Kia Crunch

[jerem0621]

My Sweet Wife called me this afternoon in an absolute panic.. she had just been rear ended. I was 35 miles away and had to fly there as soon as I could. I have never felt so absolutely helpless in my life. Fortunately everyone is alive and my wife may have a fractured arm. We have to go see an orthopedic Surgeon tomorrow because the xrays indicated "something" was up with the bone but no clear break. I'm just glad she is able to be home and sleeping in her bed tonight.

We went to the ER as a precaution because you just never know. Really you don't. I am glad we did because her arm was hurting after the accident but it just kept getting more and more uncomfortable and more and more painful. Hopefully we will know more tomorrow.

She was stopped for a school bus in the opposing lane.. there were people all around (Adults and children) This could have been massively worse than it was and fortunately the cars didn't hit anyone....

The car that hit my wife was destroyed.. both bags blew on their car, the AC condenser and the radiator were in a vertical position, almost flat. The car was an early 2000's Mitsubishi car.

I "think" our 2013 Kia Sorento is fixable... my Curt WC 2 inch hitch appears to have taken the brunt of the damage. I check the frame out where the hitch is bolted too, the bolts either streatched or broke because there was about 1.5 inches of separation from the rear most attachment point and the frame.. Hopefully the frame is not tweaked.. I know that the bumper is toast, it did its job.

Insurance tomorrow... thats for sure.

Thankfully, my wife is alive..

I am a religious person so I do thank God first of all for the survival of everyone involved.. I also thank the engineers at Kia who designed a strong car, I thank the assembly team that built a stout car. I thank most of all the officers on the scene, the Sergeant State Trooper that was first on the scene and saw my wife in deep distress and gave her a big bear hug and told her that "she was Okay" My hats are off to you THP and every public servant who is there at a moments notice. Today, I found a respect for you that had not existed in me before (yes, this is our first "accident")


Now, to the TV Pack Mule Kia Sorento. The car that has not given us a MOMENTS trouble ever since we bought it.

Here is the crunch it endured for you all's observation. It seems very repairable to me. The back up sensors are toast, the Curt Hitch and the trailer wiring are toast. I know its just a car... but its her car.. I can't wait until its sitting back in the driveway.

350 lb tongue weight limit.. bahahahah..



Cheers,

Jeremiah

[jerem0621]

Got the ultimate 4 cyl tow vehicle back on Friday. Spent Saturday cleaning it up. Man, its like a brand new car! Woot Woot!

Now I have to go get some zip ties to tidy up that crazy 4 way flat trailer wiring.





Now, I just have to get the Voyager installed, the 7 way installed, transmission cooler, and find a lightweight PUP.. woo hoo!!

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[jerem0621]

Got the estimate today.....$7733.00.... Ugh... But..it should be fixed next Friday!!!

[jerem0621]

Thanks for the kind words. A little update from yesterday, I have known the man who owns the body shop that is going to be working on the car for a long time. He has done a lot of work for my friends and family and does really great work. We did a walk around yesterday and he told me that the car is absolutely fixable....

He had a 2014 2,500 mile Acura SUV on the frame rack.... Not sure of the cars model but it's very similarly sized to our Kia.... Nearly identical damage to that car as our 2013 Kia. It was rear ended as well but that car didn't have the tow package so the frail rails didn't take near the beating ours did.

It looks like our car will get fixed. That's really great news unless something is just tweaked beyond repair.

Great tip on the depreciation, if they fix the car I am going to ask for it.

Oh, they got us a sweet rental van. It's a fully loaded Chrysler Town and Country. DW wants one now lol. Now we just got to get the Kia paid off so I can take it over as my Daily Driver/pack mule

I'll keep everyone updated, hopefully more good news is coming!

Thanks

Jeremiah

[bmanning]

Thrilled to your wife is OK; everything else is secondary.

This happened to me about 12 years ago; now (now ex-) wife was in Philadelphia on business and she got majorly rear-ended on an off ramp, which sent her into the vehicles in front of her. She called me at work crying hysterically of course but walked away unscathed. Several days later when her 1997 Volvo 850 arrived on the back of a flatbed tow truck, I absolutely could not believe she was alive-- that car was smashed.

Keep us posted on the outcome of your Kia; I know you really enjoyed it so I hope it works out in your favor (either fixed to 100% or replaced with another).

[45Ricochet]

Glad DW is okay.

X2 on that carfax suggestion but I bet they total it.

[colliehauler]

I would bet they will total it. Cars are meant to absorb the impact instead of the passengers. Glad every one is ok.

[Dadoffourgirls]

Glad she is ok.

As for repairable, that may be a bigger issue. With Carfax, you will now take a $3000 hit for the next many years. I would push the insurance company to compensate for that.

[jerem0621]

Thank you all for your kind words and concern!!

We visited the orthopedic doctor today and after some xrays there were no breaks or fractures found!!!!!

We stopped by the place where the car was in storage and picked up some things and I took some more pics.

Its pretty obvious that the car now has a slight twist to it. One door catches a little now and there are obvious gaps in the body to say the least.

I crawled under the car and did a little closer inspection. There is frame damage and how extensive it is I am not sure. Here are some pics of the damage.

This is the passenger through bolt on the trailer hitch



Here is the rear most passenger side hitch mount



now the drivers side... question for you all.. how much force does it take to sheer a grade 5 bolt? I'm not sure how much it is but the force of the impact was enough to do just that.

you can also see the frame rail bent and the through bolt on this side is now sitting at an angle.. frame bent...



So here is hoping that insurance does its thing correctly and we can get the car fixed or whatever we need to do.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[murphysranch]

My heart was starting to pound reading your post. Thank goodness and God that she is going to be OK.

[wmoses]

Good news indeed on your wife. Sorry to hear that the Sorento was damaged needlessly by someone obviously driving wiithout due care and attention. I expect that they were ticketed...?

Although your Kia does not look too bad, the same good engineering that mitigated the shock that passed through to your wife also means that there may be significant structural damage to the unibody. Lets hope that it is indeed repairable. As a 2013 it should have enough residual value to make it worthwhile.

Good luck.

[fla-gypsy]

Modern engineering did what it was supposed to do, make the vehicle safer in a crash. Glad the injuries are no worse than reported.

[pa_traveler]

Glad she is okay.

[blt2ski]

Even if the rig is totaled, the spouse is Alive! and hopefully ok! As noted, watch out for soft tissue injuries!

Vehicles today are better designed for things like this than many years ago!

marty

[TucsonJim]

Best wishes that she's feeling better soon. Thankfully, there were no really serious injuries.