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My wife added a permanent grill block to the Prius on Sunday.

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l23/Skwyre7/Pictures/Prius/PIC-0033-small.jpg http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l23/Skwyre7/Pictures/Prius/PIC-0032-small.jpg http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l23/Skwyre7/Pictures/Prius/PIC-0031-small.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l23/Skwyre7/Pictures/Prius/PIC-0034-small.jpg http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l23/Skwyre7/Pictures/Prius/PIC-0035-small.jpg

That last picture is of the passenger side looking down. It shows how much the crumple zone crumpled outward.

Everyone is OK. A little shaken up, but OK. My wife has some bruising from the seatbelt. My son is fine. The car seat did its job. The airbags did not go off because it was at low speed. (The SUV in front of her stopped short while rubbernecking at another accident. The SUV only had a tiny dent in the bumper.) My wife had eggs in the car, and not a one was broken!

We're waiting on the insurance adjuster to do his thing (hopefully today). With 84k miles, and what looks to be extensive damage to the important parts up front (judging from the pictures - I haven't see it in person yet), I'm thinking it will likely be a total loss. :( We loved that car. We got a Pontiac G6 for a rental - no smart key, low FE, low tire pressure - not at all comparable to the Prius. ;)

I'll keep you all posted. The important thing is that everyone is OK.

:eek: :ccry: I'm so sorry! Here's hoping you get fixed up with a good solution soon!

:ccry: How could THAT much damage be done by a low speed accident?? I was sure the air bags had fired before you said they didn't. :eek:

I'm very glad everyone is okay. What a loss though. :(

Glade to hear everyone is OK. I'll bet it is fixable. I am asuming that it still runs OK. If yes go charge the battery so it doesn't sit for days with no charge and go check it every few days and charge it back up.

Hi Michael:

___I am also glad to hear your family is OK as that one looks like a heck of a collision. A few bumps and bruises are much better than what it could have been.

___If your Prius is signed off as a total loss, the 2010 is only a few seasons away…

___Good Luck

___Wayne

:ccry: How could THAT much damage be done by a low speed accident?? I was sure the air bags had fired before you said they didn't. :eek:
I'm very glad everyone is okay. What a loss though. :(

The level of damage is due to the fact that SUV and truck bumpers do not need to be mounted at the same height as passenger car bumpers. Check iihs.org (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) for their test results on car-vs-truck bumps.
http://www.iihs.org/news/2008/iihs_news_090408.pdf is their most recent round of bumper tests.
The airbags won't deploy because the SUV bumper overrides the car bumper, causing the crush of soft metal and plastic, and then engine cooling components. The slower deceleration of not hitting frame to frame saves the airbags, but causes more damage to the front end of the car.
This is yet another reason why we all end up paying for the leased single-occupant FSP driving in the next lane over. What should have been a bumper and headlight replacement becomes a total loss. Maybe someday they'll force the truck/SUV market to meet the passenger car bumper height standard, to reduce the damage occurring in these low speed bumps.

I am glad to hear everyone is ok - that is by far the most important thing.

Glad everyone is OK.

I don't think she did a good job with the grill block. It's sticking up waaay too high to be effective. JK.

I was interested when I read permanent grill block. Since I am considering doing a grill block myself. When I saw the pictures my jaw dropped.

(This probably isn't one of my better posts, and I apologize. I wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.)

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. It does suck. MaxxMPG is spot on. That SUV bumper was just up too high. Oh well. Damion, thanks for the chuckle. It was well received.

Wayne, I would love to wait for a 2010, but we have "new car replacement" as part of our insurance. Luckily it's good through our next renewal, which is next month! Talk about cutting it close! Plus, we can't wait that long, as the Prius is our main vehicle. (The Corolla is more or less a commuter car for me.)

The insurance adjusted called a few minutes ago. He deemed it a total loss. There was frame damage. :eek: Darn high SUV bumpers. :mad: The car seat is covered, and now has to be destroyed because it was in a "major" accident. Britax Boulevards are expensive, so it's good that it's covered. (We already have a new one.) The adjuster said the vehicle was worth $18,600. 3.5 years and 84k miles results in less than $8000 depreciation!

