So I was driving through downtown Cleveland on the way to Sandusky for a convention this weekend Wednesday night with two friends in the car. Just cruising along on I-90 before deadmans curve at about 12:30AM . All of a sudden car shakes violently and the front end of the car is a foot in the air, before crashing down.
Imagine hitting a several inch high wall at about 65mph. I see sparks in my rearview mirror, and hear a dragging noise as I slow down and pull over, obviously asking "What the (expletive) did I hit?) and get out, thinking maybe I had somehow spectacularly blown a tire. All tires are fine, but the big aerodynamic shield on the bottom was shredded, and I saw a huge black iron object lodged in it. Pulled it out.
At this point I realize I must have hit this object, which weighs about 30lb and is quite large. I then notice about 1/10 of a mile up the road is another car pulled over as well. I run over, and it's clear she hit it as well- doing even more damage than to mine. Her entire passenger front suspension was collapsed, resting on the tire. Amazingly I managed to avoid it puncturing my oil pan.
Fortunately everybody in my car and hers was alright. Obviously we called 911, and the police came out and took a report. After a quick google my buddy discovers it's basically an anchor auger, used to anchor guy wires in the ground for radio masts. It was just lying in the middle of the dark highwya, in the middle of the night, impossible to see. There was no immediately obvious damage to my car other than the aero shield. We decide to try to drive a few feet and see what happensl It's immediately obvious something is very wrong, the transmission shudders horribly, and it's very stiff. The power steering is clearly not working, and the tires are not in alignment with the power steering either. I stop, and I have the State farm claims people send a tow truck. I had to call my grandfather to come pick us up in the middle of the night from east cleveland, and stand around until 3:30AM waiting for the tow truck. Was a lot of fun. Picked up the rental car this morning (2015 Jeep Cherokee Limited, it's super nice, impressions later)
After they get it up on the lift, we see the below pictures. The transmission mount is sheared clean off the transmission itself. Including part of the transmission. The subframe assembly is wrecked and bent to [censored], the power steering seems screwed, and the suspension is completely misaligned. Frankly, the car is only worth about $6k. I think there is a very good chance they will end up totalling it out. It wasn't the best start to our vacation, for sure. Fortunately, everyone was ok, including the woman in the other car, she had it worse than me, as you will see below.
This is what we hit
this is the other car, it completely shattered her bottom control arm/wishbone and seperated everything, the wheel was only held on by the axle and brake caliper.
(fullsize) http://i.imgur.com/2R4QbGV.jpg
My now destroyed transmission and mount, and subframe
http://i.imgur.com/evSmBrz.jpg Fullsize
http://i.imgur.com/nh8jQDg.jpg (Fullsize)
It was towed to the dealer today, and they are supposed to send an estimate to State Farm tomorrow or Saturday. I'm anticipating having to go new car shopping very shortly, as I cannot imagine it will be cost effective to repair most of the front end, including the transmission.
I'll keep you all posted, and post impressions of the Cherokee later
Imagine hitting a several inch high wall at about 65mph. I see sparks in my rearview mirror, and hear a dragging noise as I slow down and pull over, obviously asking "What the (expletive) did I hit?) and get out, thinking maybe I had somehow spectacularly blown a tire. All tires are fine, but the big aerodynamic shield on the bottom was shredded, and I saw a huge black iron object lodged in it. Pulled it out.
At this point I realize I must have hit this object, which weighs about 30lb and is quite large. I then notice about 1/10 of a mile up the road is another car pulled over as well. I run over, and it's clear she hit it as well- doing even more damage than to mine. Her entire passenger front suspension was collapsed, resting on the tire. Amazingly I managed to avoid it puncturing my oil pan.
Fortunately everybody in my car and hers was alright. Obviously we called 911, and the police came out and took a report. After a quick google my buddy discovers it's basically an anchor auger, used to anchor guy wires in the ground for radio masts. It was just lying in the middle of the dark highwya, in the middle of the night, impossible to see. There was no immediately obvious damage to my car other than the aero shield. We decide to try to drive a few feet and see what happensl It's immediately obvious something is very wrong, the transmission shudders horribly, and it's very stiff. The power steering is clearly not working, and the tires are not in alignment with the power steering either. I stop, and I have the State farm claims people send a tow truck. I had to call my grandfather to come pick us up in the middle of the night from east cleveland, and stand around until 3:30AM waiting for the tow truck. Was a lot of fun. Picked up the rental car this morning (2015 Jeep Cherokee Limited, it's super nice, impressions later)
After they get it up on the lift, we see the below pictures. The transmission mount is sheared clean off the transmission itself. Including part of the transmission. The subframe assembly is wrecked and bent to [censored], the power steering seems screwed, and the suspension is completely misaligned. Frankly, the car is only worth about $6k. I think there is a very good chance they will end up totalling it out. It wasn't the best start to our vacation, for sure. Fortunately, everyone was ok, including the woman in the other car, she had it worse than me, as you will see below.
This is what we hit
this is the other car, it completely shattered her bottom control arm/wishbone and seperated everything, the wheel was only held on by the axle and brake caliper.
(fullsize) http://i.imgur.com/2R4QbGV.jpg
My now destroyed transmission and mount, and subframe
http://i.imgur.com/evSmBrz.jpg Fullsize
http://i.imgur.com/nh8jQDg.jpg (Fullsize)
It was towed to the dealer today, and they are supposed to send an estimate to State Farm tomorrow or Saturday. I'm anticipating having to go new car shopping very shortly, as I cannot imagine it will be cost effective to repair most of the front end, including the transmission.
I'll keep you all posted, and post impressions of the Cherokee later
