OK, so part of the motivation for this is public atonement for being sooo stupid. Take home message: if your lunch falls from the passenger seat on to the floor and your apples and pears start rolliing around in the detritus the shoes of others have left, *ignore it* at least until you can safely pull over. I did not. I reached over that flying buttress and the next thing I knew, wha-BAM! I had drifted off the road (probably about 25 mph) and hit a pole, which broke. The car bounced back across the street (thankfully no other traffic coming) and I gradually came to my senses. The driver airbag and knee airbag deployed. The extent of my injuries are a couple of bruises, a lingering stench of a gunpowderish substance, and a healthy dose of humility and feeling like a dumb-a$$. The knee airbag in particular I think made a real difference. It remains to be seen if the car is salvageable, and if so, if it will ever be the same . May I, and others, learn from my stupidity. Peace Tim
Just know that all of priuschat appreciates your safety systems research! Now if we could just get someone with PCS to repeat your experiment, Bob Wilson could turn it into a graph. Congratulations on living to laugh another day.
Also glad you're OK, that's all it matters, but I do have second thoughts about hitting my dashboard with a big sledge hammer to see if it fixes the rattles or let that rattle snake inside it go back home...
Our son did the same thing - a water bottle fell on the floor, and he went for it, and smacked a power pole, though it was more a glancing blow which took out his front quarter panel. (it was with the Malibu, not our Prius) Thanks for posting the reminder - if it falls to the floor, LEAVE IT ALONE!!
man, sorry to hear what happened. at my age i can assure you, i have done things just as stupid if not worse. my problem is i did not learn very fast and did it more than once. but the important thing is that you are ok. the car will be fixed with deductible and that is that.
Anything that shouldn't fall off the seat should be placed on the floor in the first place. And anything that shouldn't roll around on the floor should be braced or packed by other cargo so that it won't move. Over a driving lifetime, there will be sufficient emergency stops and maneuvers to invoke Murphy's Law numerous times. My 'stupid learning experience' wasn't in this category and wasn't in a Prius, so it won't be posted here. Glad to hear that injuries are limited to bruises.
This is why I eat cheeseburgers. They tend to stay where they land. Seriously, though, Tim...glad you're ok!
Glad you're alright man. Sometimes we do stupid things that have big impacts and leave us embarassed but as long as we are alive afterwards then no biggie.
Glad you are ok, too. How are the apples and pears??? Many, many years ago, I was coming home from the grocery store in MY BOYFRIEND"S car, got cut off by some jerk, slammed on the brakes, and the gallon of milk I had placed on the front seat flew into the dashboard and exploded. This was in the days before airbags. Years later that car still had a faint sour milk smell. He married me anyway! I however didn't learn, and still pile the passenger seat full of junk! Hope your car heals well, Sam
Glad your OK, that's most important...As for the Fruit, you can replace them easily! Let's hope your car is repairable and if your prefer the latter (total) then let's hope it's whatever you want that makes you happy! I reached for a Tic Tac years ago, yes...I know, STUPID as it was, lifted my foot off the brake in the middle of the ambidestrous move to pick it off the floor and slammed into the guy in front of me! Never did get the darn tic tac! After I made the report and such, guess what rolled back onto the floormat near my foot??? That Darn Tic Tac! I don't think I ate one since!
Thanks to all of you guys (gender-neutral term here) for your well-wishes. The physical soreness is starting to wear off and I really think the car did what it was designed to do. (The embarrassment will linger longer...). It is also amazing how long the smell of the airbag deployment explosive lasts--it seems to have permeated my being (probably similar to how firing a gun leaves a residue). I saw the car yesterday (poor thing) and the cabin seems solid, though the front end is a gnarled plasticky mess. When you turn the car on it makes a sickly sputtering sound and advises "check hybrid system." Probably not a good sign... Juju, the apples were great, though none to appreciative of their trauma followed by being eaten... I find out today what the adjuster's verdict is. I'll post pics if any of the ones I took by phone are worthy. Happy motoring, Tim btw my rental is a chevy HHR--getting 22 mpgs w/ scarcely more power than the prius, and the stench of the new car smell literally makes my gorge rise. Bletch! I want my Prius back, waaah!
I think the 10-second-rule preconditions all of us to do what you did. It's good to know you made it through okay. If your car is a loss you're going to buy another Prius, right? If you do, would you get the same model or something different? Just curious.
So sorry from your misfortune but it could been anybody doing the same thing... The Prius is replaceable but you are not so consider yourself one very lucky individual...
Thanks for your thoughts. I really would want another Prius, and would get the same model (IV--the lumbar support is a must for me). But I'm not sure the insurance payment would be enough for me to replace it if they did total it. I just got some more info that is somewhat discouraging--they cannot even write a 'real' estimate for the thing, since the Gen III parts are not in the insurance company's database yet. So writing it up as an '09, the adjuster quoted "about 11.5K" but acknowledging that it would likely go up when they started pulling it apart. He said it would probably take at least 2 months (!) to fix it but thought it was definitely repairable. What I wonder is, if it is out of my use for an indefinite period of time, might that be fair to figure into the decision to declare it a total loss? I have rental reimbursement for 30 days but after that I am SOL. I'd think the insurance company might not want to risk paying for weeks of expensive work only to have it be determined unfixable; I don't want to have a car that is not crashworthy, either. Any thoughts/advice (besides 'if it drops, don't pick it up') from anyone here? Much appreciated. In all, though, I have to admit my main thought is I'm thankful for how it did turn out--could have been much worse.
You are not the only person to get distracted. My sister was at a T stop ready to turn when she just glanced back to yell at one of her kids, Blam! Right into the light pole that was across the street! Lost some of her teeth and ended up with a partial. The kids were fine, car was trashed! We are all human..........
If they total it I believe you should be able to get a replacement within the 1st year. There have been some ads here promoting this coverage. This doesn't sound good but is not unexpected. Once the insurance company is in for a penny they'll be in for a pound as the incremental cost of fixing "the next thing" will be less than paying for the completed work and paying for the car. I doubt the insurance company is going to authorize the shop to perform any work before knowing what the parts will cost just as the shop won't quote a price. Was a Toyota dealer asked for a quote on the listed parts? My only advice is to challenge repair estimates from the shop & adjuster and expect the discovery of hidden damage as the car is disassembled. Also keep in mind that the manufacturer's warranty is voided on whatever is replaced.