Time to get on the wait list for a new Prius! :), but still :(

EDIT: I guess I'll have to go clean out the car later this afternoon. I'll see if I can take more pictures of the damage. If I can get my camera in there - there doesn't appear to be much room left. ;)

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. It does suck. MaxxMPG is spot on. ...
The insurance adjusted called a few minutes ago. He deemed it a total loss. There was frame damage. :eek: Darn high SUV bumpers. ...

There are a bunch of salvage Prius' on eBay with far less damage, so I would have bet a lobster tail that they'd call it a total loss. I read that just the coolant thermos just behind the drivers side headlight is $1000 plus installation. And the extensive use of high-strength steel (which doesn't straighten easily) makes the car a very expensive fix.

You can see in the photo that the SUV bumper contacted the car just above the bumper face bar of the Prius. The kink in the Prius bumper would likely be from the trailer hitch (if equipped) or spare tire carrier on the SUV. In a way, this is the more desirable outcome, as you get a replacement vehicle rather than having the existing one fixed. A repaired car is worth far less on resale and can be prone to recurring problems like odd noises or leaks and alignment or handling issues for years after the repair.

Everything happens for a reason, although we don't always understand it until we look back upon it. Until then, we persevere and face the challenges of each new day. This will all work out for the best, although it can be hard to believe that as you're going through it.

The level of damage is due to the fact that SUV and truck bumpers do not need to be mounted at the same height as passenger car bumpers. ... The airbags won't deploy because the SUV bumper overrides the car bumper, causing the crush of soft metal and plastic, and then engine cooling components. The slower deceleration of not hitting frame to frame saves the airbags, but causes more damage to the front end of the car.
This is yet another reason why we all end up paying for the leased single-occupant FSP driving in the next lane over. What should have been a bumper and headlight replacement becomes a total loss. ...

Exactly right. I pulled this stunt with Suby a few years ago, at an even lower final collision speed. My braking put the nose down far enough that the bumpers completely missed, with mine being barely scratched on the rebound separation. Yet the damage above the bumper nearly totaled it. Had the old 1970's-era 5mph bumper requirement still been in force, and had FSPs not been exempt from passenger car safety requirements, the car would still have been drivable.

It was not a cheap way to ruin a 30 year perfect driving record, nor a fun way to start out a two week vacation.

(This was caused by driver distraction, at a much lower lever than a cell phone or text messaging.)

--Dean

Skwyre,

Sorry to hear about your accident and glad everybody is ok. Sure looks like the crumple zones did their job, keeping you and your family safe. But boy is it awful how easy cars can be totalled nowadays. Maxx hit the nail on the head re: bumper height. Don't US trucks have to have lowered rear bumpers? They are lowered in europe and the newer ones are made from aluminium and the support arms are capable of crumpling too. All this helps to reduce what happened here. I have seen a lot of larger fsp's around here with rather high rear bumpers and an awful lot of uncomfortable looking metal underneath.

ollie

The funny thing is cars have to total themselves in order to stand up to a FSP.
.

The funny thing is cars have to total themselves in order to stand up to a FSP.
.

That what my wife (jokingly) tells people. She saw that SUV wasting gas and tried to take it out. :D

Insurance update:
We do not have new car replacement, as we were originally told. It expired earlier this year. Oh well. We'll be getting a nice chunk of change to put towards our next vehicle. We're currently assessing our needs for a vehicle - what do we need now vs. what will we need in 3 years vs. what will we need in 6 years. We are planning on more kids, and with our frequent trips, space would be nice. My wife is hoping for a minivan (Odyssey or Sienna), but we'll have to see. We hope to do some shopping this weekend.

As I mentioned previously, the car seat was covered. My wife inquired as to whether or not our GPS would also be covered since it got bathed in Dr. Pepper and no longer works. I haven't heard back on that front yet.

I went and cleaned out the car on Tuesday. It was very sad. The insurance adjuster was not gentle when he looked it over. There were parts strung all over the place. :eek: I've got more pictures, but I can't access them at the moment (darn work firewalls :mad:). I had to take apart the dash to pull out the Sirius radio stuff I added. I didn't bother replacing everything.

We will remember that car for the rest of our lives. It was the first new car either of us had owned, and it was definitely a great investment. I like to say it adhered to the Three Law of Robotics:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The Prius will protect its battery, following the third law. If the gas runs out and the driver keeps driving, it will deplete the battery, following the second law. The car sacrificed itself to allow my wife and son to come out unharmed, following the first law. (Obviously, this logic is flawed, because a driver can hit a pedestrian - a blind one :rolleyes: - and it would break the second law.)

