My 05 Prius Broadsided

Nope, the steering isn't truely by wire. You have a mechanical connection from hand to wheel, but you have an electric assist using a motor to help you turn the wheel. A torqe sensor on the steering wheel determines how much turning force you are applying, and applies a force to help you.
Really, I think the ECU tries to keep the torque at 0. So if you apply say 5N of force clockwise, the ECU will operate the steering motor to try and move the wheel away from your force, in order to bring the resulting torque to 0.

 

Hope your car gets fixed right there Forte88..post on the board and let us know. Tell us caveats and other stuff we can use, if the unthinkable happens to us.

 

I have bought several wrecked pruses. I will be glad to buy from you just let me know. I have had to train our body guy to do the work, so far it's been quite a struggle. There really is not aftermarket stuff and what I have found the price differential is not worth going with anyway. If the damage is front end or affects the front end or the front end suspension, I would only go with the dealer repair.

Good Luck
Ray

 

I think your Stepson is probably right. But Human Nature being what it is, people tend to cut corners and you need someone on your side to make sure the work is done right. Since I have sold Salvaged vehicles you need to be aware that when you sell your vehicle, you will have "Damaged Goods". This applies to you also, although your car will be repaired, you will have to disclose that you have had a major wreck(in effect creating "Damaged Goods"). I personally would fight tooth and nail for it to be totaled if the repair cost were that High.

Although it's impossible to say how much, I think a car that's had a major wreck is worth less than one that hasn't. As a wild Guess I would say maybe 80 to 85% of one that wasn't in a major wreck.

You can easily prove this to yourself by looking at completed sales on EBAY and look at the cars that have had wrecks with Good Title and been repaired, then look at the ones that have not been wrecked.

Also in my experience most Body Shops and Independent Garages don't have the Can Interface for the OBDII, so they won't be able to reset or check your Codes. The odds are no matter what body shop you choose they are NOT QUALIFIED to do the necessary repairs.

I personally do not use Toyota Dealers for Body Repair because I am personally involved in the decisions and have developed the expertise. I still have a Trained/Certified mechanic doing the mechanical work. If I weren't involved there is no way I would allow repairs by anybody but the dealer. I would much rather having the dealer standing behind the repair than a body shop.

Good Luck
Ray

 

He is getting the car repaired at a collision center owned by the dealer.

 

The bad part is the bent and displaced right wheel, you posted that Forte88. Your strategy seems good if you plan to replace the car. If not or if you are unable to, make sure the certified shop follows all the Toyota recommended procedures, especially having to do with the front area, engine and wheel components. Make sure they replace all parts, in and near the engine components and alignment pieces, don't let them force back adjustments.

Alternatively, if the cost is above 75% of the book value to repair, you may push to have a replacement or the money to purchase a new car, but you will LOSE some of the cost there if buying a new one.

And lastly., yes the car on record remains damaged goods., therefore less value at trade - in or 3rd party sale. There if you have a certified shop (Toyota Certified)., and it seems youdo, that will help.

With the new tax break, if I had the money and could do it, I would "dump" the car somehow, and get another one.

 

No my mistake, any of the front wheel drive components damaged in a wreck needs to be carefully dealt with, I thought from memory the damage was to the right wheel. Your damage is to the LEFT WHEEL in the front, still has a motor connected and all that..it is a bad scene to get anything jarred and misaligned there seriously as a result of a crash.

 

Forte88,

It is fortunate you have a stepson in the biz. Listen to him. He has the expertise and has seen the car. Don't get sucked into the "but it's a Prius" mindset. It is a car. It has front wheel drive as most cars do. Millions of cars are wrecked each year (yes-MILLIONS)

Here are some sanity savers.
1) don't worry about what happens to the other driver. Citizens cannot "press" traffic charges. The state/county/city will do with him whatever they wish and I guarantee you will not be happy about it.

2) Don't borrow trouble. Let the Toyota dealership fix it if that is what the insurance wants to do. THEN, look it over, drive it, get a second opinion as to whether the fix did the trick.

3) Don't anticipate too far out. If you were planning on keeping your Pri for years (as I am) then as long as it operates fine, why worry that it was in a crash. After a certain number of years, no one cares if it was crashed or not.

4) If you want, wait until near the end of the statute of limitations for civil suits, research where this other driver is, and if he has anything money wise, file a suit to get any loss of value you have documented.

5) You didn't say if he was driving his own car. If he was in someone elses car, you may have claim on them as well.

As far as looking at the bright side- A- 40-50K people DIE in crashes every year. B- Over 2 Mil are injured annually. The crash you described is a nasty one, you are fortunate.

6) Repeat the "Serentiy Prayer" often. God, grant me the serenity to change the things I can, accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference. (paraphrased from memory)

 

Well, I've been there!! HUMU got sideswiped at 1am by some jackass. Caved in the left rear door, squished the bumper and bent the floorpan. I thought the car was totalled, but the body shop did wonders. If you didn't know HUMU had been in an accident, you would never detect the repairs.

Don't get discouraged. The hard part for me was the sense of violation; you at least got to see the guy who hit you, for what it's worth, and to see what damage his car sustained.

A good body shop will restore your car. If you do a Google search on body shop repair standards, you'll find out what constitutes an "A-1" repair job.
I hope your insurance company subscribes to high standards. You can check around various body shops if you have doubts, or you can go on line for references.

HUMU's body work took almost a month; it took the dealer two weeks to figure out how to reprogram the fobs because Toyota has errors in it's manuals and it was only the creativeness of one of the service techs that allowed them to figure out the problem.

Hang in there. You are certainly not alone. Keep us (me) posted about how this unfolds. You can contact me off chatline if you want more info about what I discovered during the 6 weeks HUMU was out.
Bob

 

You've got a serious problem there, and I sympathize. I think the car should have been totalled and the shop could have gotten a salvage title for it if they wanted.

The transaxle noise is a time bomb. My '02 was T-boned at the rear driver's side door. It came out of the shop looking great ($7K later), but, on a quiet night when I was away from traffic and stealthing, I heard a pulsating humming noise, too. I instantly knew I was going to have to get rid of the car rather than drive it 150K mi., as I had planned (blue moon pearl, LOVED the color!).

I did sell it, for more than I should have in this inflated market. But boy, do I feel guilty.

 

That's exactly what they'll tell you, and probably only a Prius-trained tech would back YOU up.

Something in the transaxle---more likely, its "mountings" (don't know how it's mounted in the frame/unibody)---is ever-so-slightly out of line. Your alignment could be off by a similar amount. I assume the "hum" is a "binding" noise. To be fair, it may never get worse. I'm not an expert. But it'll never get better, that's for sure.

Do you have an extended warranty? If so, and you keep the car, you MIGHT have it covered if it gets worse down the road. But you don't want to volunteer to your dealer that the car got mashed. Whether you told them if they asked would be up to you. But then, guaranteed, they wouldn't cover it.