My first car accident...lucky it wasn't the GT
Igovert500
06-06-2004, 11:19 AM
Well I was involved in my first major accident on Friday night. Before you get worried, I am alive and well, and my VR4 is too.
I was at work(detailing, and I had just gotten off my dinner break. My next job was a simply wash and vacuum for a brand new Grand Marque. I get the keys and go to bring it down to the bays from the upper tier parking lot. Well it was parked along the curb between the lots. I hop in, turn it on, and give it a little gas. As I am coming down the hill towards the bay, to my surprise the brake pedal doesn't work. Well I get scared as hell at this point, because I am mashing the brakes with no response and driving downhill with no place to coast in neutral. In the 3-4 seconds before I crash, I grabbed for the E-brake, unfortunantly it wasn't by my right hand( I grabbed an armrest) the E-brake was one of the kick ones where the clutch should be(which I found out after the accident of course). So as I am heading down this hill towards teh bay I now have 3 or 4 options:
1) veer right and crash into a bunch of cars that had just been detailed and parked.
2) veer left into a 3 ft curb, or maybe get lucky and miss it, and end up inside the bay and crash into a car or a pillar
3) drive straight and have my choice of hitting a parked focus, a parked mustang GT, or a dumpster.
Well by some miracle a managed to split the mustang and the focus which were both being checked over for the final inspection. I missed them both by inches and we still have no idea how I managed that.
So I fly between them, hit an 6 or 8inch curb, get the mercury airborne(probably the first airborne mercury ever). The airbag blows, I hop the curb and go flying(literally) down into a 12ft deep ditch, missing a huge concrete drainage thing, almost flip the car, and crash into the other side of the ditch. The car starts rolling back and I open the door and jump out. By this time 12 people have already reached the scene and checking me out to make sure I'm ok. The only injury I got was a half inch scratch on my forearm from the airbag. The mercury on the other hand was destroyed. With ruined rims, front bumper, suspension, and a deployed airbag...and of course...no brakes.
In retrospect it was pretty cool, and I wish someone had filmed it, as they said I had all 4 wheels off the ground and the look on my face was sheer terror. But I was definantly scared out of my mind when it happened. And if it hasn't happened to any of you, I hope you never have to experience brake failure, as it is pretty damn scary.
I was at work(detailing, and I had just gotten off my dinner break. My next job was a simply wash and vacuum for a brand new Grand Marque. I get the keys and go to bring it down to the bays from the upper tier parking lot. Well it was parked along the curb between the lots. I hop in, turn it on, and give it a little gas. As I am coming down the hill towards the bay, to my surprise the brake pedal doesn't work. Well I get scared as hell at this point, because I am mashing the brakes with no response and driving downhill with no place to coast in neutral. In the 3-4 seconds before I crash, I grabbed for the E-brake, unfortunantly it wasn't by my right hand( I grabbed an armrest) the E-brake was one of the kick ones where the clutch should be(which I found out after the accident of course). So as I am heading down this hill towards teh bay I now have 3 or 4 options:
1) veer right and crash into a bunch of cars that had just been detailed and parked.
2) veer left into a 3 ft curb, or maybe get lucky and miss it, and end up inside the bay and crash into a car or a pillar
3) drive straight and have my choice of hitting a parked focus, a parked mustang GT, or a dumpster.
Well by some miracle a managed to split the mustang and the focus which were both being checked over for the final inspection. I missed them both by inches and we still have no idea how I managed that.
So I fly between them, hit an 6 or 8inch curb, get the mercury airborne(probably the first airborne mercury ever). The airbag blows, I hop the curb and go flying(literally) down into a 12ft deep ditch, missing a huge concrete drainage thing, almost flip the car, and crash into the other side of the ditch. The car starts rolling back and I open the door and jump out. By this time 12 people have already reached the scene and checking me out to make sure I'm ok. The only injury I got was a half inch scratch on my forearm from the airbag. The mercury on the other hand was destroyed. With ruined rims, front bumper, suspension, and a deployed airbag...and of course...no brakes.
