So, we're parked in a McDonald's drive thru lane waiting to pull up to the drive-thru window. WHAM! A Dodge RAM pick-up rear ends my Ford Escape Hybrid. It sounded bad and was a good hard jolt, but Sara (6-month-old) slept through it and we were all still in our seatbelts and fine.

My hubby was driving, so he gets out to inspect the damage and get the rammer's insurance information (another insured motorist, thank goodness!) It takes a good 7 to 10 minutes with our two vehicles blocking the drive-thru lanes, and the gal at the McDonald's checkout window peers out at the unfolding "drama" periodically. (We were in Bastrop, Texas, so it's not like there was an influx of traffic, for McDonald's eats or otherwise.)

We finally get all the information exchanged and move on up to the window to claim our now much more expensive, potentially, McDonald's breakfasts, and what are the first words out of the McDonald's cashier's mouth?

"That guy hit you?"

I sooooo wanted to pipe up, "No, it's a lover's quarrel," or something equally offbeat in response.

As Bill Engvall would say:
"Here's your sign!"

.

.

Thankfully, we're all fine and the visible damage to our vehicle is superficial. We basically now have a reversed imprint of the rammer's license plate number embedded in the Escape Hybrid's rear bumper, but the reverse sensors in the bumper still appear to work (though they might need to be reaimed/recalibrated, if that is how they work).

 

Isn't this the second time you've been rear ended in your FEH?

 

Uh, no. I've never been in a car accident in my life, unless you count this, in fact.

My only life drama with the hybrid was an antenna replacement debacle that resulted in a Ford dealership (that I never again will visit, and haven't in the 1 year since the incident) causing body damage to my vehicle.

 

That sucks when this kind of stupid accident happens. Once had the same type of thing happen in my F150 I had. Sitting at a red light & a person in another F150 hit the gas instead of the brake & rear ended my truck. Caused more damage to his truck then mine, fortunately he was insured & received a ticket for careless driving. (did not have the truck very long either)

The replacement bumper was a "refurbished" one. That bumper was then replaced under warranty a few years later as rust was starting to come through the chrome.


Too bad you were not able to Dodge his Ram!

 

Sorry to hear about that. I have been a little paranoid myself about getting rear ended by others since getting the new Escape. What is it with the drivers these days, either 2 cars lengths back (what's up with that?) or riding your bumper at the lights...

 

From what I was told in drivers ed back in the early 80's, if you want to keep everyone a safe distance from your car, put on a Student Driver bumper sticker.

I think the 2 car lengths back is part of the 2 second rule (not when you drop food) of minimum safe distance to follow. In city driving, that sounds about right.

Still sucks about getting rear ended in the drive through of all places! See, even having the high up 3rd brake light didn't help.

Good luck with the repairs GeekGal Glad it did not get into the tail gate.

 

Yea, 2 seconds while moving, but I was talking about when you are at a light. I was taught in drivers ed that you pull up to the point where the hood of your car appears to hit the bottom of their wheels to allow one to drive around should the car ahead of them stall out.

I'll run out and get a student driver sign today

 

You need to get under the FEH and look for damage. These vehicles are not like cars with their low speed collision bumpers. The Escape has practically nothing front or rear to protect parts of the chassis just under the bumper covers.

 

Yes, be sure everything is checked out thoroughly, my Honda Element didn't have anything under the bumper covers either... so that critique doesn't just apply to the Escape.

 

i was rear ended in my escape a few months ago. it was very low speed, but it scraped up the bumper enough that i had it replaced and made sure to have the HVB inspected. the guy that hit me was not so thrilled as it added $200 on to the bill