My wife called me in hysterics this morning after leaving Burger King with her daily breakfast of a Coke and Hash Browns on her way to work... she had just been in an accident. Actually my six year old picked up the phone and was silent for at least five seconds until I asked her if she was going to say anything... I didn't know Mommy was on the phone balling her eyes out... yet.

The short and skinny is I get all three kids ready and we take off for the 30 mile ride. My wife is a nurse in a doctors office a stone's throw away from the scene of the accident. So when we finally made it there the car was towed and she had just walked in her office. The Physician's Assistant told her to go the hospital. Her thumb looked to have a possible break and her head wasn't looking so hot. She had hit it pretty hard on the pillar and she thinks her thumb hit the steering wheel. Thankfully she checked out fine after having an X-Ray and a CAT scan. She will be sore for sure, but nothing life threatening.

My wife said the cop did not write her a ticket, nor the other driver. Some guy who saw the accident did come up to her and hand her a business card. He said he had seen the whole thing and would testify if needed. If anything, I would at least like to find out what happened... but that's not terribly important. I have insurance and my wife isn't seriously hurt.

So now I have to try and find a shop I trust to work on the car. The front drivers side took the brunt of the impact. In spite of no real visible damage on the right side, there is some binding when opening the passenger door. In fact the whole front end may be bent to the right a bit... but that is difficult to tell without a better inspection. Strangely enough the driver's side seat is broken up at the base and all the buttons came off. No airbags deployed either... I would have thought one of some of them would have.

Now onto the pics:






The other vehicle in the accident:

 

Glad your wife is not seriously hurt. She and the car will turn out all right.

 

Sorry to hear, hope she recovers quickly.

 

That is odd the airbags didn't deploy. I'm sure there's a technical reason but you still would have thought something like that would warrant them to go off. Of course the other vehicle had to be brand new. Glad your wife is doing well.

- Chris

 

looks like some dumbass hillbilly ran into youre wife. Hope she feels better soon. The day after a wreck never feels good.

 

I Hope She's Okay

 

thumbs up!

 

Ouch! As a fellow Gray owner, that's painful to look at. Looks like your Tit. went through a wringer.

Good to hear that your wife was not badly injured. I bet the impact turned the front wheels which violently jerked the steering wheel, wrenching your wife's thumb.

Let us know what the extent of the damage is and whether the insurance totals the car.

 

sorry to hear about your accident, especially being a fellow Ti gray owner.

I wonder how much damage was actually done to the other car, it looks like it may have been sans grille to start with.

I hope it gets fixed, and back on the road soon.

 

wooo. but everything turns out fine. as long as you guys are ok, no big worries. honestly, i don't think your car can be fixed what so ever. the whole chasis is damaged. it is weird that the airpags didn't react.

 

yea man, glad to hear your wife is doing good. something to have been thankful for over turkey day . it is peculiar that the airbags didn't go off. a future recall on airbag is to be seen maybe? judging fromt he pix, i would have to say it's around 8-10k in damages to your car. who's fault was it? the other guy's for running a light, or your wife's for running a light?

 

Glad she's ok, your wife I mean. The car looks like it can be fixed. Take it from me who had an accident with a lot more damage than that. A lot of it is cosmetic aside from the suspension on the driver's front wheel. I recommend that you have the shop replace ALL of those suspension/stearing components. Also the oil cooler on that side. Have them paint the whole car too in order to match the paint. Once you get it back, drive it for about a week and write down all the things that still need fixing. I had to do that with mine with things that just didn't feel right. I'm sure she'll drive good as new afterwards. Mine did. Keep us updated and let me know if you have any questions..... I'll be glad to help.

 

First of all thanks for the kind words and thoughts towards my wife. She is still sore and her thumb is black and blue. Yes, I did have something to truly be thankful for over Thanksgiving. Auto accidents can end up alot of different ways. I am also very interested why an airbag did not deploy.

The accident was called a draw by the officer on scene. My wife did not get a ticket, she doesn't think the other driver did either. My wife was stationary in a center turning lane and she isn't sure where the other vehicle came from.

Some guy did come up and give my wife a business card stating he had seen the whole thing and would testify for her if need be. I will give him a call next week since my wife isn't so sure what happened either. The shock from the wreck and bumping her head didn't leave her too clear.

In terms of damage, I will certainly follow up and let you all know. My initial statement to my wife was "thousands", but it really needs to be looked at more thoroughly. I am worried about the angle of the impact and potential damage to the frame... that would make it worse of course.

