hey guys...

late last nite at around 2 i was traveling down the angeles crest highway to get back to the city... and something or some animal decides to get in my way... and i swerve to the right slightly to avoid it then i realize half of my car is on the gravel and other half on the road going about 40mph on a left hand turn... so i try to get all my 4 tires back on concrete and i lost it... i tried to get control of my car again but no good... and i went DOWN the cliff abtou 20-30 feet... me and maxima... =(... i was very lucky i stopped where i stopped if i kept going i'd be like couple of hundred feet down from teh cliff... but anyways i got out of my car climbed up the moutain call for a tow truck and got it wrenched out and towed back home... my car is ok other then a messed up rear and front bumper from sliding down the moutain and many new scratches from bushes and stuff... i think i was very very very lucky... i don't even know what stopped my car... my car was just sitting there nothing really preventing it from falling down more other thne like bushes and stuff...

anyways... now i gotta get my bumpers fixed. i was wondering does the 97-99 maxima front bumper directly bolt on to my 95 maxima? also, any idea where i should look for my bumpers?

thanks for the help... i'm very glad i made it alive out of it and my car also is in perfect condition other then the bumpers... so i consider myself lucky as heck.

tj

 

Sorry to hear about your wreck. The '97+ bumpers do bolt on, but you need a new grill and some other stuff. A bunch of people here have done it.

 

Glad you're okay!

I have a fear of falling off of cliffs too. When I was little, we always went to Lake Tahoe and when I looked out the window I couldn't see the road...only some lakes and forest waaaay down.

 

theres a 97+ bumper on ebay i think, dont know if its oem.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...item=594781922

it may sound harsh but when it comes to animals sometimes its just better to hit them , ive heard of trucks jacknifing and flip because of a deer , ive hit two dear in my old maxi (not on purpose), i know its instinct but avoid swerving, in most places there just isnt enough road to save you and the animal, glad your ok though. good luck with the car
-pete

 

Exactly.

 

God stopped your car.

I remember reading that you should not swerve to avoid hitting animals on the road(especially smaller ones). It either your life or the animals. I have hit small animals when I didn't have enough room to get around it.
I would say that next time think about your safety other than the wild animals safety if you can't avoid hitting it. I know it sounds mean but you could've been in a worse situation if you had been going faster trying to avoid the animal.

 

Deezo I totally agree with you. Unless it's a large animal, don't swerve. If it IS a large animal, and you have somewhere safe to go, then do it. But never put yourself in the oncoming lane, or into a culvert. But remember that hitting a large animal can be deadly for you as well.

It's a judgement call...

 

Actually even with a large animal its better to hit the thing in most cases. If you swerve and nail something or somebody else, insurance will look at it as YOU being at fault even if you swerved to avoid animal, and you'll have to pay for whatever else you hit if you swerve. If you can stand on the brakes thats your best option, if you get rear ended its the other guys fault.

If you nail the animal, insurance most the time will look at it as you not being at fault and for me it came off my comprehensive (0 deduct) when I hit a large deer in my mom's 98 Camry.

 

that sucks TJ....i dont blame you for swerving though, no time to think of what can happen...

 

#1 cause of death trying to avoid animals.

 

glad ur ok, man september better not be a bad month for wrecks

 

Me thinks the RSPCA might want to have a word or two or even three with you.

 

thanks for the reply. the next time i'm see a stupid animal i'm gonna run it over. haha.

well at least i get a new 97-99 bumper conversion

 

Sorry dude, that's bad advice.

You'll care very little about your insurance if you end up dead from hitting a massive animal. If you've got a huge animal in front of you, and you can avoid it with a better choice, you should. I doubt we're thinking about insurance rates here.

 

Here is a good place to go to look for parts is car-part.com/. I need to get a new rear bumper cover myself and the price range here in MD is around 150 for a primed rear bumper cover. I have list of all the parts with prices that I got from geico after I was rear ended by one of their terrible drivers (one of two accidents where a Geico customer hit my car this year). If I can find the list I post it later. It should give you good idea of repair costs should for the rear at least.

 

Here is another good site for parts: www.copartfinder.com/

 

here is my theory if anyone cares to read:

1. The little animals.. if they arent fast enough to make it out of the way of YOUR car then they die.. that is what Darwin would have wanted (survival of the fittest), but by all means if it is a small animal try and run it over in the middle of your car (unless its lowered, because you could find the animal stuck somewhere underneath later), and if you still hit just wash the car the next day.

2. As for these large animals (mainly deer) the reason they stay PLANTED in the middle of the road is your headlights (especially the Xenon's in my mom's bimmer). If you have the reaction time one of the best ways to get them out of the way is to simply flash the headlights like crazy while honking the horn and screaming like a madman.. this all sounds stupid but it works i swear.. I lived in the woods in NJ and I never played my stereo loud at night because of sleeping people so the deer wouldnt hear my coming, just roll down the window and scream.. i have actually scared deer off.. no joke.

just my thoughts on the situation.. i am glad to hear that you are okay and your car is not totalled.. sometimes i think the animals actually cheer when we swerve ive seen the cynical looks on their little animal faces as i swerve around.. haha

 

Sorry to hear about that man. Hope everything comes out alright.

 

As if we would find it astonishing that a human could scare a deer!

But seriously you are pretty much right on. I have had many close calls with deer, and the reason they weren't collisions is because of me doing last-second stuff to scare them off (horn, kill lights, etc.)

 

Dont swerve for small animals...

bigger animals... do swerve or try to avoid... i didnt - i still dont have a car i almost lost my life and the car even though it has 14G in damages is not considered a total by my insurance company.

the bumpers yea their bolt on's - yes id recommend doing the swap. the 97-99 lights are better - but not as good as POSSIBLE PROJECTION LIGHTS.

 

Wow...glad to hear you're okay, and even better yet that you Max can be fixed !