amcl

I took this picture a few weeks ago. My wife had gotten a hold of my car an early Saturday morning to go shopping! Lo and behold, she decides to rear end a Bimmer (325 '00). Although I'm glad she's ok, I'd like for you all to share my pain

The body shop has taken over 15 days already. Seems like they had to take apart the engine and inspect it, pull the frame back out, etc. The estimate is ~4K or so. My baby won't ever be the same

Btw, the air bag didn't deploy as the collision was somewhere under 20 mph, I think. The Bimmer had but a little dent and scratch on it's bumper.

AMCL

VolkRacing

aww man...that's horrible
my condolences...

CSB01

Ewwwww. I feel for you. Same thing happened to me with my 98 Prelude. Not letting my girl near my new TL.

Women + cars = Accident .....

Road Rage

Ow!

TUFF GONG

Ughhhh..... Being that my car is silver also, seeing your baby like that cause's me allot of pain. Your wife must of been braking and causing the nose to dive when it impacted the BMW. Good luck on the repair's man.

Hmmm, don't get me wrong guy's (I love my TL-S), but not only looking at this picture but inspecting my own car. I think Honda decided to use Origami as their new way to manufacture car's. The exterior bumper area doesn't seem too sturdy if you know what I mean. Look how easy it seems for these headlight thieves to rip the bumper off. Granted amcl's bumper didn't get a chance to do it's thing, cause it must of went under the BMW's bumper but hmmmm, I guess it's just how cars are made these days.

vtech_buddy

I agree that women are aggressive drivers. Thats why you see most of them driving SUVs. They feel all mighty powerful, when they drive powerful fast cars. Whats their puprpose ? Beats me

Anyways ... That kinda damage on your TL .. she gotta be doing atleast 15 mph when she hit the bimmer.

This is the reason I dont let anyone else drive my TL.

Turboara

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!

Does any one find it disturbing that the air bags did NOT deploy in a frontal collision like that???

My wife is still afraid to drive the TL, she only took it around the block once so she can tell people she drove it too.

AcidHorse

Yikes! I think i may have just been eviscerated!

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

My condolences

amcl

I was VERY thankful that the airbags didn't deploy. They do much more harm than good at low speed collisions. I knew this girl that had her skin stripped off her forearms, throat and face cuz of the explosive power of the airbag blowing up in her face.

amcl

BlackShadow

It took me two whole years for me to trust my wife with my TL. Even now she only drives if I'm following her somewhere. But if it's around the local area then she can drive by herself but I am always ****ting bricks when she drives.

BTW, sorry to hear and see about your damaged TL-S.

coffeefingers

Dude,

Wow...sorry about the accident, dude. Glad your wife is okay.

Well...since she's your wife, I guess you should cut her some slack for jacking up your ride...but daaaayuuuummm.

If my girlfriend jacked up my ride like that...oh boy...

"Hi, honey...meet Mr. Hand."

j/k :p

SoundSpeed

Damage looks pretty bad.
At least no one was hurt.

8ball

Ouch! I do feel your pain.
That brings back memories of when my wife smashed my then-pristine Maxima SE. She rear-ended a pickup truck and pretty much toasted everything from the right headlight to the A pillar. I never felt the same about the car after that, but yours doesn't look as bad.
Like others here, my wife has yet to drive my TL-S. I've offered several times, but she's declined so far. I think she's scared, because she loved test driving the dealer's demo.

TLDan

Yes, I can not only share your pain, but I can relate! Almost three weeks ago, some idiot ran a stop sign and hit me on the passenger side ( he was drinking, but not impaired, so he wasn't charged ). I had about 10K in damages ( the frame was not damaged ) and I also thought that my car would never be the same.

Well, I saw my car today and took it for a long test drive with the owner of the body shop. I was extremely pleased with the results! I am picking it up tomorrow, so I will be a happy camper this weekend. I also purchased the body kit from Tim and had the body shop install it while they were fixing my TLS. Looks great! Keep in mind that in most states, the insurance company is required to replace all defective parts with new "OEM" parts on new cars, so you really should be all set. In my case, nothing was reaired. Everything that was damaged was replaced. Make sure you have a reputable body shop that will be your advocate in working with the insurance adjuster. Good luck!

TLDan
2002 ABP
Wood Steering Wheel
Wind Deflector
OEM Spoiler
OEM Body Kit

samzilla

i'm sorry to hear about your ride. i haven't let anyone even sit in the driver's seat with the key in the ignition yet. My girlfriend has been bugging me. but hey... i get a $30 deduction from insurance if i put her on the policy, so i guess there's a bright side to allowing women to drive? j/king

lonny

So sorry - that pains me. But, like I always said, don't ever EVER let the wife drive your car!

CarFreak

Ouch!!!!!!!!

BLEXV6

You have to cut the wife off driving your car. On second thought, she will probably cut you off if you get my meaning.LOL.

wakkolio

oracion

Ouch! I feel the pain to see another SSM in that shape.

thephantom

I feel your pain but worst. I had my whole front end smashed at under 20 MPH 6-30-2001 and the total repair cost was $9K+. It was in the shop for 6 weeks and I thought it would never be the same either but... ever since I got it back, the car has been perfect in every way. I even took her to 135MPH and no shakes, rattles, or pulls. The way they designed our "frame" is pretty cool, they can actually take parts of the frame off and replace it like the did on the assembly line. I am sure your car will be just fine. Good luck!

RAdams

Airbags are designed as supplemental restraint systems -- they're supplements to the seat belts. They're triggered by sensors that measure the car's rate of deceleration, not by impact. The brunt of the impact on his car was absorbed by soft, crushable body pieces so the rate of deceleration had to have been much lower than the threshhold at which the airbags deploy. This is perfect proof of why you should always wear your seatbelt -- airbags, by design, do not always deploy in frontal collisions (which, again, is why they're called supplemental restraint systems).

amcl

I feel soooo relieved to hear that the frame is easily fixed. I might be picking up my car today. Any tips on what to check for?

thanks,
amcl

amcl

I don't think the bumper would have done much. Upon inspection, it's paper thin! So thin, in fact, that the slight abrasions ripped right through it. If you look at the picture, the black patches on the bumper are holes! I don't think the bumpers are rated for any more than 5mph into a rubber post.

amcl

thephantom

Here are a couple of things you should keep an eye on.

Keep track of your tire tread wear. I the frame is ever so slightly out of whack, your tires will be able to tell you that. The only thing is, you have to wait about 1K miles to be able to determine the damage if any.

I would take a quick ride on the highway at around 3:00 AM or when there are no cars around. Take the car up to about 100MPH or higher and see if the car pulls, shakes, or rattles. This is not a great idea as far a safety goes but as long as you don't endanger anyone it will be fine.

Also, do a close inspection for fit and finish. Make sure the panels are lined up correctly and the paint matches.

Good luck and keep us posted!!

SlyTLS

Sorry for your mishap! It hurts me to look.