You'de be surprised.. I am not sure about the SFCs out right now.. in terms of what they are made of, but the 1.5in 120 wall dom tubing I used for my SFCs is REALLY strong stuff. Its the same tubing, almost same diameter, and wall thickness they use to make the main hoop of many roll cages. The car would still be FUBAR but not as much as without the SFCs.

 

your might be right. it might have prevented more damage but im sure it would be ruined as well. Here are some updated pictures:

 

 

Well thats it guys, i cant thank you guys enough for all your support and kind words. Ive learned a lot about the forum and maxima's in the last 6 months. thanks to all of you for all your input and links. Im sure ill be back. Maybe around 09.

 

looks like you just got your inspection done too. that sucks. glad your ok

 

thank god you didnt have a passenger!!!!! look at that seat!!!

 

!
Squish.

 

Gotta be proud of your fifth gen if it kept you that safe in light of everything that transpired.

 

r u sure you are not dead......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn.... that was bad.... Thank God you are still with us....

 

crazy pics!

 

yeah i was actually thinking about that last night. i kept looking at the pictures and thinking to myself that i shouldn't be here right now. its a weird feeling. i was sick to my stomach thinking about it. the police officer on site said that if i didn't swerve to the right for the split second that she would've hit my drivers door and basically pinning me in my car. thats the scariest thing ive ever heard. but im thankful that im still alive and a lot more thankful that i didn't have a passenger. i couldn't live with the kind of guilt.

 

Well... That looks fixable. Nothing but a scratch.

Glad you made it out ok man and good luck with the new car. My friend has the TL-S and completely loves it. Definitely a nice car...

 

It's always amazing to me how big a difference spreading an impact out over a wide area can make. It looks like she hit you at just in front of the drivers door? or right behind the drivers front wheel?

Then you either spun or slid into a pole at with probably about the same momentum that she hit you. But instead of having the 5.5 or 6 feet frontal area of a car to spread out the impact you hit a pole that is round and the initial impact area is only about 1.5 inches and a total of maybe 12 to 14 inches of impact area...Yet the passenger side is completely and 100% demolished.

Man I love physics....

Glad you're ok...the TL-S is a good car.

 

This might be in poor taste, but.....

 

dammm that sucks glad ur ok

 

I chuckled.

 

I just realized by looking at the pics that the airbags did not deploy...is that b/c there was no front impact?

 

Yes

 

but should have the side airbag deployed at least?

 

i dont have side air bags.

 

Damn, that sucks. I hate Chrysler's so much because one totaled your Max and one totaled my 93. We will repay them soon enough. Anyways, glad to see your OK. Nice choice on the TL-S, but you should also look at the new G35.

 

Glad you are okay.

 

Glad to see you are alright... keep us updated with that

 

Glad to hear that your all right. Check out page 4 on my cardomain to see what my uncles Maxima looked like after his accident.

EDIT: Link:http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2259440/4

My uncle got hit in the "B" pillar ("T'ed" off) by a car going 35 mph. The "B" pillar was damaged, but nothing like yours.

 

Damn. That's an identical twin of my car Tough pics to look at!

Glad you're ok though, and best of luck to you in your new ride.

 

You are lucky bro. I was getting parts for my A32 from an A33B like yours that was hit in the drivers side. It looked like your passenger side, but almost a foot deeper. ouch!

 

sunroof was open? This is probably a kinda dumb question because I know how fast accidents happen, but how loud was the impact? I've been in two accidents, both way less severe than yours, and one thing that stood out in both mine was how loud it is upon impact.

 

D@mn that's nasty thank God your okay. Time for an upgrade!!

 

Glad to know you got away safely from that crash.

What concerns me the most now is the construction of the maxima. From these pictures it is so obvious that had there been a passenger in the car there was a sure chance of someone getting injured.

After looking at these pics I went over to my 5th gen and actually saw the car from the side with both doors open. What surprises me is that the body structure of the car appears to be rather weak from the side which may have resulted in this. Imagine this car getting T-boned by say a Dodge or Ford truck. I would not even want to know the result.

This is one area where the Germans really have the concept of safety. I regularly get the BMW magazine and I've seen pictures of a 3 Series getting T boned and the damage is rather low compared to this. Understanding the fact that the 3 Series is a car two sizes smaller (Compact v/s Full size) than the maxima, I am now rather concerned with the overall safety in this car.

I dont mean to bash anyone with this statement above but rather am just thinking out loud since my wife drives our maxima more than myself.

 

Wow... glad to see no one was seriously injured. Good luck with the insurance company, and with the new car search.

 

Glad to see that Tungsten Blue gave it's life for you. Such a pretty color.

 

I agree with you that these cars are rather weak when hit from the side, and thats all due to what I think is a crappy and thin unibody design (for those that don't know what unibody is, ask).

Go take a look at my cardomain page four.

Thats what, my ncles car looked like after he got t-ed by someone who ran a stop sign. His car flew around in circles...Read the brief story on the page near the pictures.

Another reason why the car (the one the thread is about) got damaged to such an extent, is because the impact area was small (lot of stress in one place) vs getting t-ed would mean more surface area = less force applied to one place = more even impact = less damage (to some degree).

 

that should buff out...

 

That's a good description. t-boned would be the driver side. the other side is totally concentrated force in the (probably) weakest section of the car.

Glad ur not hurting too much man.

 

damn man u hit hard good thing ur ok

 

Should have swapped ur oem wipers!
You couldn't really blame the frame too much. If the frame didn't absorbed so much energy from the impact, it could have been transfered to your neck or something.
+1 on thank god you're okay though!

 

honestly i don't remember the initial hit but do remember how loud the impact of the pole was. I honestly thought something was going to fall on me or something. I had a really bad headache from the loud crash.

So update as far as her insurance goes:

-they paid $13,xxx for my car, not bad considering i bought it for $9,xxx back in march 07.

-All medical bills are covered. They are compensating me two days of work that i missed. They also gave me a rental for a week.

-Lastly, ive been having some lower back problem. Ive never had it before and im only 20 so i don't want to have to live with this pain forever so im hopefully going to see a chiropractor today.

-Looks like im going to be buying a 02 TL-S.


One question, is it my responsibility to pay for the gas on the rental or is insurance company going to refund for it.

 

It doesn't make it legal

 

Don't go to a Chiropractor, one of our good friends is a Physical Therapist and she HATES Chiropractors... As she put it; "They get patients for life and make you have to constantly come back, we fix you for good".

The gas, it's your responsibility; they look at as you would use gas anyway and it's not an additional expense for you.

 

Wow, good thing you're okay.. surprised that much damage from a 25-30 mph crash... good luck with finding a new car man!
lol