/rambling

Just a FYI, under no circumstances do you want to buy a Sienna! My parents have one and it's a bona-fide FSP. Too bloated, too heavy, too much engine. The Odyssey would be a better bet due to its cylinder deactvation capability, but still not something I would ever want to drive with gas at $4/gal and climbing every year.

If not a new Prius, might I recommend a wagon of some sort? Maybe a Mazda5? It's tall and boxy like a mivivan but shrunken down to a reasonable size.

Michael,

Just read this and with police would crack down on rubberneckers!

So many times there is gridlock and I see nothing or a borning fenderbender and want to taunt the rubberneckers if they thought they were about to see their fav star

Just a FYI, under no circumstances do you want to buy a Sienna! My parents have one and it's a bona-fide FSP. Too bloated, too heavy, too much engine. The Odyssey would be a better bet due to its cylinder deactvation capability, but still not something I would ever want to drive with gas at $4/gal and climbing every year.

If not a new Prius, might I recommend a wagon of some sort? Maybe a Mazda5? It's tall and boxy like a mivivan but shrunken down to a reasonable size.

We're going to start looking at the Odyssey and the Sienna, with the SG, obviously. I would like to look at all our options before making the final decision. I do like that the Mazda5 is available with a MT. FAS! :woot:

Michael,

Just read this and with police would crack down on rubberneckers!

So many times there is gridlock and I see nothing or a borning fenderbender and want to taunt the rubberneckers if they thought they were about to see their fav star

Me too. Curiosity killed the cat ... and ended up with a wrecked a Prius. :(

Me too. Curiosity killed the cat ... and ended up with a wrecked a Prius. :(

I've been bumped from behind a couple of times in these rubbernecker slowdowns, but not since the hypermiling bug really bit me. Leaving a big buffer in front - which goes a long way toward not having to stop - is about the best you can hope for. You may stop and not bump the car ahead, but there's no guarantee the gawker behind you won't give you a nudge. Keeping it rolling, when possible, makes the scenario far less likely, and minimizes damage if they do bump you as the speed differential will be minimal and your foot won't be on the brake. The huge buffer is even more critical when you're following a truck/SUV since you can't see what's directly ahead of them and so you cannot anticipate a sudden stop, whether via the brake pedal or when they bump into the vehicle ahead of them.

...Leaving a big buffer in front ... Keeping it rolling, when possible ...

I think my wife will start doing these more often. She feels "just dumb." She knows it could have been avoided. Maybe she'll slow down a bit and be a little more aware (not that she was bad by any means, just not as aware as a hypermiler.)

Where was that thread on a Prius discount?

The Odyssey is ok, IF you get the VCM (variable cylinder management) version. That only comes in the top level trim, though. Without that, it and the Seinna are rated about the same.

Our 2004 does:
21 mpg with my wife driving. (good and smooth, but normal driver)
26 mpg with me driving, family on board with AC and idling at lights
32+ mpg with AC off and FAS at lights. (safe below 35mph)
29-30 mpg highway, AC and DWL 50-60 mph.

We aren't looking top-of-the-line. Unless we can find a used one. I'm planning to go look at a Mazda5 today during lunch. If it meets my needs, I'll make my wife look at them too. We have found a couple used Siennas that have the amenities we're looking for at pretty good prices, so we'll have to see what kinds of deals we can get.

Andrew, thanks for your numbers. I was planing on taking the first test drive with the SG, of course. I'd drive for a while, take the warm-up hit, drive for a bit more, and see what kind of mileage I get. Then I'll let my wife drive (on a warm engine) and see what kind of mileage she gets. That will give me a pretty good idea of what it's capable of, at least with limited data...

You might want to give the Kia Rondo a look. It's basically a scaled down version of the Sedona, and it comes in a 7 seat model. The only down side I've seen is that it scores mid 20s with the average Joe driving it for FE.

