My wreck registry from 11/24/10

[drothgeb]

Today on the way to Lowes to pick up some materials I rear-ended a car in front of me. Traffic merged into surrounding lanes which exposed the traffic that was stopped in at a light. I should've reacted faster but didn't and as a result her car was totalled and mine was left like this...

The pictures don't show the damage very well so the damage list is as follows:

Hood dented and scratched up​

Grill broken in several places, especially the center​

Bumper obviously destroyed​

Passenger fog light completely demolished​

Passenger side fender bent from bumper impacting it. Missing paint and pushed out an inch or so. Plus the lower mount is bent in.​

Corner light housing has all mounting locations broken and is broken in area directly above headlight​

Headlight mounting tabs broke through the header panel​

Header panel is cracked and broken in several places and the holes for headlight/corners have been punched through​

Insurance should cover it except the $250 deductible. I had just painted the grill from the faded, peeling chrome to nice clean white too

Drive safe people, traffic is going to rough this week/weekend

 

[drothgeb]

The bumper was originally shoved up against the tire and fender but was going to rub very badly so the tow truck for her car hooked up a chain to my bumper and when the police officer directing him told him to stop he did...2 feet farther than he should have.

 

[drothgeb]

Body shop quoted $2,287.33 for repairs.

 

[AngelzExplorer]

be glad thats all that happened. Could have been worse, could have totalled your vehicle. But good thing your ok.

 

[drothgeb]

Yeah, I'm glad that's all that was damaged. The hoses going in/out of the trans cooler were also busted up from the lower valence hitting them and I got those refitted today. At least it's driveable. I just hate it when you spend time/love on your vehicle and it gets beat up over something you could've avoided. I felt bad about the girl's car. She was 16 and it was her first.

 

[AngelzExplorer]

wow, poor girl. was she texting,. thats what teenagers do now a days. i am sure it was unavoidable. Yes i can admit to loving my explorer. I thouht yesterday when i was in town that i was getting hit for sure. but it was the car in front of me getting hit. OOPS. so i try to avoid anything and everything. i rather hit a tree then another car. LOL well hope you get it all fixed. I know if something happened to mine like it did yours, id be very upset.

 

[Keeper0311]

I had similar damage on my Sport. Much of that repair work can be easily done yourself in your driveway. Hit up the local junk yard and grab yourself a header panel and a grill.

 

[drothgeb]

Yeah, it's nothing terrible. Just hoping my corner light housing stays in place on the drive to my parents this holiday. The bumper, headlight, and header panel would run me more than the $250 deductible, so I think I'll just have the collision/body work shop fix it all so I don't have any rust problems or fitment issues in the future.

 

[ranger-93]

wow, poor girl. was she texting,. thats what teenagers do now a days. i am sure it was unavoidable. QUOTE]

Ok let me get this straight. So people moved OUT of his lane giving him more room to stop before hitting the non moving vehicle at a red light. Am I correct?

If this is what happened I dont think her texting at a red light caused the accident. I also think its a pretty poor accusation to say "thats what teenagers do now a days" when its not only teenagers that text while driving. Iv seen an elderly man (idk age) with a handicap tag driving and texting. Probably not seen to often but to point teenagers alone is pretty unfair IMO

 

[drothgeb]

Nobody was texting. She was moving at about 5-10 mph. I had a bunch of people in front of me and the person directly in front of me switch lanes right before the stopped traffic (that I could not see) while I spared a quick glance at my clock and boom I hit her. It was my fault.

 

[storlied]

The driver wasn't paying attention, cars in front of him switched out of that lane into the left and right leaving a car stopped right in front of him, about 2 or less car lengths. Happens here a lot, but I'm used to it so I don't hit em.. lol... it happens though, most important thing no one is hurt. Your truck held up pretty well, too bad you didn't get pictures of the car..

We've been having an ice/freezing rain storm since Monday... it's hell out here... heavy fog, heavy rain, and pure ice for roads... yay..


Just a tip, if coming to an intersection.. don't do ANYTHING but pay attention to the road. Another thing, try and look through people's cabs or above their roof since you're in a truck.. you have an advantage here of seeing what's in front of you.. to an extent.

Also, if you have a green and it's winter. Go through that intersection like it's blinking yellow, even if you can't slow.. flash while coming up to the intersection to let people know you're there.. and you're coming through. Just little things like that help a lot, I'm definitely used to all of that bs.

 

[drothgeb]

Probably very avoidable on my part if I hadn't glanced at my clock and gave the car in front of me a bit more of a lead but I felt safe since traffic was slowing down for the most part.

 

[drothgeb]

Her Chevy Malibu was completely crumpled in the rear.

 

[drothgeb]

The only funny thing was that she kept telling her mom: "This is why I told dad I wanted a Ford. My car is a tin can!" Then her mom said that that is why she drives the Explorer in the family haha

 

[storlied]

hahaha.
Oh man.

Checkout this for some crazy reaction time:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291727

 

[drothgeb]

hahaha.
Oh man.

Checkout this for some crazy reaction time:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291727

That could've been real bad. Nice quick braking. Wish I could've been a half second quicker on the brakes...or not been checking the time...Oh well, time to move on and learn from mistakes

 

[Joe Dirt]

That sucks... The last-second switch has gotten me a few times, thankfully I got stopped- but it's tough to do since you don't think traffic is stopped in front of the car in front of you. Glad everyone was ok- accidents happen.

True about seeing crazy things this weekend. Coming home from work I watched some idiot in a Carrera weaving in and out of heavy traffic on M-6, and about 2 miles up the highway- saw him sitting in the median stuck, bottomed out. I was going to stop, but figured- nah, you were being a ******- wait and use your AAA. Maybe they'll tear the bumper cover off your compensator...

 

[drothgeb]

Yeah, I had just got it the way I wanted. All paint chips were fixed, freshly washed and waxed 2 weeks ago and did a perfect job on the grill painting. I was just about to order my replacement intake manifold gaskets and tensioners. Guess that money is going to the deductible now.

 

[drothgeb]

BTW, I had no idea that the header panel was fiberglass...

 

[storlied]

Unfortunately...