Accident *sigh*....

Twelve years... Twelve years driving around a ratty old Saturn, and nothing.

Two months on my nice shiny (Black) new 06 Prius, and *wham*....... Oh how this hurts...

Not physically mind you, it was a low speed impact in the parking lot, and not my fault, but the front right quarter is smashed into the wheel, and I'm sitting arround awaiting the tow truck. Hopefully there's nothing but cosmetic damange, but still, my baby's only two months old, and now crumpled. And of course, there could be important parts back there as well.

Waiting for a tow truck, waiting for insurance to call back, not sure what I'm going to do next. Haven't felt this crappy in years. How depressing.

oops.. phone,,,

 

I have pictures, but I'm not sure how to get them out of my phone. The panel under the front right headlight is fully dented in (100% the wrong shape), not sure if damage extends up to the headlight area. The hood and front passenger side panel are both obviously deformed outward, causing both the passenger side door, and the hood itself to pinch (and thus not open). Since the panel was pressed against the front right wheel, I had it towed to body shop reccomended (and I think owned) by my dealership.

I hope that's all there is too it. I'm quite depressed that two months in, my brand new car, with 1200 miles on it, the first one I've ever purchased on my own, will never be truely 'new' ever again. That's life, !^$% happens. But it's still awfully depressing.

By the time I made it to the shop, all rental places were closed, so I'm currently carless. Will have to take care of that tomorrow.

And being hit at work in my own parking lot, by someone I know, means I can't even rant about the other person involved. I was moving down an isle, she backed out and turned into me. I hit the breaks, and think I did come to a complete stop, but was still hit. Certainly not as bad as many of the other accidents folks have gotten into recently, but still no fun.

Pulled out of thin air estimate, $2500 and two weeks. And being my first accident since I drove my parents car 15 years ago, I get to experience all the joys of insurance for the very first time. wheee

*sigh*

-Ken

 

On an entirelly different note... I'm kicking myself, but only for a silly reason.

This weekend, I had a spare laptop hooked up to the CAN bus, and captured, processed, and saved heaping gobs of CAN data while driving arround in circles. Included in the collected data is data about pressure applied to the accelerator and break pedal, speed, and both forward and side-to-side accelerometers. If only I had left the laptop hooked up today instead of takeing it in sunday night, I would have had the entire accident, from the time I started the car, recorded. How cool would that have been?

Although, booting the laptop and starting the recorder would have probably delayed me enough that I would have missed the accident entirely.....

Now for a more practical question... The accident did not trigger the HV battery shutoff, nor did it cause any dash lights to be illuminated - so I'm not sure the car knows it was in an accident. However, while being dragged up and onto the flatbed (it was in neutral, and rolling smoothly), I saw the triangle of doom for the first time. Anyone know what set it off? Does the car have a tilt sensor that detects when it's at an unexpected angle? The folks at the body shop think a hood up/open sensor may have actually been tripped at that angle, but it was just a quick guess on their part (they were nearly closed and out the door when I arrived). Or perhaps it was some sort of delayed accident related item, occuring on the second start after the impact? Anyone know for sure?

-Ken

 

Managed to get the photo's out of my phone. Clearly I got off easy compared to what your poor Prometheus went through. Here's hoping both our cars are repaired to an indistinguishable from new condition - with minimal time in the shop, and minimal insurance hassels...

Cellphone photo's of my car:






And the other car:



-Ken

 

2 weeks sounds like a long time to fix it though.

Twas a out of thin air guess on their part, based on a quick determination of work required, delays caused by my insurance (apparently Allstate slows em down sometimes, insisting on a complete independant inspection of damage before work begins), and the unfortunatly reality that with Prius's, there's frequently one part they don't have on hand, and have trouble getting. Should all go smoothly from start to finish, it may well be quicker. But I doubt I'll have it back by this weekend, which is when I would really need it by. Just ain't likely to happen, so I'll have to change my plans.

do make sure that they check the allignment!

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll make sure it's taken care of. I've been extermely pleased with the steering and tracking of my Prius so far, and would hate for it to start drifting or eating tires like my old Saturn did (damn did that car like to go left).

-Ken

 

This may sound like a slightly harsh question, but if one or both of you were moving more slowly through the parking lot could the encounter have been avoided?

Of course! (Were you expecting a different response?)

Tis the nature of accidents. If either of us had moved at different speeds, we may not have encountered each other. Had she seen me, we may not have encountered each other. Had I seen her sooner, we may not have encountered each other. Had the sun not been exactly where it was, her reverse lights would have been more apparent (honestly, I never saw em lit, but that doesn't mean they weren't there). And I suspect, based on the difficulty the sun gave me taking photos, that it may have been the main factor in her not seeing me as she backed up. But I wouldn't say either of us were moving at unsafe speeds.

Knowing the other person makes it real hard to cast her as a villain here, so I have to take a #^*@ happens mentality and move on.

-Ken

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ghostofjk @ Apr 11 2006, 03:03 AM) [snapback]237947[/snapback]</div>

I had my several long conversations with the insurance folks today. I was asked all sorts of questions, including exactly what part of her car did my car directly impact. Some of the finer details (such as about 1 second before the impact) seem to be absent from my memory (which is an odd sensation itself). But one look at the damaged corner, and it's quite obvious - I clearly hit the licence plate dead center.

On the upside, I was repeatedly assured that based on description and photos, that all would be made well. On the downside, Allstate is apparently one of the slower companies to get Adjusters/Inspectors out to look at damaged cars. Could be as soon as today, or as late as Friday.

Enterprise appears to have screwed me today, so I'm still car-less. Will have to take care of that tomorrow morning.

-Ken