First Wreck???

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Quixotix

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
46
Location
Seattle
Well, I think my car was the first i bought in the continental USA. My wife was driving it today, and she just got rear-ended.

Does this make mine the first to be wrecked? :cry:

I haven't seen the car yet, so I don't know how bad the damage is. She says the "rear end is pushed in to the rear wheels". But on our cars, it doesn't have to be pushed in very far to hit the rear wheels. She thought she would be able to move it to the shoulder under its own power, but wasn't sure.

Just from the above description, I suspect it is not totaled. But if there are no others in junk yards for parts, who knows.

I'll keep you updated on the situation so you will know if there are parts available. PS - Mine is an ES with no options, so don't get too excited. :)
 
Soo sorry to hear this! But no, you're not the first. A black iMiev was totalled in Boston in a front-end collision a few months back. The insurance estimated repair cost was $12,800, IIRC, and it sold at auction a month ago for $6800 after three tries. The damage seemed minor in photos; the hood was bent but the AC condenser and all the liquid reservoirs appeared intact and the windshield was not cracked, though the airbag had deployed. If yours is totalled, I'd be very interested in a collaborative local salvage effort.

In unrelated news, the '92 Civic with over 350k miles that my wife refused to give up after we bought the iMiEV last year finally bit the dust when she become the meat in a sideways sandwich last week. No injuries, but that finally totalled out the Civvy. :roll: It's driveable, but leaks rain and is so ugly that she's finally releasing the keys. If her worksite hadn't been the farthest of her three regular locations that day, it could've been an i-sandwich.
 
OK, I would say it doesn't even qualify as a wreck after all, just a fender bender - and hardly that. :D

There is a U-shaped crossmember at the rear of the car that is the structure for the rear bumper. It is bolted to the rear of the car with a couple of angle brackets. These two brackets are really the only bent metal. And they are only bent a little.

There doesn't appear to be any damage to the tailgate, the rear deck, or the metal part of the rear fenders. Even the reflectors and sidelights on the rear bumper cover appear undamaged. However, the entire bumper cover is angled in at the bottom, out at the top. The metal support should bend back with no real problem, and then the bumper cover should be straight again. I don't think there will be any residual damage.
 
My wife was backing into a parking space last week or so, and bumped the rear bumper into the front bumper of the other car. Apparently, she hit it hard enough to cause the rear bumper to bend in far enough that it touched the right rear tire. I grabbed the bumper with my bare hands and pulled it out. I was kinda shocked how easy it was. There's not even a scratch on the bumper.
 
Fjpod said: "I grabbed the bumper with my bare hands and pulled it out. I was kinda shocked how easy it was."

Yep, I did the same thing on both sides. However, I don't think the bumper is quite as flimsy as it appears.

To bend the bumper bend in, it appears to bend the brackets at either end of the metal cross-member that is the bumper structure. But, at lease in my case, when I pulled the plastic bumper cover away from the wheels, it seems I was bending much lighter weight brackets that just hold the cover. The stronger brackets that hold the bumper structure stayed bent. That is, the plastic (body color) bumper cover pulls away from the bumper structure, leaving a larger gap between the two than there was originally.
 
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