Trailer hitch saves my car again!
- Thread starter grampi
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The hitch on my 4Runner works the same way.
JHZR2
Staff member
Sad it has to be this way.
I'm not a real fan of reverse cameras, screens and radar parking systems, but notionally they will help these situations. Of course the older jalopies will be not functioning or non existent, but at least some fraction of the population will be equipped...
Guy in a huge pickup backed out of a spot suddenly while we were leaving a parking lot, hooked our rear bumper with his trailer hitch, and basically tore it off. The cop who came out claimed to "never" discuss fault at an accident scene, but assured us we had nothing to worry about. We were missing a car for a while and he had no damage, but he was on the hook for over $5k in damages to ours. I kind of hope the guy got dropped by his insurance and had to buy expensive stuff from the state.
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Driving a car is the hardest thing a lot of people do during the day.
There are so many bad drivers it makes me crazy!
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Sad it has to be this way.
I'm not a real fan of reverse cameras, screens and radar parking systems, but notionally they will help these situations. Of course the older jalopies will be not functioning or non existent, but at least some fraction of the population will be equipped...
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I'm not a real fan of reverse cameras, screens and radar parking systems, but notionally they will help these situations.
TRUE OCCURRENCE:
I bought a friend's '76 Nova onto which we added a homemade hitch. It was a thick tongue of metal over an inch thick and 5 inches wide. It stuck out over a foot. NOBODY came near the rear end. It was pristine.
The next time I saw him he added the same kind of hitch to both ends of his next car.
He painted the words "The Boat Launcher" onto the hood to justify the hardware.
Both ends of his car looked good.
Backup cameras haven't really helped much. Working in the insurance industry I saw many accidents where the offender was clearly looking only in their backup camera and not to the sides for approaching traffic. One person used their backup camera to back out of their driveway onto a busy road, and you guessed it, they didn't see the on coming traffic and totaled both their car and another car. 
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Backup cameras haven't really helped much. Working in the insurance industry I saw many accidents where the offender was clearly looking only in their backup camera and not to the sides for approaching traffic. One person used their backup camera to back out of their driveway onto a busy road, and you guessed it, they didn't see the on coming traffic and totaled both their car and another car.
Originally Posted By: Kira
The next time I saw him he added the same kind of hitch to both ends of his next car.
He painted the words "The Boat Launcher" onto the hood to justify the hardware.
Both ends of his car looked good.
If people are too interested in their phone to look at the mirror, surely, they will be too interested in their phone to look at the backup camera. And, like Jeepman3071 pointed out, it only looks directly behind you.
That's what my mom found with her Nissan Rouge, the camera doesn't make up for the bad rear visibility. They traded it for a Forester.
I'm glad my parents' Escape has little blindspot mirrors. There is NO seeing out of the back of that.
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Backup cameras haven't really helped much. Working in the insurance industry I saw many accidents where the offender was clearly looking only in their backup camera and not to the sides for approaching traffic. One person used their backup camera to back out of their driveway onto a busy road, and you guessed it, they didn't see the on coming traffic and totaled both their car and another car.
There is a real problem with visibility in modern cars. I think that's why there is a need for cameras, and sensors. They make the car technically "safer" but at the expense of making it much for difficult to see anything.
I can see anything from any angle inside my 97 Jeep. My '13 Jeep is built like a tank, blindspots everywhere. But I know which I'd rather be in an accident with.
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
Guy in a huge pickup backed out of a spot suddenly while we were leaving a parking lot, hooked our rear bumper with his trailer hitch, and basically tore it off. The cop who came out claimed to "never" discuss fault at an accident scene, but assured us we had nothing to worry about. We were missing a car for a while and he had no damage, but he was on the hook for over $5k in damages to ours. I kind of hope the guy got dropped by his insurance and had to buy expensive stuff from the state.
To exranger06: You said, "Oh yeah, I'm sure having two monstrosities poking out either end of the car with "the boat launcher" hand painted on the hood looked REALLY good."
It did. He lives adjacent to two bodies of water and there are always people shuttling boats about.
Well, maybe it looked a little funky.
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Sad it has to be this way.
I'm not a real fan of reverse cameras, screens and radar parking systems, but notionally they will help these situations. Of course the older jalopies will be not functioning or non existent, but at least some fraction of the population will be equipped...
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I'm not a real fan of reverse cameras
I try and avoid backing up by parking where I can pull through. When I do back up I back up only enough to be able to go forward and clear other cars.
An added benefit is I park towards the end of the row so I walk more (positive).
Originally Posted By: grampi
the only damage was to her car...
My trailer hitch has saved my rear bumper a couple of times over the past 10 years from people who think they're excellent drivers.
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