This kinda sucks

I've bumped side mirrors with my arms or shoulders in crowded lots (without damaging them, of course)...maybe somebody was carrying something large or otherwise unwieldy and clipped your mirror. It's possible they didn't even realize it, but I doubt it. My kids watched a delivery truck run a parked car into the neighbor's mailbox--then take off without hesitation--two doors up on my quiet suburban street recently...yes, there are those kinds of people out there, and it does suck.

- Doug

 

I'll have to admit here that both my wife and I have backed out of our garage and clipped the side mirror on the edge of the garage. (This was with the CR-V, pre-prius.) There was no other sign of damage to the car, or to the outside casing of the mirror for that matter, yet the glass was completely smashed. The damage in our case was a moving vehicle colliding with a stationary object, but I can easily see the other way around.

I can't say what happened in your case, but can definitely vouch for the fact that it's possible to smash the glass without doing any other damage to the vehicle, by doing something other than vandalism.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriusRos @ Jul 25 2006, 08:48 PM) [snapback]292297[/snapback]</div>

That blows. I cringe a little every time I leave my week-old Prius in a parking lot.

If I were put on the spot, I'd say it was an accident rather than vandalism (not that it makes you feel better either way). I could be completely wrong, but I don't think a sideview mirror is an obvious point of attack for intentional damage. And smashed glass... you know how much it takes to smash glass? You need a hard object (rock, pipe, etc.)--it's not something a person does with their hand while strolling by.

Apropos of nothing really, but I once drove down a windy, single-lane road in my previous car when some moron barrelled down towards me. I pulled so far over that my right wheels were in the leaves, but he didn't bother to pull over at all. There was a thud and... huh. Strange. My mirror had moved out of position. What was strange about it was that the sideview mirrors were fixed--the mirror INSIDE the casing had moved, but the casing itself was fine, just a little nick in it. Apparently our two mirrors housings had collided and the shock had been transmitted to the mirror itself (and it only needed to be realigned by hand).

He never even slowed, and I'd would have had to drive for a distance to find a spot to turn around in, so I never saw the guy again.

Well, I guess the slightly relevant point is, mirrors can interact without any other damage to the vehicle.

 

prior to my prius , I once came out of a hair salon and my side mirror was all smashed and whoever did it had to have known. I'd say if there were no marks it was probably someone bumping it.

 

Here is a flickr page about bad parking. The one labeled "2close" brought to mind what happened to PriusRos.

Also notice the numbskulls in the SUVs who squeezed into the parking for compacts.

 

Holy @#^%, look at this one. It's a closeup of this shot, so clearly it's the fault of the idiot who owns the SUV.

Makes me want to carry around a couple of these.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriusRos @ Jul 26 2006, 11:25 PM) [snapback]292973[/snapback]</div>

First, sorry to hear about your misfortune, that really sucks.

I had a similar problem with some careless fool who did a hit & run on my 72-day-old car a few weeks back. :angry:

My in-laws bought a brand new Corolla last year and also had someone take out their mirror when it was parked, when the car was only a couple months old. I guess their damage is not as severe as your own, as at least the glass remains intact, though the plastic housing was half-gone. They figure it happened in the parking lot at a nearby hospital while visiting a friend. No other damage to the car.

Of course, Toyota wants $300 to replace the mirror, and apparently the glass comes with it as one piece (?), or so they're told by the dealer.

Their mirror remains unrepaired, and it's been about a year now. My paint is not fixed yet either.

On a related note, another friend of mine also bought a Corolla this past winter, and within a week some punk teenager smashed one of his taillights right in his driveway with a beer bottle. I guess that comes with the territory of living next door to a high school, and decreased police funding in the community (as evidenced by greatly increased graffiti in a formerly 'clean' neighborhood).

It's just really sad that you can't have anything nice anymore in this society without someone trying to take it away from you.

- Kevin

 

I don't see how they can break the mirror and not damage the housing by "accident".

Reading this thread makes me want to manually fold my mirrors in every time I park. Of course, some moron bent on vandalizing my car would probably just key the entire side.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriusRos @ Jul 27 2006, 08:46 AM) [snapback]293090[/snapback]</div>

By "back" do you mean away from you? On my '06, they fold towards me (mirror facing the window glass). Never thought to try them the other way.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PriusRos @ Jul 26 2006, 08:25 PM) [snapback]292973[/snapback]</div>

Wow. That is horrible. I am so sorry to hear that it would cost that much to fix your mirror.

I love my Prius, but I hope nothing gets broken. The parts are just too darn expensive.

 

i found myself in a tight spot once and knocked my mirror-

they were doing some construction on the entrance road to the university, and there's no other convenient way to get to my parking lot so everyone just dealt with the construction equipment. well once i was just going down that road minding my own business when a huge dumptruck comes rolling at me, giving me NO room whatsoever. i moved over as far as i could and heard this pop sound. turns out i must've hit a mirror on a parked car to my right, but mine just folded in and there was a small scuff on the paint which came off (that rubbery stuff). well i went back to check all the mirrors of the cars parked there and none were damaged.

i was going maybe 5-6 mph. but no damage to either mirror. i think it's gotta take a bit to smash a mirror.

we do have instructions somewhere here to replace the mirror... if you want to do it yourself and save on labor (and maybe being forced to replace the housing) we can dig it up.

 

that's a crazy picture! I can't say that i have seen that before with someone just bumping into it. I'm sorry that you had to go through that trouble.