We looked at the Rondo online and my wife vetoed it on a couple of points. {shrugs} I was able to test drive a Mazda5 at lunch today. I couldn't find the OBDII port in the cabin, so no SG. :( It handled well, but I couldn't really hypermile it like I wanted to. The salesman went along for the ride, and the weather was a bit rainy. I didn't want to push it too hard since I wasn't familiar with the vehicle. I did get to drive the MT version, which was cool. Too bad it's not available with VSC and other amenities that the high trim levels come with. Those are all AT's. :( The lack of space in the back kills it though. If the back seat (3rd row) is in use, there's barely room for a couple bags of groceries - definitely not a suitcase. There's no way to put the car seat in the middle of the vehicle either, so that's a major issue for us. I liked it, but it wouldn't suit our needs. It would make a great carpool/vanpool vehicle though, especially with MT. Oh well. On to the next car lot...

Have they told you if it is totaled or not?

I'm thinking of mounting a ball hitch on the back of my car for this reason. I know I'll never tow anything with my car. But that way if someone rear ends me it will just mess up their radiator (and avoid any sort of damage like this to my car... say if a Fsp rear-ended me when gawking at a fender bender).

Wow. Glad you're wife is okay. That looks nasty. Make sure she goes to see a doctor ASAP if she notices any pain or anything; sometimes it takes a few days for injuries to become apparent.

It really frustrates me when I see accidents caused apparently by rubbernecking or other forms of inattention. Please, please, people pay attention while driving. Never forget that you have a 3,000 pound deadly weapon under your control while driving!

Good luck in the new car search.

The Prius was a total loss. :( I cleaned it out last Tuesday. That was sad. My wife's bruises are looking better - no pain other than the bruises themselves.

We bought a Sienna on Saturday. It's kind of a FSP, but it will fit our family's needs better than another Prius. I ran the numbers - it made more sense to go with the larger vehicle, as much as I hated it. I'll add the van to my mileage logs when we fill up. I don't have the SG mounted yet - I need more velcro! ;)

The Prius was a total loss. :( I cleaned it out last Tuesday. That was sad. My wife's bruises are looking better - no pain other than the bruises themselves.

We bought a Sienna on Saturday. It's kind of a FSP, but it will fit our family's needs better than another Prius. I ran the numbers - it made more sense to go with the larger vehicle, as much as I hated it. I'll add the van to my mileage logs when we fill up. I don't have the SG mounted yet - I need more velcro! ;)

Congrats on the Sienna purchase. The EPA says 17/23, 19 combined, and fueleconomy.gov is listing an average of 19.7 from 6 vehicles. You can mitigate the increase in fuel costs by encouraging everyone who drives it to hypermile. If you can average 23 or so in mixed driving, and the van is being used as intended, with passengers on board during each trip, it makes a lot of sense from a PMPG standpoint.

Thanks to hypermiling, even the large Sienna need not be a FSP because you can pull the same MPG averages that most average drivers are getting out of a Camry. You're in good company, as there are lots of other CleanMPG members who are getting some impressive numbers out of their minivans.

I wish you the best of luck and many safe and trouble-free miles from your new Sienna, and I look forward to seeing what you can do with it once you get the SGii velcro'd in and running. :)

I need more velcro! ;)

I picked some up at Wal*Mart (I lost my second set of strips somewhere) before our big trip to PA in august. I have enough now to last me through 10 cars :rolleyes:.

Wow, how did I miss this thread??

Michael, first off, I'm very thankful the Missus and Junior are OK! If the wreck was in Chesterfield, I hope my colleagues took good care of them. Heck, regardless of the location, I hope my colleagues treated them well.

And glad you got a new ride. Too bad I didn't see this thread sooner. Not that it would have changed your decision, but I noticed McGeorge had at least two Prii on its used car lot last week when I drove by it.

Jim, it was in Henrico (Short Pump WalMart on Broad - where all the accidents happen). Your colleagues treated them wonderfully. They were at the car in under 30 seconds asking if everyone was OK. One of the firemen was the one who took "Junior" out of his car seat and held him for quite a while. At least, that's the story I got from the Missus. We did look at getting another Prius, but the van will better suit our needs for the next 5-7 years.

I'm planning to run by WalMart today after work to pick up a bunch of velcro. Too bad they don't sell only the "loop" side. That's all I need! LOL :D

The Missus was saying last night that she really felt like a mom now (except "Junior" doesn't play soccer yet). I offered her the Corolla. She quickly declined. :D