Hit a deer on the interstate doing 70mph. My two month old C 2 is now at the scrappers. All 9 airbags deployed the radiator was on top of the motor, both motors shifted over 2 inches, and I never even got a bruise. The car absorbed the entire impact, My back never left the seat, the airbags never touched me, I was still doing 60 by the time the airbags deflated. Eased over to the side of the highway and that was the end. Sat. I bought a new C 3. I'm as confident on my 150mi a commute as ever. Great car.
Sorry about your car, but glad to hear you're OK! That's the second major collision of a C reported here without serious injury - here's the post from Neilb9 who was rear-ended while stopped at an intersection by a large SUV doing 40+ mph. He later added photos - do you have any you could post?
Whoa! What a road test. Thank goodness that you are OK. Things could have ended so much worse. One of my worst nightmares is totaling my c. I have only seen one other Prius c, so if I wreck mine, it'd be hard to replace right away. Deb
To answer some of the questions asked above. I didn't get pictures. I had my phone right in my hand the whole time but I was pretty startled and had to call a myriad of people. I will email my adjuster and he might have a moment to send me the pics they took. I almost don't want them, I loved that car and seeing it destroyed again is a bummer, but now I have a new one so maybe it wont be so bad. Secondly, the deer is not Okay. You can not see with the airbags deployed but they deflate rapidly once deployed. The car shuts down the airbags are only inflated for a second or two, and the deer didn't weigh enough to really decelerate the car much. All four tires were inline, inflated and rolling. Once the airbags deflated I had full visibility front and back but the curtain airbags hang down obscuring the side view mirrors... I had to reach over and hold the passenger side one up to merge out of the fast lane and get to the shoulder.
"Hit a deer on the interstate doing 70mph." Wait. I thought that among land animals, only cheetahs could do that. Seriously, glad you are OK. Also, glad to hear the details of what happened to the car--I'm sure the engineers on priuschat will have a field day figuring out how and why all the safety features worked right. Get them some pictures if you still can, and post them. I didn't total my Prius, and its a 2010 II, not a C, But I did run into the post of a carport backing out of a parking space at about .7 mph, and ripped the front bumper right off. Ugly.
These cars are designed to fall apart, and away from the passengers upon impact. Not great for the fender-bender but great for being alive.
The insurance companies would have to pay a lot for the damage. I don't think they would like that. Most likely they would pass the cost to the drivers one day.
I am willing to pay the price for this design, given its benefits. In terms of insurance, yes, the companies, fairly in my view, price the cost of totalling cars like this new C into their premiums. On the other hand, the overall effect of this design may be to lower premiums. Because this design prevents deaths and reduces seriousness of injuries, the incidence of the most expensive accidents is much less than it might otherwise be. Many accidents have greatly reduced severity too. I'll bet this has been studied for its net effect on insurance premiums, but I don't know of the studies. Does anyone? BWilson, our safety engineer type on this list maybe?
Injuries and deaths are the biggest risk for an insurance underwriter. Replacing a car may cost $20,000, but an injury can cost millions. This is especially true in states like Michigan, which do not allow caps on medical claims. Tom
My new C which just touch ground 3 weeks ago got hit & run!!! now the bumper is bended and scatched. Lucky it didn't hit my alloy wheel otherwise my damage will be much worst....
