, aside from the obvious, does anyone have recomendations on what to look for to make sure they did the job right?

Clearly asthetics of paint, gaps, overspray etc. Should you actually measure the gaps or anything else like that?

 

[Quickdraw]

I think overspray would be the number one problem if they were painting the hood, fenders, or quarter panels. Was the damage confined to the front and rear bumbers? You didn't get any 1/4 panel ripple from the impact or get smacked hard enough to affect the door margins did you? I think if you measured the margins even on a new one you would find some varience.

Stand back a ways from the front & rear to see if the bottom of the hood and deck lid margin is even.