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inakiWell I was having a good day.
Driving along a 2 lane road in the rain, this big red jeep coming the other way decides he's going to turn left into opposing traffic, about 40 feet in front of me. I'm doing 40MPH on slick roads.
I got a split second to see him, then heard a loud bang and found myself stopped and holding a deflated airbag and my car quickly filling with smoke. I also couldn't hear.
I managed to stumble out of my car.. then realised it was still in drive, even with the engine dead, and was trying to roll down the hill. So I held onto it and asked a bystander to reach in and put it in park.
Cops showed up, we found out the jeep had bounced back into another car and damaged it as well, as well as blowing his own airbags. He got a broken bumper, I got engine parts in my passenger seat. The smoke turned out to be from the airbags.
I was fine for about a half hour, but when I was still short of breath, and my neck was stiffening up, my neighbor drove me down to the ER.. I got whiplash, and some nasty abrasions on my neck from where the seatbelt caught me. I'm told I'm lucky I didn't break my collarbone.
My car is pretty much totaled.. the engine is pushed back into the passenger seat, the windshield is shattered, the whole front end sticks out about half as far as its supposed to. And there's damage to the front doors..
Good news is, Geico is going to cover everything, and with luck, I pick up my new car tomorrow afternoon.
Still. Ow. I'm going to be sore for a few days.. They put me on IBProphen and muscle relaxants, as well as ointment for the abrasions. Geico is even paying my perscriptions.
Driving along a 2 lane road in the rain, this big red jeep coming the other way decides he's going to turn left into opposing traffic, about 40 feet in front of me. I'm doing 40MPH on slick roads.
I got a split second to see him, then heard a loud bang and found myself stopped and holding a deflated airbag and my car quickly filling with smoke. I also couldn't hear.
I managed to stumble out of my car.. then realised it was still in drive, even with the engine dead, and was trying to roll down the hill. So I held onto it and asked a bystander to reach in and put it in park.
Cops showed up, we found out the jeep had bounced back into another car and damaged it as well, as well as blowing his own airbags. He got a broken bumper, I got engine parts in my passenger seat. The smoke turned out to be from the airbags.
I was fine for about a half hour, but when I was still short of breath, and my neck was stiffening up, my neighbor drove me down to the ER.. I got whiplash, and some nasty abrasions on my neck from where the seatbelt caught me. I'm told I'm lucky I didn't break my collarbone.
My car is pretty much totaled.. the engine is pushed back into the passenger seat, the windshield is shattered, the whole front end sticks out about half as far as its supposed to. And there's damage to the front doors..
Good news is, Geico is going to cover everything, and with luck, I pick up my new car tomorrow afternoon.
Still. Ow. I'm going to be sore for a few days.. They put me on IBProphen and muscle relaxants, as well as ointment for the abrasions. Geico is even paying my perscriptions.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 06:26 am (UTC)Hope the other guy was all right, too, even if he is at fault. Get better soon, and keep up with your doctor.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 06:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 07:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 07:48 am (UTC)So what kind are you gonna get? Same as the totalled one, or going for a different thingy? Oh, and even though this might be kinda obvious, I'd recommend getting some ultrawide rims and tires on the new one, with the Unmitigated Intelligence(tm) displayed by at least one driver out there. :b
no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 11:29 am (UTC)Yeah, the smoke... nobody tells you about that! I wrecked my first car by trying to turn a corner one-handed; I lost control and hit a telephone pole. Ze airbag deployed, I was okay... but the car started filling up with smoke! I had the somewhat panicky thought that maybe the engine was going to explode...
...until I figured out it was from the airbag. Airbags, actually; they both deployed (and annoyingly, the panel over the passenger-side bag cracked the windshield! Yes I was alone.)
In every commercial I'd ever seen, the airbag always looked so... neat! This silky white pillow thing popping effortlessly out of the steering column. No smoke, no nothin'!
I didn't have to go to the ER or anything, but I did have abrasions on my neck and the tip of my nose (which I figure might have been singed by the airbag explosive).
Hope you have a speedy recovery!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 12:42 pm (UTC)There's a reason I'm not a huge fan of airbags...
Date: 2004-12-11 02:46 pm (UTC)The fact that replacing one costs as much as replacing the engine in some cases, and if a whole bank goes off, costs noticably more than most engines to replace, so it's a near-instant write-off for insurance companies...
And that they really don't do any more good than a properly adjusted four-point or five-point harness will do, and the latter are replacable with a single wrench in 20-30 minutes and costs less than most normal seat belts, because it doesn't have any parts fancier than your everyday adjustable belt buckle.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 05:41 pm (UTC)I'm glad that you're okay!
*hug*
no subject
Date: 2004-12-11 06:31 pm (UTC)*hugs tightly*
Re: There's a reason I'm not a huge fan of airbags...
Date: 2004-12-11 07:04 pm (UTC)0.o
Date: 2004-12-11 11:55 pm (UTC)Re: There's a reason I'm not a huge fan of airbags...
Date: 2004-12-12 01:23 am (UTC)Though you may need to get a new pair of seats to install the four-point harness, depending on the vehicle, and some of the harnesses out there bolt into the rear seat belt bolt-holes if you don't get a seat with bolt-holes built in for the harness, so it will cost around $400-$600 total for both front seats, but then you'd have very comfy new front seats along with racing or autocross-quality restraints. =^.^=