Hitting animals

I noticed there aren't too many of those disastrous pics of explorers ruined from deer. You know, where a tiny car is missing half its body due to a 40 mph impact. I've hit 4 deer now, one just the other day. The only damage has ever been a cracked headlight that was a $25 fix. I drove right over the first one; I was going about 50 mph, braked hard until it hit, then rolled over it. Hit the back end of the second one with the front right of the truck while accelerating, and I was at about 40 mph. This one was in the dead of an MN winter and was hiding behind a 10' tall snow bank in a driveway. I only saw the head, and actually thought I hit an owl at first. The third one was a solid hit head on, and some part of it hit the headlight at a full 55-60 mph. This one may have bent the front bumper up a little, but its very hard to tell. It may have always been that way. This last one just barely hit the front, and it just ran away; started at 30 mph and braked hard. The other three were dead on the spot. I took them home with me. Actually another one someone hit and like jerks kept going. It was only wounded. It was in the turn lane, and I knew I had the clearance. Last minute the head pops up and I hear a nice clunk as I was towing a trailer shorter than the explorer. I called the sheriff, and he put it down. Just part of living in a heavily wooded area. Who knows how many the truck hit before I owned it, as its a 94. I know in the explorer I am safest just braking hard and not swerving. If I hit it, I'll eat it. I've also hit a few raccoon, and birds, but they are too small to really do anything. The stupid MN salty roads are what really do damage to these things.

 

[Rick]

I hit a large javelina with the Explorer years back. I felt like I ran over a large boulder at speed

Explorer 1 javelina 0

 

[SilvrHairDevil]

How do dash cameras work? You turn 'em on and they record all the time while you're driving? How many hours will they hold?

There are possibilities of collisions with things other than deer that you just do not want to hit and must swerve for - the neighbor's dog, your dog, a child on a bike, an oncoming semi who's drifted over the center line, etc.

Without proof of pressing necessity, yer hooped.

 

[traveler]

I don't have pics on my phone, but several years back I hit a 12 point Buck with my 97 limited edition Tbird. Totally destroyed the car. Every part (except engine) forward of the firewall was damaged, the windshield and roof took damage as well. Insurance (state farm) totaled it of course. Less than 24 hours after the accident all paperwork including my purchase of the totaled vehicle was done and I had a check in hand. Good company.
To keep this explorer related... I now drive a 2000 EB... and I put a grill guard on it. we have a lot of deer around here...

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[JohnnyO]

Just got the wife's minivan back from the bodyshop yesterday. Crunched the left front corner. Initial estimate was $3200, there ended up being an additional $3100 worth of work needed. My take is that the animal is usually the softest thing you will hit, i.e. swerve to miss the deer and you might end up with a worse wreck. In this case the deer went to the side and under the van but its head went OVER the van.

 

[traveler]

My wife hit a "small deer" with her tbird on her way to work last week. (She refuses to think of it being a "fawn"). It bent the lip of the hood a little and broke the grill. The estimate came to 1300. I was blown away. LoL I collected the check and am searching salvage yards for a white Tbird hood. Already found a grill on eBay.

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[Joe in NY]

buy any good hood and have it painted, or paint your self. its pretty easy...

 

[FirefighterJose]

In 2010 I owned a 2006 Audi A6 S-Line. I hit a deer at about 35MPH and it did
10,500 in damage. Insurance fixed it, and I drove it for a couple more years before
selling it. I have regretted selling it every single day. I'll get another, but I'm also
looking forward to the the XLT i'm picking up in a couple weeks.

Damage Photo