Wrong Kind of Fireworks

Vaughn McMillan

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Happy Independence Day, all. Here's a reminder...if you've been drinking, don't drive, OK?


This is my wife's car. She was sitting in a left turn lane a few hours ago waiting to turn when a lady in a Smart car headed southbound missed the westbound right turn, jumped the median, and took out the traffic light. No injuries, but unfortunately, I think my wife's Acura will be totaled due to the bent roof. The lady driving the Smart car seemed fine and was very apologetic, but she didn't pass the field sobriety test and was taken away in handcuffs. She's gonna have a worse 4th of July than we are, and ours isn't going all that well. Fortunately, she has good insurance, and it's the same company we have, so there shouldn't be any bickering.

Be careful out there!

Acura 3 1024.jpg Acura 5 1024.jpg Acura 8 1024.jpg
 
Sorry to see this, but glad your wife escaped without injury. The Acura looks like it was in great shape before the accident. I hope you two don't take any kind of financial hit from this mess.
 
That's sad. Firepepper Red was a 2002 only color. If it was low mileage, hope insurance doesn't yank you around on a 13 year old car...
 
Bummer about the car, but good that Kian wasn't hurt.

Hopefully, the insurance will settle quickly, and not cause you further heartburn.
 
That'll reset your heartrate. wow, I can only imagine her reaction when that thing crashed down on her. Hope all works out well and you have a better day today.
 
Glad she was ok, sorry about the car. I'd guess they will total it just because of the age and it's easier for them to deal with, but get some repair quotes and see what the buy-out will be, may still be fixable if you can buy it back.
 
It is amazing how well our cars that we think made of tinfoil actually do protect us. Your wife's car did it job, I am sure it is totaled and if not, it will never be the same so it will be time to move on. I cannot imagine the horror of that post hitting on top of me in a vehicle! The sunroof even did a great job. Bet she is sore today and tired if nothing else from the adrenaline dump she got from that few seconds. Take care and glad it was only the car!!
 
I could not believe a smart car could knock down a pole so i guess the driver was not only dui but speeding like crazy. :mad::bang: Glad your wife was unharmed. Also happy to hear she got carted away in handcuffs. Lets hope for better days.

Darren i wonder how fixable it would be with that crease in the roof and a sunroof to be fitted after. Maybe if the roof is welded closed it could be a repairable but if the sunroof was to stay i can only see leaks and more leaks in its future. Of course the bonus is where Vaughn stays there aint much rain. Worth looking at though, if insurance is not going to cough up enough.
 
I had an accident in a 1991 bmw years ago, someone hit the front.
It was in the shop for 4 months because the car was one day old, and bmw refused to repair it with anything but new parts and we had to wait for a hood clip to be shipped, seemed bmw in Germany didn't have any.
for a year, I had problems with the car hesitating, almost stalling whenever it was damp outside. The car was in the shop more than I actually used it. Very frustrating, they couldn't seem to fix the problem.
I couldn't have it replaced because of the accident, but I told bmw dealership I had enough, this is ridiculous.
they informed me the master mechanic from Germany is due in this country in whatever they told me then, a month, two months, I should leave the car with them, he will personally look over the car.
They wanted to make sure there were no defects that they should know about.
He examined it, and he figured it out.
After the accident, the roof near the sun roof was so minutely off, just a tad, not noticeable, every worked perfectly, but the accident caused a leak that no one noticed.
the water went through the sunroof, inside the walls of the car and down under the carpet in the backseat area. That is where all the electronics were in the car and it was getting a sensor or two damp, causing it to malfunction. The car was checked for this, but he hosed the car down for a long time and carefully took it all apart.the carpet never was wet it was the padding underneath it.

reason of this story, once the sunroof suffers damage, its a toughy to make sure it will ever be right again.

neither woman was hurt, that's the main thing.
 
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All very good points. I've always been happy with the next car that I got, which was running better than the last one, so not sure how much one wants to dump into something that is older. Cars aren't a good investment for the most part and you'll never get your money back out of them.
 
Glad that everyone is unhurt.

On the upside, you get to go car shopping...

On the downside, apparently Bugs was wrong, and LOYL was NOT supposed to be turning left in Albuquerque....
 
I could not believe a smart car could knock down a pole so i guess the driver was not only dui but speeding like crazy.

Was looking at a Smartcar manual yesterday, no I don't have nor am I planning, and the diesel model is 805 kg (1775 lb) curb weight. Wouldn't have to be moving too fast ...
 
I had an accident in a 1991 bmw years ago, someone hit the front.
It was in the shop for 4 months because the car was one day old, and bmw refused to repair it with anything but new parts and we had to wait for a hood clip to be shipped, seemed bmw in Germany didn't have any.
for a year, I had problems with the car hesitating, almost stalling whenever it was damp outside. The car was in the shop more than I actually used it. Very frustrating, they couldn't seem to fix the problem.
I couldn't have it replaced because of the accident, but I told bmw dealership I had enough, this is ridiculous.
they informed me the master mechanic from Germany is due in this country in whatever they told me then, a month, two months, I should leave the car with them, he will personally look over the car.
They wanted to make sure there were no defects that they should know about.
He examined it, and he figured it out.
After the accident, the roof near the sun roof was so minutely off, just a tad, not noticeable, every worked perfectly, but the accident caused a leak that no one noticed.
the water went through the sunroof, inside the walls of the car and down under the carpet in the backseat area. That is where all the electronics were in the car and it was getting a sensor or two damp, causing it to malfunction. The car was checked for this, but he hosed the car down for a long time and carefully took it all apart.the carpet never was wet it was the padding underneath it.

reason of this story, once the sunroof suffers damage, its a toughy to make sure it will ever be right again.

neither woman was hurt, that's the main thing.

Allen,
I had a VW bus, one of those camper buses (My wife wanted it "to go camping in", but then my son was born and he "was too young to take camping"???)... we had it turned up at the local dealer and took it to Los Angeles... after we got back, every time the wife would pull up to a stop sign it would die. I never had a problem because I kept the engine revved a little at stop signs, but the wife didn't... it went back to the dealer for repair, the "fixed" it and sent it home... same problem, went on for a few more trips to the dealer, he would "fix" it and send it home... same problem... they even sent a mechanic to my house one morning at 6 am to watch me start it to see if "I was starting it right"... only thing he found was a screwdriver he had left in the engine compartment on the last "fix"... after 17 trips to the dealer (I know, redundant, but I'm a patient sort of guy)... I finally told them to keep it and call me when it was really fixed, I didn't want to see it again until then... they sent it over to Oakland to their main plant-school or what ever so the "Master mechanics" could go over it...after a couple of weeks they sent it home, "fixed"... same problem... I happened to know one of the mechanics who used to have his own shop and worked on my corvettes when I was a single man... all along he kept telling them int was in the carburetor... they kept telling him it wasn't ... finally on the last trip over to the dealer, he took it upon himself to tear the carbs down.. it had two carburetors on a 4 cylinder engine??... one of them had a crimped fuel intake and they wouldn't balance... he fixed it and I drove it for a while longer, but the wife's girlfriend got a Mercedes... I didn't learn and traded it for a used '72 Mercedes town car... nice car, but expensive to work on.
 
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