another reason I drive a 1 ton as a daily driver

[Soundguy]

on my way to work this afternoon in my 99 crew f350 DRW.. at a stoplight. see a guy rolling up in rearview.. didn't look too odd. I looked down then felt it. felt about like mowing and hving a rear wheel fall in a gopher hole. a good jolt.. but nothing catastrophic.

guy was in a basic pakage single cab 03 f150. says he looked at his gps and thought he was already stopped ( yeah right! )

My truck didn't move so i didn't kiss the guy 3' in front of me... and the guy behind him managed to stop too.

we pulled off to the side. i get out and start walking back.. I see the front of his truck first.. YIKES! i thought. front center of bumper dimpled in 3" bumper flaired out and bowed down with cowling rubbing front tires.. front clip near headlamps and turn signal array looked detached a bit.. front grill probably a gonner... then I round the back of my truck. hmm... rubber step over on bumper above the rcvr hitch is cut where that portion contacted his bumper. had already been scuffed before.. probably from the same type of accident inthe past.. um.. a lil bit of surface rust was cleaned off the face of the empty rcvr. he walks up.. I ask him if he is hurt.. nope.. I crawl unde rmine to look at bumper hanger and rcvr brace. all fine.. no involvement so my truck.. essentially -0- damage save the rubber cover that was divoted already from a few trailer hookup 'misses' and perhaps a PO's rear ending perhaps.. poor guy the hit me though.. yikes. significant damage.. IMHO.. entire front clip.. headlamp assy's MAY be salvagable.. they were not loose or shattered, and did function.. just the rubber clip was pulling on them a bit.

that's why I own a (big) truck...

glad no one was hurt...

 

[newbury]

I'm sure you've started a ton of stories with this - so here's one.
About 1982 we were coming back from the Smithsonian, 4 kids SWMBO and I in a '74? Olds Cutlass SW. Built like a tank, accelerates like a snail. I had stopped to make a left, (off a 35mph road) blinker on but brakes maybe not. Bright sunny day about 1500. A small honda or toyota behind me. I barely see in the rearview a car come barreling into the car between us. WHAM.

We were shaken up, everybody OK. Airbags went off in the other cars. Front end of the car behind me crushed into the radiator, her rear bumper pushed forward about 5 inches. The offender that hit her had his front end mashed to the radiator.

On checking the cars out I almost got in trouble with the police because they were hard put to find where the dirt was knocked off my bumper. They tried to tell me I wasn't in the accident. That Olds was built like a block of concrete.

I hope my F350 DRW is the same.

There's something to be said for mass.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. I feel for the guy.. the front clip of his truck is a gonner.. and well.. less than cosmetic damage if any, on mine... oh well.. his fault.. his dime...

 

[JJZ 109]

Sitting in stopped traffic during rush hour one day. BAM! Some poor kid in an old Mercury Topaz rear ends me. I get out to see if he's hurt and look at his damage. Front end basically gone. My trailer ball had punctured his radiator, the hood was buckled badly and the grill in a million pieces. One unnoticeable scratch on my rear bumper.
A sheriff's deputy just happened to be driving by so he did the investigation. Said that he could have ticketed the kid but would let him go if it was OK with me because the kid had bigger problems to deal with on the car damage. Nobody hurt and no damage to be repaired on my truck so I went along and cut the kid a break.

 

[JDgreen227]

I drive a 3/4 ton GMC Yukon XL that sits really high in the rear, so if anybody bashes me from behind odds are they are going to sustain major damage. There are those who feel if bumper heights were standardized and bumpers on vehicles could actually be used in collisions like OP relates, there would be less damage. Not practical to have that situation in real life, however.

 

[bullbreaker]

glad no one was hurt...

Good news for sure ! :thumbsup:

Boone

 

[sparc]

I had an inattentive driver rear end me while stopped in traffic. I saw him coming in my rear view mirror and I could tell he wasn't gonna be able to stop in time to avoid hitting me. I put my foot lightly on the brake to keep from rolling into the vehicle about 10 feet in front of me and braced myself in the seat with my head back on the headrest. This guy was driving a Bronco II and I was in my Hummer H1 which has a piece of 6" channel for a back bumper and weighs about 7500#. The rear end of a Hummer is flat as a pancake. He drove right into me never the brakes. It remined me of when Wiley Coyote runs into a rock wall in a Roadrunner cartoon. He said after the accident (in front of witnesses) that it was his fault that he was reading the newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee and not paying attention to the road. Anyway, the Hummer had a scratch on the paint on the receiver but suffered no damage otherwise. The Bronco II was totaled. Hood folded up like a aluminum soda can, bumper hanging off, radiator smashed and leaking and driven back into the water pump. He said he thinks he was going about 25 when he hit. I drove away after the police got done with us ; he waited for the rollback to drag his busted Bronco to the bonyard.

 

[RickB]

I don't think the front of your '99 would look much different under like circumstances.

 

[jeffsw6]

I had the other kind of collision -- an 87-year-old lady failed to stop at a red light and T-boned my 05 Suburban K1500 directly in the driver's side doors. She never touched her brakes, even though there were several cars already stopped at the light in the lane next to her, so I imagine her speed was around 30 MPH. The impact pushed my truck sideways about 10 feet.

I needed new doors and my step bar broke off. Her Honda was not so lucky. All front body panels badly deformed, front end obviously broken, and the radiator got up close and personal with the engine block. After having her car winched off of my doors, I picked up the step bar, threw it in the back, and drove it to the body shop. Her insurance got an $8000 repair bill, but my truck turned out as good as new and I was not injured in the slightest.

Hope the lady was okay. Glad some witnesses stopped to make sure the police knew it was her fault. She didn't need to be driving anymore. Cops didn't even cite her for failure to obey the signal.

 

[Cat_Driver]

I owe my wife's life to a gas guzzler. She had a rice burner, gas saver with tin foil doors and body panels. I sold it at a loss and bought he a massive Suburban. Three weeks later she was plowed into by a drunk driver and not a scratch. Had it been the rice burner, she definitely would be dead. I never once complain about the price of fuel for her gas guzzler.