I just hit a wall and was wondering if anyone had this repaired yet (cost and time-wise).

 

Excuse me? You just hit a wall?
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Spun out on a highway on-ramp - SH-AWD no help for piece of shit Michelin tires.

Front and rear hit the wall. Passenger rear wheel took brunt of the hit.

 

you got any pictures? Also, how did it exactly happen? The VSA didn't save you?

 

How can you just say "I just hit a wall" and not elaborate!

Anyway, to answer UW RL's question about VSA:

The tires provide traction for the car. VSA does not, cannot, "create" traction. It is designed to make the best use of available traction. Apparently, the RL in question had tires that lost traction. No traction = nothing for VSA or SH-AWD to use to correct a spin.

 

Didn't take pictures - front passenger quarter panel and rear passenger quarter panel took the brunt of the hit (as did the rear passenger wheel and rear axle).

The amazing thing is that the doors were completely untouched (my wing mirror is spotless).

Side and curtain airbags deployed but for no reason - there wasn't anyone else in the car.

Zero traction = zero traction in this case unfortunately.

 

Oh yeah, and OnStar automatically called OnStar. Unfortunately they gave the police the wrong location even though I told the police my location (and geo coordinates from the navigation system) 3 times.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. Once your car is fixed, it sounds like it's time for new rubber.

 

The RL doesn't have sensors to know if there is anyone in the passenger seat yet. That's why it deployed the side and curtain airbags on impact. But hey, they performed as designed even if it was a wasted performance.

I do think, however, that cars do need to start getting these sensors for the passenger seat. Your case is the perfect example - probably $2000-$3000 in repair costs for those airbags and they didn't have anyone to protect.

 

The RL certainly does have sensors to know if there is someone in the passenger seat. There is an entire page in the owner's manual with a schematic of all of the airbag system components. There are several passenger weight and occupant position detector sensors in the passenger seat. This is on page 24 of the 2005 RL owner's manual.

 

the road was icy or wet? what was the speed? 30mph or 25 mph zone?

 

might i add. i am sorry but there is no excuse for that, i say it's totally your fault....what does sh-awd have to do with this at all, were you accelerating??? awd only works when you are accelerating not trying to break for a turn, therefore giving you nothing but extra weight for passive handling....unless a nasty patch of ice fooled you there is no other excuse for that...tires are tires they still have traction.

 

Must correct you on one point - SH-AWD also works to redistribute torque while decelerating ... by applying engine braking to the front or rear or side-to-side, as needed.
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Sorry for your accident but glad to hear your ok. Sounds like you hit the on ramp a bit to fast for conditions. SH-AWD, VSA all work to a point but you can neutralize them if you push it to hard.

 

I hope everyone realizes just how bad the OEM Michelins we have really are. When I replaced the POS Michelins with some Dunlops I was amazed at how much better the cr was in the wet, and how much more quiet it was!

 

The end of the story here is that a) VSA and/or SH-AWD may have malfunctioned (I'm looking into this via vehicle 'black box' data), but b) it's $8k in damages (including ~$2000 for airbags) and GEICO finished the claim in a matter of days with little or no fanfare.

Kudos to GEICO on this one - making it as painless as possible when it could have been much worse.

 

Not trying to start a tire debate here, lump, but I have 3 cars in the garage right now with the Michelin MXM4's on them (2 Acuras and one Caddy), and I've had them on previous Bimmers, and I really have no issues with them. They seem to have really good traction in the wet and the dry, and they're so much quieter than the Goodyear RSA's I had on previous cars that I consider them almost silent.

But just for future reference, which Dunlops did you get?

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True, but when you're in full blown braking, the SH-AWD effectiveness becomes less of a factor while ABS/VSA starts factoring in more..

The reappropriation of torque helps more while deaccelerating (while not in a full panic stop).

 

I agree, the Michelins are very nice.
They are rated on average of all the users on Tirerack as good to excellent in dry conditions as well as noise and comfort.
It was rated poor in snow if that is what you are looking for.

 

I'll also weigh in in defense of the Michelins. I have the PAX tires and they have been great. Good grip, little noise. Very responsive (albiet I run them a couple of pounds higher than recommended).