Yet another accident for us this week!

[1KWLKAT]

Thursday night coming home from a track meet (he tied the state high school record in the 300m at this meet) my son pulled out of the school parking lot and started down a hill towards home, suddenly he heard a huge bang and lost total control of his camaro,it hit the curb hard bending the rim on the passenger side which then sent it careening to the left down the hill and across a ladies yard an her double car pad and stopped less than 1/2 an inch from her house (he went under her porch and two inches from her vans bumper) yet the only body damage was his front wings west nose getting ripped off! Worst thing is the bang was his tire blowing which happened when his spindle that holds together his ball joints broke in two (this was two inches of steel by the way) it ripped backwards into his tire and than proceeded to shred his rim in two from the back to the front. When he attempted to hit the brakes he had none because the brake line was severed by the steel arm.The only way we got his car out of her yard was to pull it out sideways so we didn't hit her house or van. The police and tow truck driver and my husband said they had never even in the worst accident had ever seen that piece of steel break like that. I'm glad he didn't get hurt physically. But when we called our insurance company they informed us he would in fact be charged with the accident! I'm so pissed right now I can't see straight! A steel 2"x4"x10" piece of steel breaks in two and almost causes a really bad crash and it's his fault? I called the dealer who's fixing it and asked him to see if we had a case against GM or not, this **** is really crazy! Has any body else ever heard of anything like this happening and if you did what was done about it?

Here are the pics of the rim, spindle and yard (http://koolredcat.homestead.com/chris.html)

[Teflonworm]

Im sorry to hear that.

I know in fact he'll get charged because of it. At least on Jersey, anytime a car leaves the street in a fashion other then parking or exiting safely etc...they can charge you with careless driving, regardless of theres damage or nothing. When i was driving in the rain my car hit a patch of water and went off the road, no damage what-so-ever, I wasnt even speeding....and im facing a 2 point careless driving ticket, and the cop didnt even see it. I got my car back on the shoulder, he showed up, gave me a ticket. System sucks balls sometimes...

I am surprised that piece of steel break, it's designed not to. Was his car used when bought?? Was there any prior damage to the vehicle that may not have been disclosed??? Thats all i can think of. From the way it sounds he wasnt using his vehicle in a fashion that was out of the norm.

I hope he's alright, give my best:)

~Ethan:wave:

[Tigg]

Wow. It's definitely not your week Karen... :( I've never heard of anything like that happening though.

Glad to hear Chris is okay and there wasnt more damage... :)

[1KWLKAT]

He didn't get a ticket and the cop was so sweet he stayed with him until we got there. The cop actually gave him a slap on the back and said "Son, I do believe somebody up there was looking out for you tonight" The cop actually hung out until it was towed away too. The owner of the house was a girls mom I went to school with and she called us the next day and told him to come sweep out her driveway and give her $20.00 to wash her van and she would call it even! Her van was covered in mud and hunks of her driveway had gotten flung across the back of her van scraching the paint in several places. I told her he was a straight A student and had just tied the state record in track that night and also took home two other golds the same night! She gave him a hug before he left and told him to keep her informed of his future track accomplishments! I'm having Chris take her some flowers this weekend. Man was he lucky! Her son who was my age was killed on the train tracks in our senior year at school, she said Christopher looked just like him. Maybe that's why she let him slide without repaving her driveway and fixing her van.

[Shiva]

Glad to hear he is ok and she was so nice about it and Good Luck with any charges for reckless driving, gotta hate MD traffic laws :(

[MercMobile]

Just my opinion.. not trying to start anything.. but you have to look at things from both points of view...

Might wanna make sure that after he tied the state high school record for 300m, he didn't try beating the record for School to Home. Might be afraid to tell the truth. I'm looking at that picture, and that metal is solid, no rust or weathering.. it's a clean piece of metal with a jagged edge (faulty metal brakes cleanly).

Also, that rim, there is no way that rim was destroyed by "hitting" a curb.. that to me screams lost control of the ass end at high speeds, front wheel hit something causing it to crack and break open. Tire blew out. Can't regain control.

I'm sorry it happened and I'm glad he's ok.. but that's my take from the other side of the table.

Sidenote: Get a signed affidavit from the lady claiming all is settled w/ $20, sweeping and a car wash. Just because she says that's all she wants doesn't mean that is really all she will go for. A year from now when she "has to replace something on her porch" or "her house"... she'll come screaming to you.

[Andy]

Sorry to hear that!
Glad he is OK :)

Good points Merc...
Ya never know...kids are known to speed! ;)

[1KWLKAT]

Steve he wasn't speeding at all, he had several cars in front of him and behind him, he had just pulled out of the school parking lot and was at the top of a hill preparing to stop for a red light. ( speed appox. 25mph) The road to the red light is only about 200 yrds long.
The rim in the picture wasn't the one that hit the curb, the other three were. The rim in the picture was the inside of his rim that when the spindle broke in two it smaked back into his tire blowing it and than proceeded to ground the metal rim in that fashion as in the pic. there were no breaks involved at all other than the fact that he had none because when the metal piece snapped it severed his break line. In front of my house where the car was first towed now has a huge puddle of brake fluid from the line.
Bob Bell ford where the car was towed called yesterday and they removed the spindle and where boxing it up and sending it to GM for inspection. (We're not looking for a law suit just wanting to clear his record of an accident and see if anyone else has ever had this happen) Barry also filed a detailed report with pics to the national highway admin.
The inspector has already said it was mechanical error, not driver.

[Teflonworm]

Definitely keep us informed on whats going on....I'm quite curious about this myself....

but again...glad all is alright :)