Today, I rear-ended another car. It was in the middle of a torrential downpour in Ann Arbor, and I was on I-94 Eastbound at Exit 177. The driver ahead of me slammed on his brakes, as did many other drivers. I hit mine, as well. I tried to make it into the lane on the right, as there were no cars, and my car was sliding as if one ice, but the semi behind me cut me off, nearly hitting me. I continued to press my brakes, but nothing was happening. My car kept sliding, and I wound up hitting a maroon JEEP.
No one was injured, thank God, but the front end of my car is severely damaged, if not irreparably damaged. I am not that upset that I got a ticket - that is customary if you rear-end someone. I just wish I had the license plate number of the semi that cut me off, since I was a little preoccupied with stabilizing myself to write it down. I may go to court and fight the points on my license, though. I know that getting out of the ticket is, pretty much, out of question.
The driver and passenger of the other vehicle were very nice. They were extremely helpful, even helping me to move my belongings from my car to my dad's truck when he arrived. I had brought with me a load of items for my move tomorrow. Yeah, don't I have the best luck? Of all the times for this to happen, it has to be when I am in the middle of moving.
The thing that really makes me angry is that my airbags did NOT deploy. For the level of (visible) damage done, the airbags SHOULD have. I am waiting to hear from the collision place and my insurance company to find out how bad the damage is. I need to find out why the airbags didn't go. Had things been worse, I could be dead...and since I'm not, I NEED to know why my car was not working properly. After I find out, I will be contacting Honda to discuss this. I bought a brand new vehicle from them three years ago, and I have maintained it properly (expensive as it is), but the mere fact that the airbags didn't deploy (I can understand if the passenger side one didn't go, but the driver's side!?!) shows a significant design flaw. And I am not letting go of this.
4 comments:
wow. Glad you are okay.
Most airbags are meant to go off in only very hard impacts.
Why?
Because when an airbag deploys it rapidly inflates in less then like 1/100 of a second and does not remain inflated. In a perfect scenerio your head should hit the airbag just after it is fully deployed, deflating.
If the impact was to slow, or not hard enough to throw you forward at such a rate of speed, a deployed airbag can cause more injury then not.
Burns, Broken noses, and other facial injuries are quite common in any airbag deploement. Even more so when an airbag deploys unexpectedly, or early.
Also, the airbag is used in conjunction with your seatbelt. You should see some of the injuries people can get from hitting an airbag at the wrong angle due to the lack or improper use of thier seatbelt. Hitting the airbag at the wrong angle can even cause death.
Anyway, The airbag is simply a last ditch effort life saving device.
I am not saying this is you at all, but to many people think that the airbag is like a pillow. Not true at all. A airbag has a tremendous amount of force exerted created by a gas ignited explosion. It will bruise, it will burn, and it will hurt.
Anyway, I am tired an rambling. I apologize.
One last thought, I too rear-ended somebody at about 35 miles an hour once (they were stopped in the highway). My airbag did not deploy either. But thinking back, The accident was to clean for a deployment. When I impacted his car, his car traveled forward, thus reducing the force of impact. And it takes a tremendous amout of force to trigger an airbag deployment, as I mentioned earlier.
Anyway, that is my useless 2 cents.
I need a nap
Thanks. I learned something new today. I am just glad that the I avoided the semi. The coroner would have been cutting me out of my car, piece by bloody piece.
My insurance people have been incredibly helpful. I am just hoping that the rates don't double. I am not sure if MEEMIC takes such drastic measures, but there's a chance.
Oh My God, Lish! I am so glad that you are okay..... the memory of my last two accidents are so fresh in my mind and they still scare the crap out of me. That is one of the reasons I have slowed my driving speed to a maximum of 55-60 mph on the freeway and stay in the right lane as much as possible... (gas mileage is the other).
And yes, the airbag does hurt...alot! When mine went off, I thought my car was on fire...because of the powder they use to keep the material from sticking together while its packed inside the steering wheel. The first thing I checked after the bag deflated was is my nose broken or missing? It kind of feels like someone swung a large punching bag in your face at a rate of over 50 mph....so the seat belt saved my life from the airbag...but both together caused some major whiplash...that I am still suffering from today (and that accident was over a year and a half ago)
It sucks that you are in the middle of moving. If you need an extra truck to use while you are moving, you can borrow mine. Its at my parents' house until I get back...and it just came back from the shop with new brakes, oil change and trans flush. So its good to go. I won't be home until the 6th in the afternoon so you can use it all week. If you want it, just send me an e-mail and I'll let my parents know that you are coming over to get it (and I'll give you their new phone numbers).
Update:
My car is totaled! I will be getting a settlement check in the next week or so. I am cleaning out my car today and checking out new cars for when I have deposited my check.
Thank you for caring about me.
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