WTH: Right Brake Light Failure message!

[Viscouse]

I have no words.








More later. Gotta go to work.

[Cosmicflash]

Oh my god Looks like you were rear ended by a POS stupid utility vehicle

[mikej]

Vis

What the hell happened

[Tripp11]

Wow!! My heart goes out to you Vis! Looks like he/she/it was moving at a good clip too to push the trunk in that far and it looks relatively high up on the body....I'm going with an SUV or truck from the rear while you were sitting stopped in traffic. Somebody looked up waaaaaaaaaaaay too late.

[sjhudon]

I have an idea of why you are getting the right brake light failure message.

But seriously I'm sorry to see that, but at least your fine.

[boogyman]

Vis, I know the feeling from my old porsche having the same thing happen. It just makes you mad and depressed at the same time. Damn teenagers.

[93_Gaucho]

Painful to see, Vis. Hope you're ok.

[kopfschuh]

bloody hell

again, glad you're ok, deepest condolences mate.

[Jet 9-3]

Man, sorry to see that. Hopefully she's back to normal ASAP. Good luck

[finklejag]

Oh man I hope you are OK Vis. I hope nobody was in the backseat when this happen. I say, that is going to be about $5,000 in damage.

[JNGold]

Oh jeez, I hope that you and family were not in the car. But if you were, is everyone ok?

The fact that you are posting is a good sign.

Let us know.

[solid155]

Holy S***! Hope u'r alright.

[TwoSwedes]

Holy Cow! Glad you are okay.

Pressing the "Clear" button should take care of the message!

[SS]

I hope ur ok too. I have no words either. Im a little shocked though, seriously WTF is this? Goodluck bro!

[Viscouse]

OK, I can talk now. :-?

First: thanks for all your kind words. They do help.

Here's some details. Writing it down helps, so here goes.

On they way home from work on a dark Thursday night (6:30pm) I was driving down a 2-lane street, when I (and several others) noticed a cop pulled over someone on the shoulder. You do a customary glance (if conditions permit) & move on. Don't gawk, don't slow down, just glance. OK, then come to a stop for a light.

WHACK.

This thing hit me square in the backside:



Not exact, but it's the only '77 Dodge Ram truck I could find on the web.

So I hit the car in front of me, who hit the car in front of her. That car checked for injuries & left, as there was no damage to him. The lady in front of me stuck around, as did the Ram. Praise be that nice cop 100 feet behind us came up & checked us out, & corralled us into a parking lot.

So begins the paperwork. Finally a little less addled, I took stock of the situation.
-My rear end is totally effed up, parts EVERYwhere. Foam, lights, bits of metal, trim, plastic. The trunk stayed latched.
-I was able to drive (the wheel wells weren't touched AT ALL!).
-Somehow Nightpanel activated & I panicked a bit trying to figure out how this kind of accident had shorted out the whole electrical system ) But I turned it on & got some error messages.
-No fluid leaks
-Gas access is fine
-No airbags deployed (darn )
-Exhaust system seems unharmed, sounds okay.

That done, I took a more macro view of things. My new (kinda) Saab State-of-the-art vehicle's poor rear end took a serious beating. But:
-I'm unhurt (no other passengers)
-I caused NO damage to the car in front of me
-Nothing forward of the rear seat is touched (so rear passengers would be safe)

I walked over to the Ram. I looked, Honest to God I looked, but the only things I found on his (40+ yr old) "restoration project" was A BENT GRILLE. No broken headlights, no bent fender, no scratches that I could see (I'm sure there was though). I was floored. Un-freakin-believable. Saabs are safe, but a 77 Ram is safer.

The morning after, SID gave me these warnings:
-Right brake light failure
-Theft protection failure. Contact SAAB dealer.
-Right rear turn signal failure
-Right rear position light failure

Question: The officer was very concerned about airbag deployment. Does something special happen if they do? I wonder what speed it takes for the airbag to deploy in a rear impact.

Some more pics:

The Grille alone is probably as wide as my whole car.




A look from above at the bumper.


Last thoughts:
-If he bent my chassis, so help me...
-It's just a car, and it admirably protected me (& all other passengers if they would've been there).
-I actually had stuff in the trunk which I had to get out. I reached through the pass-through & unlatched the rear seat. A rather difficult operation, but do-able. I couldn't remember an easy way to do it from inside the cabin. Is there?
-Later, my insurance told me there was another unrelated 4-car accident on the same road. My guess it was that cop finishing up that was there.
-Just a total swag, but I'm gonna say he was going 30-40 mph, and I only transmitted >5 mph to the car in front of me (how she hit the car in front of her I don't know).
YOU ****ING RAT-******* OF AN IDIOT. LOOK WHERE YOU'RE ****ING GOING, AND IF YOU ****ING CAN'T ****ING MANAGE THAT DON'T ENDANGER THE REST OF US YOU ****-SUCKING PISS-ANT OF A NEANDERTHAL ****HEAD! I'M LOOKING AT $5-6000 WORTH OF ****ING REPAIRS TO A BRAND NEW CAR AND YOU GOT OFF WITH A BENT ****ING GRILLE. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO PUT OUT ANY ****ING CASH EITHER, SINCE INSURANCE WILL EAT IT. I'M OUT $950 IN ****ING CAR RENTAL, AND IT WAS YOUR FAULT YOU ****-FACED JACKASS. YOUR FAULT *******!!! AND I PAID FOR IT.

My sweet sweet baby paid for it. It's just a car i keep telling myself. But it's the first car i ever gave a damn about, and if they fix it, it'll never be the same.

OK, well I don't feel better, but it's out.

[JNGold]

Any additional Venting will be permissible and in fact, advisable.

[finklejag]

I know they probably won't write it off. I hope they do though.

[enobar]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Saab does all that crash testing so we don't have to!!!

Studid truck! way to spoil the beautiful back end!

At least you're ok.

[03_Saab 9-3]

Man Im glad you are safe, and sorry to hear about your baby. I know the feeling all to well as someone flat out ruined my GTI for me and all the hard time and effort I put into making her perfect. Only thing was my car was totaled, but she did like yours, kept me and my wife safe and sound, not even so much as a scratch or bump, and both airbags went off. What can you do, somtimes life throws you some pretty ****ty situations. Oh and i would definately have his insurance company get you a loaner/rental, dunno how it works there but my bro got rear ended by someone here in MD, and the guys insurance company footed the bill for 3 weeks of a rental car. so check into it.

hope everything worrks out for the best!

[Viscouse]

Originally Posted by finklejag

I know they probably won't write it off. I hope they do though.

The way I see it, they'll write it off of repairs > current value.

I don't think that's the case since it probably rode up, not touching the frame.

But, if the frame is bent (they're checking fer that), that's considered totalled cause it can't be fixed.

Got me thinking though...I'd still want an 03. Rattles & all.