My first coupe was totalled when it was parrell parked on the side of the street and a ram pick up plowed into the driver's back corner of the car.

Insurance co. told me they required an estimate of $20,000 to declar the car a total loss. Luckily, there was extensive frame damage and I barely made it over $20,000.

 

Sorry to see that man, glad you guys are okay. They should total the car, looking at the pictures the body work and labor alone would probably total it, and i can see that the back wheel is pushed up into the car, which means the entire rear axle, exhaust system etc is damaged and needs replaced. Good luck with the insurance.

 

You will be responsible for damages sustained by the vehicle you hit in the front even though the vehicle from behind caused the initial accident. You followed too closely. The parties who rear ended you will pay for your damages and so on.

 

I think the key here is the fact that the airbags didn't deploy. That proves that you didn't drive into the back of the SUV.

The crash sensors did their job - they didn't deploy the airbags because you didn't need them..

The central crash sensor will have stored the crash pulses, or at least the first one, and an expert witness can prove to a court that you were stationary then hit from behind.

Good luck.
Garry

 

The damage to your front end looks almost identical to the damage to my front end in my accident (hood pushed upwards, grill bashed in, right headlight busted, etc.). The airbag didn't deploy in my accident as well. Additionally, it was a low speed impact (probably around 30 mph at the point of impact). That car looks like it'll need about 18K or more worth of fixes so declaring your car totalled may be in your favor. I'm glad the G was sturdy enough; it felt as if I was in a bumper car when the accident happened.

Let us know what the insurance company decides to do. Good luck!

 

Is this true? Are you an adjuster? I'd like to know. It seems like the blue car should be at fault for everything forward??

 

Thanks Garry. How do the crash sensors work? Also do they always check these or does that cost them more in the long run? That would be awesome if I could prove it...

 

Very glad to hear you are OK.
It looks like it should be totaled but you can't tell with the insurance companies these days.
There is a guy on 6MT.net that had a similar crash and the company does not want to total it. It is still an expensive car to them.
He has hired a lawyer to try to get it totaled.

I guess your air bags did not go off because the engine and hood took more of the impact than the bumper.

Good luck!

 

Hmm - if he was stopped, then someone hit him and pushed him forward, I don't think he's responsible. If he was moving, then I can see that your logic would apply. But, I'm curious to hear the ruling.

 

I was the front car of a 3 car fender bender before. The car in the middle stopped, and the car in the back plowed into the both of us. The insurance company for the guy in the middle made sure to ask me if I felt one bump or 2 since if I felt 2, that would mean that the middle car hit me, and last car hit him. But since I only felt one, then it was clearly the car in the back's fault. It ended up being that the car in the back's insurance paid for the damages to my car, not the insurance for the guy in the middle. I hope you have the same thing work out and come out of this cleanly. Good luck.

 

Sorry to say, but it's true. It's the same situation as if someone had rear ended your vehicle while you were waiting at a light and your car happens to crash into the vehicle in front of yours. So, it is always safe to give some space/distance between the car in front of yours. If you can't see the rear tires of the car in front, then you have followed too closely.
I used to be a legal assistant and now work for the Criminal Courts.

 

To me, these things are small cars. Anything smaller is a roller skate. My whole life I've driven the SUVs whose bumpers are higher than our windows/heads. Kinda scary being on the other side of it this time.

 

glad ur ok

 

I dunno dude, that's exactly what happened to me and I wasn't responsible for a dime. Sitting at a light, get rear-ended, hit the car in front of me. Again, the chick that rear-ended me was drunk, but by your logic that shouldn't matter, right?

 

There are two types of sensor involved in a frontal impact - (usually) two remote sensors up front and one central ecu which includes all the processing power and the crash sensing algorithms. Both types use accelerometers to sense impact and deceleration. The remote sensors signal the central ecu when the front starts to deform.

Most systems are designed never to deploy the airbags at less than around 16mph, and never when there is only a rear-end collision. The car also has remotes at the side to detect side impact.

All modern ecus have a rolling programmable memory which records recent pertinent information. This typically include vehicle speed, which occupants were wearing seat belts, whether the passenger seat was occupied, etc, and most importantly any recent crash pulse. Basically they are acting like a black box in an airliner.

The codes in the ecu are not difficult to read with the right equipment and a trained technician, but both of those are rare. I know that this is a routine task after a fatality, or in liability suits where people claim that their airbags failed, or when there is doubt over whether a person was wearing a seat belt.

I am not sure whether multiple impacts are recorded, but since my company designs and makes these things I'll find out off my engineers tomorrow and post here again. If they are recorded then in your case there would be a rear impact first while you were stationary. Of course that might not mean you get off scot-free. Not long after we moved to Michigan 5 years ago a friend told me that here it is the person at the back of the line who ends up paying for everything, so this is not always logical.

Long answer to a short question but I hope this helps.
Garry