More like there are no more silver RX-8's to curse so it must torture the poor poor other ones now...

 

The "whoever else" should include NHTSA. Failure of a safety system is no joke.

Hope you recover OK. Make sure you get checked out by good doctors. Not that I'm an expert, but head injuries can be tricky.

Ken

 

Glad you only suffered minor injuries. But long term disabilities are not uncommon in this situation.
I would contact a LAWYER, An injury/accident LAWYER. And sue the **** out of him!
Get yourself a new RX-8. Some money for pain and suffering and medical and chiropractic bills. And inconveniences.
Again I'm glad you were not seriously hurt.

 

Working for an insurance company I can tell you that this is a decision made by the insurance company. You should know that you can fight what the insurance company says. If they decide to total you can tell them that you don't want them to, they will give you what the car is worth though, which may not make up for your damages. I have seen some cars have minor damage and get total'd out though.

I will tell you now, go out and get 3 estimates on your own. DO NOT TRUST THE INSURANCE COMPANY ESTIMATE. They are going to write you a check and not fix it for you. While, if you come back after the fact with receipts you get paid, I'd much rather have the cash up front. A friend of mine got a check for $300 for a repair that cost him $2800.

Also make sure that the insurance company writes down everything that needs to be replaced, including your undeployed airbags. If you have a little scratch on the windshield, it is covered. Anything that might have happened during the accident, is covered. If it isn't in the inspection and you get it fixed, you get no cash.

Glad to hear that you are alright and walked away with only minor injuries.

 

Holy cow. Glad to hear you're not hurt. People can engage in some fascinating activity on the roads.

Good luck with the airbag discussions as well. That is disconcerting. Don't let them weasel around with "not enough front impact" nonsense either. The incontrovertible evidence that your airbags should have deployed lies in your head bouncing off the steering wheel.

 

Sorry to hear that. Good luck with the repair/replacement.
The airbag thing needs further investigation. What is the history of the car? It seems strange for the safety system to fail.
You should also think about legal remedies for your injuries.

 

As a long time customer of insurance companies, and having the experience of people running into various cars, that's not the way I'd do it.

First, the three estimate deal is a scam that insurance companies like to pull. Instead of spending their money to look at the car, they make the car owner do the legwork and stick body shops with figuring the damage. They then pay off on the lowest one of the three.

The most important thing is to pick a body shop that you like and trust. They will then work with the adjuster to figure the damage. The shop is working for you, and if they find more damage when they get it apart, they'll deal with the insurance company to get it covered. When my wife's car was hit on the NJT, the final repair cost was 50% higher than the original estimate - which my body shop thought was OK until they got the car apart. I'd have been f***ed if I had taken and cashed a check for the original estimate.

IMHO, it's better to let the insurance company pay the shop directly. If it's the other guy's insurance, you just pick the car up when done. If your insurance, you pay the shop your deductable. No cash flow on your part. Also, a check from an insurance company is likely to have fine print on it that says that by endorsing it you are accepting that as full payment for all claims. (See "I'd have been f***ed" above.)

If the other guy's insurance is flaky, you can collect on your collision. Your company will then collect from the other guy. You might lose a fraction of your deductable, but you'll usually be treated better because a) you're their customer, and b) they know they'll be getting their money back.

The other guy's insurance should also be renting you a car while yours is laid up.

Of course, since an injury is involved, a lawyer should be retained. The lawyer's advice overrides internet forum advice.

Ken

 

While I understand where you are coming from. I can tell you that my response was not about making him do all the legwork. It is just all I am legally allowed to say. Major insurance companies are going to put the car into a computer, click on some broken parts, and pay out whatever number is spit out. There is no direct feedback from a body shop, just what the "going rate should be".

You can and should use your insurance agent as leverage against the other person's agent. They will settle up between the two companies and your company is not going to get shortchanged on the deal. Also a lawyer of your choosing should be involved so you do get proper representation and make sure your interests are kept above all others.

 

That has not been my experience. When my wife's car was hit, we went to the drive in claim center, where an adjuster crawled around and under it just like a body man. After we brought it to the shop, the shop and the adjuster had further discussion on details.

Once, after a fender bender, the drive-in adjuster spent time on the phone locating a good used fender. My body shop had the final say in whether it was really good. (It was.)

When I had a car that was undrivable after being hit, my insurance company told me to have it towed to the body shop of my choice. They looked at it together with the body man.

I'm covered by GEICO. The Gekko did make me wonder if they're typical of major insurance companies, but the cave man makes me think they are.

Ken

 

They are ranked #4 in the US.

 

sorry to hear about this krock-
I hope you have a fast recovery, and good luck, with the car

 

In my accident in March none of my airbags deployed either. A little over $8000 in damage to the front end (ended up partially under an SUV). I was told that the airbags don't deploy if your speed is less than 20 mph.