In retrospect it was pretty cool, and I wish someone had filmed it, as they said I had all 4 wheels off the ground and the look on my face was sheer terror. But I was definantly scared out of my mind when it happened. And if it hasn't happened to any of you, I hope you never have to experience brake failure, as it is pretty damn scary.
Nesryn
06-06-2004, 11:49 AM
Well first off, I'm glad you and the 3000 are ok. Sounded like a pretty bad accident, so it's good that you walked away with only some scratches. Being in a car that has no brakes would be the scariest thing... Damn. You in trouble or anything for wrecking it?
MunG35
06-06-2004, 12:40 PM
yeah, man, good to hear you're fine. how's the mercury? and how's everything else you hit. dont want a brake failure sounds scary as ****
IBKitty
06-06-2004, 03:19 PM
Good to hear you are okay, and your 3000 too. I sure hope that was a lot car and not someone's already owned car, also hope that you don't recieve any bad consequences. Again, glad you are fine. :)
BLU CIVIC
06-06-2004, 03:24 PM
sounds scary...glad ur ok....so what's going to appen to u?
YogsVR4
06-06-2004, 09:15 PM
Holy crap! I bet the adrenaline was flowing pretty freely the whole time.
Glad to hear that you suffered no more then a scratch.
Glad to hear that you suffered no more then a scratch.
sLADe781
06-06-2004, 09:59 PM
Yeah, glad you're okay bro....
youngvr4
06-07-2004, 03:25 AM
i know how you feel igovert, my buddy's caddy's brakes went out down hill at 40mph, e-brake didn't work, he even tried to shitf into a lower gear to slow it down, but nothing he was pumping and pumping and we were about to go through 3 red lights in broad daylight. we amazingly didn't hit anything all the cars missed us and he ended up going up hill and it stopped. yeah i thought we were dead. your lucky, i hope to god that never happens again. but look at it this way, its something to tell your kids one day :)
Igovert500
06-07-2004, 09:12 PM
Yeah, the jury is still out on what will happen. It was a brand new car that had just been bought and I was supposed to do a spot clean while the people signed the final papers. So the dealership just gave them an identical car, I don't even know if they found out how bad the accident was or any of the details. As far as what is happening...some 'FORD' guys are coming to look at it and run some tests to see what happened. Someone told me that they have a few similar problems with that make and model regarding the accelerator sticking. So I don't know. But everyone is reassuring me that I shouldn't worry, with all the witnesses I had, they don't think I'll have to pay anything. It's kinda funny, now it is almost surreal, like it never happened, except every 10 minutes at work another conversation starts about it.
sLADe781
06-08-2004, 01:52 AM
I don't see why you would have to pay anything. I mean, it wasn't your fault at all. If anything, someone should be paying you money for what happened. File a "traumatic experience" claim or something. LOL :) Keep us updated on what happens....
youngvr4
06-08-2004, 03:47 AM
i sorta agree with slade
Igovert500
06-08-2004, 08:53 AM
Yeah well nobody thinks I should pay, but when the official mechanics come in, they are trying to determine if it was the cars fault or mine. Obviously it was the cars, and 8 or 9 people saw the whole thing happen, so noone thinks I will pay. But being that it is a dealership, and my philosophy on dealerships is that they only live to screw you...I'm not counting any chickens yet...
GTO4Life
06-08-2004, 05:46 PM
damn! sounds like fun (kinda) Glad you are ok man... No need to lose a 3kGT owner. We are already quite few :D
Nesryn
06-09-2004, 10:49 AM
Man that would be so stupid if you'd have to pay. It's not like you could have done it on purpose, considering you could have died... Sue someone, like Slade said lol... And buy some stuff for the 3k :D
Igovert500
06-09-2004, 12:34 PM
The stupidest thing was a few 'important' guys were like 'well why didn't he just turn off the ignition?'
My manager was like, A) he was going downhill anyway and B) he would have lost power steering and hit the mustang into the dumpster, endangering the guy in the mustang and destroying two cars instead of one.
So at least he is sticking up for me, which helps alot.
My manager was like, A) he was going downhill anyway and B) he would have lost power steering and hit the mustang into the dumpster, endangering the guy in the mustang and destroying two cars instead of one.
So at least he is sticking up for me, which helps alot.
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