I haven't had any luck picking a body shop yet since it is a holiday weekend. In addition to bodywork, there is at least a good deal of mechanical work to be done on the suspension. I've left messages with several shops, so I imagine Monday will be busy. I also posted in the NE forum for recommendations for local body shops.

Any other tips in terms of this process would be appreciated.

 

The airbags did not deploy for good reason. Look at the owner's manual, it will tell you when they will, and when they will not deploy. it was a collision with the front corner, not the right place for the side airbag. those will deploy in a collision involving the doors, or very close to them, or a rollover. the fronts deploy with a collision to the front. not the side. there will be no airbag recall, everything functioned as expected for this particular accident.

i am glad your wife is feeling better, good luck getting the car fixed.

 

You let your wife drive your car AND you let people eat in it ??


Just messing with you. Glad your wife is ok and hope your car gets fixed right the first time and feels the same afterwards.

 

Glad your wife is ok. My wife wrecked my 8 awhile back. But everything will be okay.
Here are some pics of my car wrecked and after the wreck.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ftwmcm.../ph//my_photos

My car had over $15000 in damages.

 

Let me just say that if your wife was stationary when hit, AND in a center-turn lane - there's NO way she could have been at fault.

Glad she's okay, though....most important fact at all.

 

I just spoke with the witness today who gave both my wife and the officer on scene his business card. I am confused after talking with him how the other driver was not given a ticket. It would seem that my wife was in place and was struck by a vehicle using the turning lane as a travel lane trying to catch a light up the road about 100yds. The witness said he gave my wife the card in case she got "screwed", he said there is no way she was at fault or no way it was an equal fault accident. The witness said he relayed the same thing to the officer on scene, who was agreeing with what he stated... I will have the report in hand later today.

In terms of an air bag not deploying... the contact was initially pretty much to the front. If you look at pic #1, there is a hole in the bumper with a dimple to the right of it. This was from the license plate mounting bolts on the other vehicle. I had measured to confirm the source of the hole against the other vehicle and my witness confirmed this for me. With this in mind, the initial contact wasn't dead center to the front... but close enough to where I would think an airbag would have deployed. The remainder of the damage was from the momentum of the initial contact as it spun my wife and her car clockwise.

Finally, does anyone have any tips on picking a good body shop? What are some questions I should be asking? I've been asking if they guarantee their job and all seem to to do that over the life of the car. One I spoke to said they would even make sure I get all new (Mazda) replacement parts as opposed to remanufactured or aftermarket... supposedly they have ways to get around this as insurance companies sometimes like to save a few bucks that way.

 

You need to make sure that they have state of the art unibody alignment rig and the ability to use it. With damage to the right side of the car from impact on the left you're going to need the structure straightened.

Doesn't hurt if they have references from owners of high end cars like Porsches and BMWs. Takes a lot more to make one of those owners happy than a Ford or Chevy owner.

 

saw these 2 illustrations in the owners manual and thought they may shed some light as to why the airbags didn't deploy. glad your wife (and daughter?) are ok. things can be replaced.

 

those would be the pages in the OM that I was refering too, thanks for putting them up there.

tis a good idea to read that thing front to back when buying a new car, it answers a lot of questions.

 

I read some parts, but didn't study that part too hard.

Anyway, in picture one... note the hole in the front bumper. In a larger pic there is some yellow (sticker from other vehicle) and upon a closer look the blue marks are letters/numbers off the other vehicles license plate. I have an 8.2MP camera, so these pics were downsized big time and I can see tons of detail.


Close up of the area:


This hole IMO was made by the dark area on the left hand side of the other vehicles license plate. This would make the initial contact to the front of the vehicle and the subsequent momentum of the crash did the side damage after the fact. I toyed with inverting the image and imposing the two on top of each other and they line up pretty good... will go and get two pics with similar angles tomorrow for a more precise match.


For privacy reasons, I will not post either license plates. Why do I go through so much trouble... I wonder if the air bags should have deployed. Maybe not, but I think it worth still questioning. Number two the other driver is chasing my insurance company, stating they haven't eaten in five days and who knows what else.

Aside from that, the police report is an absolute travesty. It is completely the opposite of what I have been told by my wife and a witness noted on the police report. They had my wife going 40mph, when she was stationary or maybe doing 1-2mph. The other vehicle is stated as traveling at 10mph and impacting the side.

Luckily, my witness has also stated the accident happened pretty much as I am digging up evidence to prove.

 

glad your wife wasn't hurt seriously or permenantly.....also sorry your car was

but there was no loss of life so we can all be thankful of that

 

Looks like frame damage as your whole front end is pushed over. Probably better off if you can get them to total it. Might never drive right.