 

My car was still driveable after my accident, so I drove it the 8 miles to the body shop I preferred. The body shop broke it down and estimated it all up and had the insurance company adjuster come out and look it over. He signed off on it and they fixed it, paid in full to the body shop minus my deductible because the guy responsible had no insurance. No arguing about it or trying to deny paying for it. It was totally painless, except that it took six weeks to get my car repaired. I have Mutual of Enumclaw.

 

Yeah, but they should have deployed in my case, because I was doing between 35-40 mph. Every police officer that showed up at the scene was baffled at the fact that my airbags didn't deploy. Same reactions from the EMTs, Tow-Truck driver, other driver (guy that I hit), his family, and witnesses of the crash.

40 mph. doesn't exactly seem too fast when you say it but when you hit a chevy... it's like hitting a brick wall. They don't give in the least bit.

Surprisingly, my car was still running after I hit the guy. This gave me the chance to reverse so I can let him out of his car because my front end pretty much locked him in. But in a matter of seconds.. all my fluids were running down the off-ramp of I-78 and by the time the tow-truck came, my car didn't start at all.

Even if they don't say this car is totalled, i'm still not going to take this back. The airbags SHOULD have deployed. Yes, I turned my wheel a little bit before the crash but not enough to have the angle be an issue. The part of the frame that holds the sensors for the air bags was crushed in. And i'd most likely not have this on-going migrane if those airbags did what they said they would do...

I really appreciate all of your help in this situation. I'm def. going to fight it and hopefully have a positive outcome. Thanks again!

 

hahaha thanks Kim but the police didn't let me get any info. from the guy and they kept him away from me as well... If I find out, i'll let you know!

 

40 mph is like taking a header from a five story building. You can play games with saying you took off a little speed with a stab at the brakes, or comparing the masses of the cars and factoring that in. But unless you're Spanky Spangler, it still comes out fast.

Glad the seat belt did its job.

Ken

 

I would think if you T-bone a car at 40mph the bags should deploy.

 

Who's Spanky Spangler? I'm not very good with pop-culture references

I wonder what Mazda is going to tell me... everytime I took my car in for service, i'd tell them about how my car has a very irratic idle, how my shifting is delayed, etc. and everytime they give me the "that's normal with the RX-8" so i'm just going to humor whoever tells me that my airbags not going off and my seatbelt not locking, is NORMAL.

 

I have a tough choice right now. I could either file a lawsuit against Mazda OR I could tell them that I want a brand new rx-8, no more of that used business. If they want a lawsuit, I'll give them a lawsuit but at least I should give them a choice before I take that leap.

what do you think?

 

shizen!! that looks bad - glad you're (mostly) ok.

my first thought w/the pics was that the impact was angled slightly so airbags maybe did not deploy by design. but my second thought was that the belt should lock under all crash scenarios - wish I could say I know for a fact the belt should lock. but it does seem like the belt should always lock. ?

something to discuss with a lawyer, since you def. need one b/c of the headaches. like Ken said - lawyers advice trumps forum advice. lol.


hope you're doing better daily.

 

He's a stunt man. Does stuff like driving a car off the roof of a ten story building. Tends to work some nice pyrotechnics into his acts - as if they needed spicing up! His official web site is

http://www.spankyspangler.com/

Besides his own stunt work, he's safety coordinator for Robbie Knievel.

Ken

 

IMHO, a lawsuit will cost you a lot of money, a lot of time (months or years), and then you will lose. But hey, if you go that route, good luck.

 

If the guy who pulled out in front of you is insured, go after him for your loss and damages. That's the traditional approach. Best to not get creative when there's a clear path to follow.

For the airbag failure, if it was me I'd file a report with NHTSA. Consult with your lawyer on that...and keep your insurance company informed so the remains of your car will be preserved.

Ken

 

Going up and threatening the dealer does sound fun and easy but you're not the first person to go up there nor the last.

The thing is they're not really responsible (as far as I know) wether the airbags go off or not. Mazda ships them cars that pass an inspection, and then they sell them.

Going to the service department saying your airbags didn't deploy and threatening to sue or force them into giving you a new car doesn't have a lot of tact. If anything the dealership will be really defensive and just down right ignore you since they'll think it's an empty threat.

I know the feeling, I've been told I'll be sue'd at my job millions of times, and even if the person actually went through it (which 0 out of the million have), in the end I'm not responsible for anything they had problems with, so all they would be doing is throwing their money away. (Sort of like what New Yorker said)

If you have money to burn and want to go to court to have a reason to get off work, then I'd go for it, or if you HONESTLY think you could win the case without a shadow of a doubt, mind you you're taking on Mazda here...then if you think you'll win and your attorney agree's then go for it?

Otherwise, just stick with getting the car fixed first if that's what they want to do and file that complaint to NHTSA. Who knows, maybe if you get a good attorney you'll be awarded a pain and suffering bit and just be able to trade in your 8 and with the money from that buy a new one. And while you're in the deal room you can remind the dealer that THEIR car caused the problems that you got that money for and might be able to get it at a really good price if you're good at guilting people.