Well, I've been away from here for a while. To be honest, I was just busy enjoying my hybrid cars, and also found I was taking too much time from work to schmooze on the forums and obsess about my mileage.

But I'm back briefly to talk about two issues (one here, one somewhere else): my recent crash and an interesting experience with the Prius in the snow. Here, the crash:

On 11/9 I was traveling back from NYC at night, and I hit a deer while going about 68 miles per hour on a highway just south of Binghamton. At that speed, I just about saw the deer in my highbeams and boom! I'd hit it. I don't even recall whether I had time to get my foot to the brake or to try to swerve. I hit the good-sized doe with the right front of the car, killing her instantly and tossing her a ways off the side of the road. Of course my first thought was, "OH NO! MY WONDERFUL CAR!!! Aaaaaarrrgh!!" (My second thought was, how the HECK am I going to get home, 50 miles away, at 11:30 at night? But I did solve that one, with the help of a friend.)

The good news abounds, however. I was unhurt. The airbags did not deploy. After pulling off the side of the road and turning off the car to recover from the shock, I tried to start it up again and it DID start (though the engine light was on). I got out and inspected the car. The right front area, back to the windshield/front of passenger door, was demolished. (I have a photo on my phone, I'll try to get it off and post it here if it comes out OK. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me.) But the passenger compartment was essentially untouched. The car handled the crash in what I consider to be a very safe way. And I really didn't even feel like I'd been in a crash, I had absolutely NO physical effects at all. Of course, I didn't think I should drive it - the fender was almost touching the front tire, I figured the radiator had been ruined and I didn't know what else. So I had it towed to the local Toyota dealer for repair.

The total cost of the damage was initially over $6,000. They later discovered that the very bottom right (passenger) corner of the windshield was cracked, so the windshield had to be replaced. That brought the total damage over $7,000. But hitting a deer is considered an "act of god" covered by comprehensive, not collision - so in my case my $250 comprehensive deductible (not the higher $500 collision deductible) was all I had to pay, and it was not a 'chargeable accident' for insurance purposes.

The car seems to be back to normal after the repairs; the only thing I've noticed is that the passenger door hinge is not tightly bolted on. I will fix that myself.

I would certainly hope that no one out there has to suffer from such a horrendous event, but if you have a Prius, at least you can feel good knowing that it will take such an impact with little harm to you or your passengers.

I'll try to get that picture up this weekend if I can.

Here's the photo (click on the link):

http://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fil...eerVsPrius.jpg

!!!

Wow!

Do you have a detailed listing of what was replaced? Rather than trying to enter the parts, a detailed photo would be sufficient after cropping out sensitive information (aka., your name, address e.t.c.)

One deer (or cattle) strike hazard is the body of the critter can smash through the windshield. Needless to say, this can result in severe injuries and death. One thing I like about our Prius is the sloping windshield that I suspect would deflect the critter body up and over . . . or that is my theory. It is not an experiment I want to repeat!

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
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A friend of ours was in a D.C. freeway rollover last September in her prius. She had 2 passangers with her. Some car made an abrupt lane change ahead of her - lost control - and ended up spinning into our friends car. She got pushed into the divider and rolled 3 times resting on the roof.

All 3 people were able to walk away (with a little help out of the upside down car). The fire department that showed up was amazed at how well the little car did in protecting the occupants. Even one of the fire fighters made the comment about he hasn't seen too many cars this banged up where the passangers walked away.

Just goes to show you.....

Here is the photo of the below story - if you're interested.

By the way - our frined went out and bought another Prius within 2 weeks.

Attached Files

Doc1.doc (255.5 KB, 27 views)

Gee, it is heartbreaking to see a perfectly good car trashed like that.

At least, you did not get hurt and that's whats trully important.

I've had my share of wildlife collisions and I can sympathize. But I can also say that there is something worse than a wildlife collision: Domestic animal collision !!

Last time I had such a collision I had to resolve it in court because my insurance company did not want to cover it. They claimed that the home owner's property insurance should pay for it. First, I had to find who the animal (horse) belonged to in a remote town I did not know. Then, came the rest that unfolded over months of stress and legal entanglements. After this experience I wished I had hit 5 dear or 2 Moose- it would have been easier on me.

Cheers;

MSantos

OTOH, I got T-Boned by a doe last week just in front of the drivers door. She dented the fender and ripped off my rear view mirror. ( What the hell could she want with that? She lost her own mirror? ). ~ $1000 damage

Lifetime fuel usage: 2.1 GPC ( 1.99 recent )

That is impressive how well the Prius took the deer hit! There's tons of deer around where I live and it seems every week or so I See someone with fresh large scale road kill. It's really only a matter of time before it's my turn.

2007 Prius Touring in Magnetic Gray! Purchased 1/14/07 about 250 miles so far!