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Man! We're on a bad roll here with Hyundai destruction. I left for work early this morning, dropping my son off at community college kinda on the way. So with Brody in the car I wasn't concentrating on technique, talking and listening to some tunes. I think maybe because of the auto dimming feature on my rear view I didn't notice at all what was about to happen and WHAM my car went careening off to the right shoulder of the road but luckily I was able to maintain control and keep it off the guard rail. As it turns out a 2005 Freightliner had rear ended me while I was at 60 mph on I78. We're both okay but quite shaken up. The trucker at least pulled over and contacted the state troopers, a barracks was minutes away.
The nearest Hyundai dealer doesn't have a body shop but uses a shop which is actually much closer to my home so I just got back from dropping it off. The insurance appraiser will check it out either today or tomorrow. I've used this shop before so hopefully they'll do a good job but you know it won't be the same. Just washed it too.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/medium/IMGP0143.JPG

Oh no!!! I'm very glad you two are okay!!

Be sure to see a doctor anyway -- sometimes issues can be hidden by the adrenaline boost and may not even show up to a level noticeable by the sufferer for several days.

^ what Sean said is exactly right. The pain often doesn't come in for a couple days -- and untreated, even minor spinal injuries can dog you for the rest of your life. I know, having been injured TWICE in rear-enders.

Geez! Glad you both are okay! Could the truck not change lanes in time because he was coming up on you too fast or what? What is the PSL on the road you were on?

65 mph normally but it's posted 55 now because there's some construction off and on. I was at about 60. There were no brakes or anything, I didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary until the thud. I think the guy was asleep.

There's a lot of flood damage and heartache around here where I live in Pennsylvania also.
Friends of mine lost their home and a vehicle, they're hoping to save one vehicle. They got $2k for the one car and their mobile home is a complete loss, they are staying with their children for now. That and the 9/11 remembrances, it's been gloomy lately. So, with all of the flood damage rentals are hard to come by. I'll be driving my backup civic again but it needs some work to be top notch. Hopefully I'll have a rental by the weekend. We should try to appreciate what we have, it's a fine line.

ya ever seen a grown man cry? yep, that's me. glad to hear you are ok. sorry to hear about the wreck. I've been doing 55 in a 65 PSL zone OTW to work the last few weeks and i've been waiting for the re-re that's too tired to pay attention. i hope not, butya never know.

Glad to hear you & your son are OK! I was rear-ended by a White Frieightliner, too. I was on a 4 lane undivided highway in CO & stopped as required by state law for a school bus with flashing red lights on the other side of the highway. A couple of cars passed me illegally, and the truck driver must have been daydreaming. He was probably going <5 mph when he hit me, but punched a hole through the tailgate of my pickup truck & bent the bed itself. My parents & I all had headaches for ~20 minutes from hitting the backs of our heads against the rear window of the cab on impact. Any time you can walk away from an accident with a tractor-trailer, you're a lucky person!

dude, glad to hear yall are okay! i hate to see that little car of yours tore up! i think its good advice to go see a doctor and get checked out! hope you and your son and car are better than ever!

Where at? It's posted 55 the whole way I drive it! (Lehigh St. to Rt. 100).

I'm glad everyone is ok, it does not look like too much damage, I'm sure the repairs (replacements) will be fine. This is why I like all my cars in bright colors, I would take international orange if it was available :)

Yeah I hope to find out what the damage is soon, haven't heard anything yet. My mom always says that white is the safest color, I'm not sure where she heard this but that's her story.:)

Ouch - only just seen this thread - are guys OK still? Hope it's good news about the car SK.

The estimate for repair is $4534.17, a nice round number. My insurance company is mailing the check minus $250 ded. and truckers ins. co. is mailing the $250. The shop ordered the parts yesterday so things are moving. Will pick up a rental car today, I have my choice from what they have when I get there but have a $30 cap if I want to be certain I don't pay any out of pocket. The hybrids are $43 a day, if they have any, so that option which I had hoped for is out.

Glad to hear everyone is ok. Did you get checked out medically? If so, you may wish to file a personal injury claim with your insurance. When I had a horrible accident a few years ago, thankfully we were not injured too badly but I did manage to grate my left elbow into hamburger after rolling the truck onto its side and sliding about 20 yards. My wife and I both went to the hospital by ambulance for evaluation and got released the next day. My boss had to remind me that I had PiP on my insurance and that turned into a $5,000 check.

Finally after three attempts to get the correct trunk lid, one without a hole for a lock cylinder which doesn't exist on the Elantra (smart key) the body shop tells me my car is ready EXCEPT that there is no power to the right front headlight. This, they say, isn't related to a rear end collision and I should take it to the dealer. The officer at the accident wouldn't let me drive the car until he checked all of my lights and they all worked. I called my insurance agent and she said to have them fix it. The agent is going to call the shop and then call me back. What do you all think? I'll take it to the dealer myself as long as I don't have to pay for the repair and I'll bet the dealer will say it is caused by something that isn't covered under their warranty. A friend at work suggests that maybe the shop welded on the car and didn't disconnect the battery and caused a short. It seems a little odd that they would check my front lights and then say it wasn't accident related. Man.

Update on situation. Only the front right low beam is out of service. The shop is dropping it off at the dealer Monday morning and it will be covered either by insurance or Hyundai or so the story goes. I'm out a rental car though as of tomorrow, didn't want to risk it being a warranty issue and so would have no coverage for a rental. I thought the shop should offer to pick up the rental since they had it for so long but that was going nowhere.

I hope all is resolved satisfactorily soon!! It has been quite a while for you to wait. :(

So I'm back on the road! Overall it looks great again and except for needing to slam the trunk closed ( and that WILL be fixed) I'm satisfied but it's not quite the same. My front driver's door just doesn't sound quite the same when I close it. I'm always checking my rear view mirror. I keep the auto dimming feature turned off. I'm driving faster to better stay with the flow. And at the time of the accident I was driving the speed limit or better so I could talk with my son and wasn't concentrating on max mpg so speed wasn't an issue.
I guess it will take time.

The normal steps to deal with people following who are not paying attention:
- Ridge riding
- Wag the tail
- Use the hazards
- Move!