GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

About 11:30pm last night I came over a large hill at about 60mph and just as I crested the hill BAM I nailed about a 30lb. racoon. Almost immediately the low washer fluid light came on and I knew there was trouble. It broke the bumper, knocked out the small lower right grill, popped the foglight loose, broke the washer pump, smashed the washer fluid tank and tore out the entire plastic fender liner. The fender liner got run over by several 18 wheelers. The grill is reuasable, I think. The metal Mr. Grill is folded in half but should be fixable. I have a GMC truck and a Subaru Outback which are both much higher and would not have been damaged but I happened to be driving the lowered Vibe. It could have been a lot worse. Around here there are more deer on the road than all other critters combined.

Wow big '(removed)! Sorry about the damage to your vibe. I once ran over an entire family of coons that were hanging out in the middle of the highway at 1am. Luckily (?) they were small and did no damage.

It is hard to spot raccoons late at night. Too bad for the raccoon and your Vibe. I hit one in Nova Scotia on the Trans Canada highway with a rental car (a 300 I think) doing about 135 Km/H. Whack then thump, thump! No damage to the car except two of the push pins snapped on the front bumper. A

large hill, 60mph, dark out all equal something not good. Kinda like when you get stuck behind the slow guy only to pass a cop around the bend. Some things just come with warnings.

Up here if you slowed down for every big hill, you would never get home before sunrise.

Quote, originally posted by Sunny »Up here if you slowed down for every big hill, you would never get home before sunrise.So true. Same as where I grew up - all twisty hilly roads.

Im sure there are a ton of hills, I do feel bad you smashed up the car a bit, but is 60 a necessary speed when not on a highway? I rarely go over 40 on side roads and sometimes 50 on main ones, but for me 35-40 on most roads.

OUCH that hurts.I hit a racoon with my first car... wasn't lowered but I smelled burning meat for miles afterwards...

I had no idea racoons could get that large, or do so much damage.

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Im sure there are a ton of hills, I do feel bad you smashed up the car a bit, but is 60 a necessary speed when not on a highway? I rarely go over 40 on side roads and sometimes 50 on main ones, but for me 35-40 on most roads.I was on a main highway. It was 3 lanes wide actually, 2 north and 1 south.

That is unfortunate about your car and the (removed).I didn't realize the racoons got that big. Usually when I see them around the neighborhood they look to be about 15-20 lbs.

This thread is useless without pics!