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Rear-ended in my new Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Michael Maddox, May 8, 2004.

  1. Michael Maddox

    Michael Maddox New Member

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    Well, I'm apparently not allowed to have anything nice.

    Just got my new Prius a couple of weeks ago--replacing a rather cursed Dodge Intrepid (cursed, having been HIT around 7 times, mostly while parked). So, I'm returning home from Home Depot and I stop at a sign to allow the wildly weaving idiots on the cross road to clear the intersection. I have to stay stopped for a second, since they decide to weave BACK into the rightmost lane and WHAM! A Highlander rear-ends me.

    She got the driver-side at the bumper, plus the taillight cover. Luckily, there seems to be no damage to the hatch lid nor the quarter panel there, so no metal work. But the bumper cover looks like a write-off.

    My question--
    How difficult has it been to get replacement parts? Are these coming from overseas, or has Toyota USA stocked some? Are there aftermarket suppliers yet?

    Oh, and yes---I'm just about sick about this.

    begin rant/
    Arrrrrrrrgh. Tallahassee drivers are some of the most aggressive-driving-cell-phone-talking-soccer-moms-in-SUVs in the world. And if it's not THEM, it's the ricers in their stupid little "tuner" cars, weaving through traffic while maintaining inches from your bumper. Idiots. :cussing:
    /end rant

    Michael (04, Millenium Silver)
    Tallahassee, FL USA
     
  2. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    most parts in stock in the zone warehouse. Some of the major sheet metal parts will have to come in. Bumper covers tail lights that sort of stuff doesn't seem to be a problem. Sorry, but your not the first and won't be the last to have your butt hit.
     
  3. Bob Allen

    Bob Allen Captainbaba

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    My understanding is that normal parts shouldn't be more of a problem with the Prius than with any other Toyota model. It's getting a whole car that seems to be the trouble. Just my guess. I live in Seattle, so it might be different here.
    You'll have to go to a dealer because your local body shop isn't likely to have access to Toyota Prius parts. Sorry about your accident. My Escort was totalled in 1986 by some dingbat talking on her cell phone while I stopped at a red light.
    As much as I appreciate the convenience of cell phones, they are the work of the devil in the hands of someone trying to drive a car at the same time. I've been nearly killed as a pedestrian by people on phones making illegal turns while I was crossing a street with the light; I've been nearly hit by folks on phones running stop lights. I'm in company with lots of people.
    If I see someone in the car behind me using a phone, I pull over and let them pass; especially if they are driving an SUV. What is it about SUV's that seem to invite cell phones? End of my rant :cussing:
     
  4. genalex

    genalex Member

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    Here in NJ we recently passed a handsfree only law for cell phone drivers. Should be universal. But it hasn't caught on much yet. I still see the soccor moms chatting in my rear view mirror. How did they manage to drive with their mouths shut before cell phones?
     
  5. windsurfdog

    windsurfdog New Member

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    Hey Micheal,

    I'm live at Shell Point and commute in to TLH every day. Sorry to hear about your crash. Just got my car from Legacy about 3 weeks ago and loving it.

    Seems like the TLH drivers are pretty rough......tough to beat a combination of college students, cell phoners and just plain imbiciles who have no idea what that "stick" sticking out of the left side of their steering wheel is for besides making arrows flash on the dash and making annoying click sounds.

    Best of luck to you and let me know if I can be of any help.
     
  6. eak354

    eak354 Member

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    sorry bout your car! i know the feeling. had front bumper cover replaced last month, they had it in stock. :wink: goodluck!
     
  7. Sun__Tzu

    Sun__Tzu New Member

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    Idiot-cell-phone-driver-seeking Stinger missiles behind the headlights. Should be standard with all new cars (non-SUVs).
     
  8. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    It's not the cell phones and SUVs that attract each other. I've said it before and I'll say it again: One percent of SUV drivers actually have some sort of reason to drive them; the other 99% are idiots. And idiots can be expected to talk on the phone while driving. Add that to the fact that those same idiots cannot drive, and the result is disaster.

    We'd save a lot of lives if we let the drug addicts out of prison and locked up all the SUV drivers in their place!
     
  9. ifftster

    ifftster New Member

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  10. Marg

    Marg New Member

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    I didn't know what "ricers" meant.

    I found this definition : "A person who's made his automobile look and sound really fast, but it isn't."
     
  11. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    A Ricer can also be a racial slur since it's usually Asian cars (and often, but not always also the drivers) who have such modifications.

    However, yes, it does usually refer to an imported Asian (Japaneese, Korean, etc.) car that is sometimes fast, but usually just loud and obnoxious sounding/looking. The mods may include shopping cart style spoiler, cut coils or no coils, outrageous body effects, huge tipped or excessively buzzy exhausts, etc. Public roads seem to be their race course, which is where the bad name comes from.
     
