Pix of my totalled Vibe.

[RumMunkey]

Hey! I was the middle car of a 3-car sandwich. Have a look:

[ragingfish]

That SUCKS man, I'm so sorry.I'm surprised the totalled it...it doesn't look that bad?Did the airbags deploy?

[GrayFox]

OUCH!! I hope noone was hurt

[ArcsVibe]

Wow! Are you guys alright? What the hell happened??

[RumMunkey]

Oh, sorry, I guess I should explain....I was traveling on a city street at 60 (Ok, maybe 65?) Kmph. It has just snowed the night before but there wasn;t a lot on the ground. Mostly wet.Anyway, the idiot in front of me make a sudden, accelerated lane change to the right. No brake lights, no turn signal, he was just gone.As he left my lane, I saw why. A stopped car was waiting to go left. I braked, the brakes locked and I hit the car.Immediately after that I was rear-ended by a guy who wasn't able to stop in time.Airbags did not deploy (80 kmph is the Pontiac limit I think). Anyway, no injuries save for some stiff muscles the next day. I can turn my head nearly all the way now (been 6 days).The Vibe is an '05 with about 60,000 km on it. The adjuster called it a total job so I won't argue. Insurance will be paying out my invoice price so I guess I have some shopping to do.Notice pic #5... That's the hood opened up like a clam shell there.

[GrayFox]

I guess the obvious questions would be... Are you gonna go for another Vibe? Good luck!

[RumMunkey]

I dunno, right now it doesn't look good. 2 local dealerships are claiming low on-hand stock and giving me anywhere from 6 - 12 weeks for delivery on an order (if they can't track down my specs elsewhere). I simply can't wait that long. I only have $1,000.00 for my rental paid by my insurance co.The good news is I am looking at staying in the family with an '07 Matrix.

[coldmm803]

sry to hear about the accident, good to hear that your ok

[PHXLavaVibe]

Can you part out your wrecked vibe for me? I am in bad need of the Drivers side Rear Fender Flair. If It's not too damaged I would be willing to pay you for it.

[RumMunkey]

EEk, sorry man.... it's gone to a better place already. I considered stripping it down myself and spreading the parts around to fine folks like yourself, but I just don;t have the space to keep everything while I looked for buyers.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by RumMunkey »Anyway, the idiot in front of me make a sudden, accelerated lane change to the right. No brake lights, no turn signal, he was just gone.As he left my lane, I saw why. A stopped car was waiting to go left. I braked, the brakes locked and I hit the car.I know exactly what that is like. Once (pre-Vibe) I was behind a van, going at about the same speed, when all of a sudden, no lights, no signal, no warning he jumped into the other lane leaving me facing a stopped car way too close to stop in time, traffic was too heavy to assume I could jump into the other lane, so I took it into a ditch to the right, lucky for me all I lost was a tire, a wheel and a tow fee to get pulled out of the ditch. That sudden realization of an unavoidable accident is a terrible feeling.Glad you are ok, and it looks like the Vibe did it's designed-in duty sacrificing itself to keep you from worse injury.

[ToolGuy]

Sorry to hear of this and glad you are OK. Looks like the Vibe could still drive! Would is start up?

[NascarXprt]

ouch man that really sucks. but we are glad no one was serriously injured.

[WaveAction]

wow that really sucks, sorry about the loss and glad no one was seriously hurt in this, kind of a dumb question, but where was it taken? i'd like the rims off them

[northvibe]

sorry about the loss, but the car does look like it protected the important people inside

[keithvibe]

sorry about the fender bender! Another good vibe bites the dust

[mcgusto82]

Sorry to hear about your vibe. Maybe a murano is in your future... thye are NICE!

[jwalcik]

wow. glad to hear you walked away alright.

[NewNeptune]

Glad to hear you weren't totaled!I was nearly sandwiched like that a few weeks ago. I was getting off the highway on an exit with two lanes. I switched from the left exit lane to the right exit lane into a spot with plenty of room for me. Going about 65 MPH. All of a sudden I see the brake lights of the CR-V in front of me and I'm hurtling towards it so I quickly and progressively apply the brakes (no ABS), I get to nearly maximum brakes and I'm still closing in on the CR-V quickly. I press my luck and push a little harder and I end up stopping just inches behind the CR-V. I look up in my mirror to see the headlights of the Tundra behind me closing in at about 45-55 MPH. It's night, but I can visibly see them dip as the driver slams on the brakes and at the last second he swerved into the left exit lane (probably as much turning as the Tundra could do!)And then tonight, I'm driving my parent's Rainier home and the driver in front of me just snaps over into the right lane, revealing nearly stopped cars. I'm going about 70 MPH, so I hit the brakes hard, actually harder than necessary and I have a decent gap. Good thing, since I hear screeching and I see a sedan coming up in my rear-view mirror, so I saved the situation by letting up a little on the brakes.

[thebarber]

ouch, rough accidenti suppose at least youll still be within the community with a matrix (try matrixowners.com)any chance you could grap 2 small things off your vibe for me though? just need the blank panel thats besie the rear hatch switch to the left of the steering colum and the coin holder insert from the center console....anyways, good luck with insurance and the purchase of a new car....on that note, thought about a used vibe?

[BlueCrush]

Sorry for your loss! Glad to hear you are ok! What was the car you ran into?

