Two weeks ago we had something resembling rain here in sunny SoCal. There was just enough to get the oil/rubber mix on the road nice and slippery. I was driving my 2003 Jeep Liberty in the inside lane of a 4 lane road approaching a traffic signal. There was one car about 4 car lengths ahead of me, a car to the right and a raised curb divider to my left. Speed limit was 50 MPH but I was doing around 40 MPH.

Suddenly the car in front of me slammed on the brakes and stopped. I suddenly heard the sound of a distant siren at about the same time I slammed on the brakes. The wheels locked up but the ALB did not kick in. I proceeded to slide toward the vehicle in front of me. I was literally standing on the brakes with both feet as the card started to slow. I was down to around 10 MPH when I bumped the Ford Escape that had stopped short in front of me. The bump pushed their Escape about 1/2 car length forward.

The bump did not set off my airbags and I was not thrown forward against my seat belt. We both pulled to the side of the road. I jumped out and walked around the front of my Jeep and looked at the back of the Escape more closely. Amazingly, it did not have a scratch so I went to the passenger side to check if the occupants were OK.

At this point I turned and looked back at what used to be the front end of my Jeep. The bumper was busted up, the grill smashed, the headlight twisted, the leading edge of the hood buckled under and a piece of the grill punctured the radiator. UNBELIEVABLE! I looked at the back of the Escape again...not even a scratch.

Fortunately this happened within a mile of my home so I drove it home. The Jeep tracked straight and true and other than a little steam from the radiator it drove just as always. The repair facility came and picked it up on a flat bed.

Yesterday I was given the estimate. $7,000. On the positive sign this was my company car and the insurance is covered by them. My company decided to declare it totaled and I will be getting a new car.

How the H3LL does a 10 MPH bump cause $7,000 damage. I was told that the newer vehicles front end is designed to collapse to protect the occupants. The rear of the car is not designed like this.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

BTW it turned out that the vehicle with the siren was on a side street and never went past us...Nice move to stomp the brakes and stop in the middle of the street rather than pulling to the side!

 

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AMGlover thanks for the link.

No wonder insurance costs are so high!

 

Not to mention the fact that vehicle front bumpers and crumple zones are DESIGNED to do just what yours did. The rear of vehicles are designed the opposite way as they have to remain rigid.

I had something similar happen years ago in an older car I had. Someone rear-ended me and I got out and there wasn't even a broken tail light lens on my car and the front of the other car was mashed in badly. This could not have been at more than 10 or 15 mph.

Just the way things are.

 

Yea but bumpers that stick out are ugly...

 

That is like the one and only exception for rear-end accidents. If you stop at the end of an on-ramp and get rear-ended, the guy who rear-ended you won't get charged and you, in turn, may end up getting charged for impeding the flow of traffic or he might want to add "in a traffic accident".

 

WOW..... you REALLY had to dig to bring this thread back!

 

 

Nice pic, Tim. When did you break into the 11.86? I knew you were sub 12 second, but 11.86 is awesome, especially with a single CAI LOL

And that trap speed is insane....