  12. Stan Wilson

    Stan Wilson New Member

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    Dear Daniel. Does the word idiot only refer to people who don't follow your beliefs of the universe? I do not think that letting the druggies out of prison can be logically connected to SUV drivers.
    It seems that the words demagogue and sanctimonius are beginning to apply to Priuschat. Save your emotional outbursts.
     
  13. Kablooie

    Kablooie Member

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    Well, I just joined the "bashed from behind" club. The rear bumper is dented and warped. Also there is a small anag when I lift the rear hatch.

    It wasn't a cell phone problem though. Someone was protesting Bush on the side of the road and the driver glanced over just before piling into me.

    So I guess it's Bush's fault. : )
     
  14. Medved

    Medved New Member

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    Sorry to hear that Kablooie! First off, are you okay? Was the damage bad, what kind of vehicle hit you? How much damage was sustained?
     
  15. Michael Maddox

    Michael Maddox New Member

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    I certainly didn't intend ricer as a racial slur. In my own experience, the term refers to the kids in the small Japanese imports with the fake "Type R" stickers and "fart-can" exhausts. You've seen 'em...the folks who believe that 10 horsepower can be added per part-painted-yellow. :) In fact, I have seen one on this side of Talllahassee who has a kitchen-counter spoiler built primarily out of PLYWOOD. It's got extra foils and wings and whatnot all over it...a real comedy of errors.

    Thanks for all the sympathy. I obviously got online right after it happened, and I reallyreallyreally needed to rant a bit. The lady who hit me was likely on the cell phone, but she was pretty cool about it and she's well-insured. Just a taillight and a bumper cover, I'm hoping, and I DO have a good body shop guy (if he can get the parts). Funny, but she said she was admiring the car right before she hit me...and I DID get to proselytise a bit about the merits of hybrid technology.

    Sorry that you've joined the "bashed from behind" club, Kablooie. It sucks bad in a new car, but maybe it'll work out okay. Power to ya!
     
  16. Medved

    Medved New Member

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    Stan,

    Don't let Daniel ruffel your feathers. I have to believe that he is completely jokeing, and if he does realy mean it well then I wouldn't waste my time trying to argue with him.

    Daniel probably owns 2 SUV's himself :)
     
  17. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    The word "idiot" is universally applied to anyone the speaker strongly disagrees with. I apply it to people who drive recklessly or are clearly unable to control the vehicle they choose to drive, and around here the biggest offenders are drivers of SUVs, most of whom are unable to keep their oversized monstrosities in their lane.

    The connection with drug addicts is that our jails and prisons are stuffed to overflowing with them. The U.S. imprisons a greater proportion of its population than any other country in the world. So the only way to make room in our prisons for the SUV drivers would be to release the drug addicts.

    The only vehicle I own is my '04 Prius. Before that I owned a Honda Civic, and before that a jeep CJ-5 (a big mistake, but in 1973 it was the only economical way to get 4-wheel drive for the snow-bound country road I lived on at the time).
     
  18. newpriusspouse

    newpriusspouse New Member

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    Having just had our car in the shop for 2 1/2 weeks, the key is to get a shop that a Toyota dealer recommends. Someone who has a good relationship with Toyota to get the parts fast. Ours was delayed 5 days because of our insurance. The shop was great. Sorry though, we know how it hurts.

    And yes, let's outlaw hands on cell phone use in every state.
     
  19. Wolfman

    Wolfman New Member

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    Daniel, there is a sticky message that I put up in this forum regarding inflammatory comments towards SUV's.

    Nobody here says you have to like them. However, as has been said before, there ARE members of THIS forum who have SUV's, and there ARE people who are taking exception to your negative categorization of those who drive them. This is a Toyota Prius forum, and not an anti SUV forum.
     
  20. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Wolfman, I apologize to you and to Danny. I get emotional because I have been nearly killed on several occasions when SUVs have strayed far outside their own lane and I was forced to swerve to avoid them. On many more occasions I have observed SUVs doing this when I was far enough away that I was not immediately threatened, but the thought is unavoidable: "...if I had been 30 feet ahead of where I am..." I have very, very seldom observed this sort of behavior by regular cars.

    It is clear that the size of these vehicles presents a real problem to many of the people who drive them, and therefore a serious threat of death and dismemberment to everyone on the road with them.

    However, I will make an effort to avoid characterizing SUV drivers in general, and confine my comments to people who drive vehicles they are not competent to drive.

    I do feel that any vehicle larger than a normal passenger car should require a special license to drive, and that all driving tests should be much more rigorous.