Has anyone had an accident in their prius?

My experience is completely opposite...

I'd owned my prius for about 3 months before getting rear-ended in traffic. The SUV ahead of me was stopped, as was my prius. The SUV behind me neglected to stop; not sure how fast he was going. He rear-ends me and pushes me into the SUV in front; prius is sandwiched. The insurance company spent 10 weeks attempting to repair the car before giving up and declaring it totalled.

 

I actually rear ended someone else at a slow speed. since the other car was SUV, I had damage to the hood and the little 5kmh bump cost me $2000

 

I was in bumper to bumper traffic on a highway in New York City about 3 weeks after I got my car.

Some idiot on a motorcycle decides he's too good for traffic and starts going between the lanes. He clips my bumper at a slow speed, leaving a dent, a scratch, and breaking the plastic mouldings that hold the edge of the bumper in place...

He flies off after the accident. Hit & Run. Never caught him. Cost me $400 to fix at the body shop..

 

I have been waiting for 6 weeks on repairs to my 2005 Prius. Someone ran a red light as I made my left turn with the green arrow. He or she clipped the passenger rear quarter panel and bumper. It was a hit and run in Phoenix, AZ. Just moved here 3 months ago. Had my Prius since April of 2005. Estimated cost is $7500.00. I have a $1,000.00 deductible. Parts took 2 weeks. In the meantime found more damage and had to order more parts, another 2 weeks. Will this affect my warranty? I also have the extended warranty. Thanks for any info.

 

I am on my second Prius, 14 days old. First one died protecting us from an evil F 350 truck that struck from behind.

I had long posts (lost here in aug) regarding the revelation that most accidents are rear ends after I saw THREE at a not too large body shop in Flagstaff. Plus all the posts here and other sites.

The question I posed was why? I felt she stops fast. I was sure we were going to hit a stopped car on the freeway (50mph) and stopped over ten feet short! Then we got punted like a football........

 

The only hit and run I have experienced was backing into my garage door (on the day of purchase) and driving off to work... Needless to say, the reverse beep was there for a reason and I disabled it too soon!

I keep my eyes on the cars behind me constantly. I'll turn my emergeny flashers on to get their attention.

 

Don't worry, if he keeps riding his donor-cycle like that, what goes around will come around eventually... Maybe his vital organs will do someone else more good...

Dave

 

My first Classic Prius was totalled after 6 months after someone ran a red light and we hit. I was doing 40 mph. Not only did I walk away unscathed, but the car didn't even think it serious enough to fire the airbags or pretensioners. In the first three cars I owned I would have died for sure in a crash like that. (photos in http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/prius...case.yahoo.com/ if anyone's interested, or I can probably post them here if there's a demand).

In my second (and current) Classic, I absentmindedly backed into a Jaguar XJ Sport in a car park at about 10 mph (rear bumper to rear bumper). His insurance claimed GPB £750 (about USD $1325), I couldn't see a mark on my Prius. My dealer checked it for internal damage and found nothing.

Regards

PeteB - 02 Silver 'Classic' - 72k miles
Luton UK
Life mpg 51.43 ~ 42.82 ~ 5.49 ~ 18.21
(UK ~ US gal ~ I/100Km ~ Km/I)

 

Thanks to all the posters. Very interesting reading. Will certainly use the rear view mirror before stopping and will NOT disable Foxy's reverse chime.


A cautionary tale: Came off a busy highway, exit curved so the end was out of sight of exiting traffic. Cars were stopped along the curve. I wanted to leave room for anyone who came up behind and didn't have enough space to stop, so pulled over to the left to wait well in back of the next car. Sure enough, just stopped moving when two cars came barreling around the curve. I watched in my rear view mirror as the first screeched up around my right. He stopped in line with the seam between my passenger front and the rear doors. The car following him managed to pull left and stopped just short of first's rear bumper. Whew!

Defensive driving is the way to go!

 

I got rear ended a couple weeks ago by a businessman driving a rental SUV. I was stopped at a light. The light just turned green. I started rolling forward, but the car in front of me paused, so I paused, but the car in back didn't see that I had stopped. He was in a hurry to catch his plane to return to his country. The accident left an impression of his license plate and license plate screws. The right side of the bumper is misaligned and the top of the bumper where my rear bumper applique is now buckled. He said my car looked okay and I will not notice the imperfection in a few months. ?? :blink: But I insisted on getting his contact info and rental car info. My insurance will go after the rental car company for reimbursement. In the meantime, my car will be in the body shop. The body shop told me that they probably will need to order a new bumper for me. And i won't be able to apply my HOV stickers for 30 days while the new paint is curing.

 

TotontoSusan,

Get you car checked out by a bodyshop. I was told by a Toyota body shop that there is some sort of tab or something, which could shear off and it might not look damaged unless you crawl underneath the car.

I was hit pretty square by a large truck going about 8 miles/ hour, less than a month after I got my car. Fortuantely there was no damage. The guy gave me a fake drivers license and insurance information.