[RumMunkey]

Hey folks! Insurance is coming through. I spoke to the adjuster today and they're doing up the cheque now. I should have it soon.Lucky for us we have a clause in our insurance contract that if the car is under 24 months old, we get (pretty much) our full purchase price back (they won't subtract for depreciation).I'd like to consider a new Vibe, but right now we just don't have the time. There isn't much in stock around here and I can't stay in the rental (G6) forever. Toyota is offering some free snow tires if I buy in December so that's a good start.For everybody asking about parts, sorry, I signed off the car already; it's gone. I pulled off what I wanted to keep for my new car (I'll now have 8 of those hooks for the tie-down rails in the cargo area instead of just 4!) and signed off the rest to the towing company. They will get it to scrap but I really don't know which lot.I wish I had a proper garage thought because I would have liked to strip it to the friggin' bone for parts! It also didn't help that it was in an outdoor lot and it was pretty damn cold to be stripping little parts out of a wrecked car.Thanks so much to everyone for your well wishes. It's a really good feeling to have the car do exactly what it's supposed to do and we all came out alright. It's amazing how it crumpled in all the right places but there is very little (if any) crumpling beyond the firewall.I didn't even try to start it after the accident. It may have... although I seem to remember the tow truck driver had a hard time getting the shifter and the wheel.I hit a Camaro, and the car that hit me was a late 90s model Chevy... not sure what though. Maybe a Cavalier? I have the accident report but not here with me. The Chevy's airbags went off, but neither the Vibe's nor the Camaro's did.

[Mavrik]

at least your all ok... hopefully its not to painful of a process to get another car and all that. I'm assuming you were found at fault? If not then thats good.

[ashleymc_38]

I'm with everyone else on saying that i'm sorry for what happened...its good that your okay though. Had my step sis just get in a car accident in a cavalier down in NC, she hit a bus doing 35mph and the hole thing got totalled and i guess she suffered some broken bones....but my question is...this is my first year with my vibe and winter is slowly creeping on us here in MI, so are these things good in the snow or should driver beware?

[JohnC]

Quote, originally posted by RumMunkey »Anyway, the idiot in front of me make a sudden, accelerated lane change to the right. No brake lights, no turn signal, he was just gone.As he left my lane, I saw why. A stopped car was waiting to go left. I braked, the brakes locked and I hit the car.Sorry you were involved in this wreck and am glad everyone was okay, BUT this is the type of driving habit that kills bicyclist. I see it everyday, an overtaking car waits to the very last minute then swerves around me, the car that is tailgating the first dirtbag now has little or no time to react. I have gotten good at diving my bike onto the loose sandy shoulder where I "ride it out" or crash.When driving we should be think several steps ahead and looking for these types of "setups". To do otherwise is putting yourself and everyone else on the road at risk. Okay I will climb down off my soap box now, drive safe and live.

[RumMunkey]

I wasn't tailgating. I would have had good room to stop if there wasn't snow on the road and ABS brakes would have helped as a last resort.Oh and, by and large I found found cyclists to be the single most dangerous drivers on the road in my experiences. For some reason, cyclists I encounter don;t seemto realize that stop lights apply to them, and that there is a queue at a stop light or stop sign; they all seem to just glide on up to the front of the line between stopped cars and the curb.Then, once traffic starts moving again, they seem to expect the rule sof the road to apply again.

[joatmon]

It may have changed since I went through drivers ed, but I was taught to leave one car length clearance in front for every ten miles per hour. The Vibe is about 14.25 feet long. A GT with rear disk brakes has better stopping distance than a base, but the only spec I can easily find is the 60 mph-0 mph braking distance for a GT, which is 118 feet. So, at 60 mph, the clearance I was taught to leave would be about six car lengths, or about 86 feet. This is about 30 feet short of the distance required to stop. The difference comes about from the assumption that the vehicle you are following will also react and have to slow down, the gap provides enough space to cover reaction time. It certainly does not cover the circumstances of the vehicle you are following at speed suddenly being replaced by a stationary object. the 118 feet braking distance (assuming no reaction time) would be about 8 car lengths. Around here if you leave 8 car lengths in front of you, seven cars will pull into that opening.I hope the soreness is better, and that the neck is really ok. Whatever you buy to replace the Vibe, post up some pictures and write up a review, stay in touch.

[DopeVibeGT]

Ouch. That makes my eyes hurt. Glad everyone was ok. As for next vehicle, doesnt the dealer have a search program type thing that they cant search a big area for the Vibe you want? When I got mine, thats what they did, and GT's were harder to find.

[JohnC]

Quote, originally posted by RumMunkey »Oh and, by and large I found found cyclists to be the single most dangerous drivers on the road in my experiences. For some reason, cyclists I encounter don;t seemto realize that stop lights apply to them, and that there is a queue at a stop light or stop sign; they all seem to just glide on up to the front of the line between stopped cars and the curb.Then, once traffic starts moving again, they seem to expect the rule sof the road to apply again.Hey i fully agree with you about cyclist cruisin thru the stop signs, seen it alot. As for the riding up to the stop light, I do this when there is a bike lane, but always wait for all the traffic to go thru the intersection before i go, this keeps me from getting mowed down by the right turning ones. The fact is North American drivers don't notice bikes because there just isn't that many on the road and they are not used to them. I also ride motorcycles and it is pretty much the same thing.As far as your accident I would not accuse you of any wrong doing as I wasn't there. You may have a difficult time with your insurance companies...they usually fix the blame on the vehicle doing the rearending. Same would go for the person that hit you from behind.Sorry for your troubles.

[808 Vibes]

Quote, originally posted by RumMunkey »Oh and, by and large I found found cyclists to be the single most dangerous drivers on the road in my experiences. For some reason, cyclists I encounter don;t seemto realize that stop lights apply to them, and that there is a queue at a stop light or stop sign; they all seem to just glide on up to the front of the line between stopped cars and the curb.You know I've wondered about that...why the bicyclists don't stop for red lights!I'm sorry to hear about your Vibe...glad to hear nobody was badly hurt. Thank goodness these are such good safe cars!