My 2003 Element EX was hit by a Toyota Tundra. The Tundra was doing about 20 MPH and hit my parked Element in the back on the driver's side. There is about $10,000 in damage.
The back side panel was totally gone, exposing the gas tank. The interior panel on that side behind the seats (the storage area where the spare tire is kept) cracked with large pieces broken off. When the repair shop removed the back seats, they found that interior panel (2nd from the back) was cracked as well. The top and bottom parts of the tailgate no longer fit together properly, and the bumper is partially off across the entire back of the car.
My parking brake was on, but they haven't checked that yet nor have they examined the transmission.
I saw the accident happen; I was standing on the sidewalk behind the car. I am truly surpised at the amount of damage to the Element. When we bought the car, we looked at the Honda CRV crash data since the Element was supposed to be based off it. I'm really concerned that the damage extended into the passenger area and in general how much damage was done.
Has anyone heard of excessive damage during crashes, or do you know a site compares the Element to other cars? I truly love the car, but I need to know it can hold its own in a crash. I have two young kids that are in that car 90% of the time. Any information would be appreciated.
Rebecca

From what you describe, that damage is fully in line with the hit. The energy-absorbing design of modern vehicles practically makes them "disposable" in any collision beyond glancing fender-benders. It also didn't help that the Tundra is a fairly heavy vehicle.

The Element and the CRV share a common drivetrain and suspension, and that's it. The body designs - what really counts in a collision - are completely different.

[quote:00b2a04469=" "]The Element and the CRV share a common drivetrain and suspension, and that's it. The body designs - what really counts in a collision - are completely different.[/quote:00b2a04469]

Mike - I'm pretty sure that Honda has stated that the E's frame/body is essentially a modified version of the CRV's, with some extra beefiness added to compensate for the missing B pillars between the doors. You disagree?

-brendan

Yeah, I've seen the references to that effect, but it doesn't mean a lot. Consider the space frame with plastic panel overlays - that's certainly not a CR-V feature, and it considerably changes structural issues.

It's certainly likely that the fundamental design is derivative, but most car design today is formulaic anyway. Nothing is truly original - take an existing design and put a nip here, a tuck there, mess with the skin a little... and suddenly you've got a new model.

I think I can vouch for the sturdiness of the E since I was involved in a pretty bad accident on Xmas Eve that caused $10,000 in damages.

SCENARIO
Cop car (Ford Crown Victoria) traveling at 40-45mph vs. Element traveling at 30mph while both trying to go through an intersection. This collision was basically a head on by the cop car into the driver's side, which smashed both doors, rear quarter panel, rear axle, and rear tail light. Later on the E hit a telephone pole that knocked out the power to the intersection along with the switching box.

Both of us escaped from the E with minor cuts and bruises. The reinforced sides held up and the frame wasn't bent. I have to agree with another poster that the energy of the impact crumpled the car which in turn saved us from being seriously injured. The E held up pretty well when you think about the magnitude of the accident. I just recently retrieved the car from the auto body and it looks brand new after only 2 months. I am fortunate and still think my E is great.

was the tundra's bumper higher than the E's bumper? i mean, if the bumper area of the tundrea crashed anywhere above the bumper of the E then you'd have a lot more damage...

when i got into my first accident when i was 17 in my 87 corolla, i rear ended a pick up truck. since his bumper was about 6 inches higher than mine, i hit him with my hood and crumpled it. it cost me about $2000 to fix my car and less than $200 for his.

The insurance adjuster called me today to discuss the new damage. The revised the estimate down to $7900. The floor pan (I don't know what it is but obviously it has something to do with the floor) also has to be replaced. I asked his opinion of the crash worthiness, seeing as he would be pretty unbiased. He felt the damage was in line with the accident. The Tundra's bumper was higher than the Element's. The Element pretty much took out her front passenger bumper and tire. The Tundra's tire was completely flattened - just like a black rubber band around the rim.
While they haven't given the Element a thorough check in this yet, the preliminary look says the suspension and transmission are OK. It will still be a few weeks before I get it back.
He said there was nothing in the "database" about Element's having a bad crash record.
For the person in the $10,000 accident, I'm glad you came through it unharmed. That is more my concern than the property damage - that the people inside aren't hurt.

Consumer Reports rated the Element as "excellent" in the crash test results.

Front crash: Excellent
Side crash: Excellent
Offset crash: Good

[quote:ec9cfe5bd4=" "]I think I can vouch for the sturdiness of the E since I was involved in a pretty bad accident on Xmas Eve that caused $10,000 in damages.[/quote:ec9cfe5bd4]

Glad to hear you and yours were OK (wait, I think I may have said that already!).

How did the cop make out?

-brendan

Crumple zones save your life. PERIOD. Either the car absorbs the impact of the crash, our YOU do.

Pick one.

Go take a look at the crash pictures of the older F150 at the IIHS. It doesn't have crumple zones, so the passenger compartment acts as one. Those body on rigid frame vehicle usually collaspe around the passenger compartment. IE. the weakest section.

Consumer Reports rated the Element as "excellent" in the crash test results in compared only to othe compact SUVs/cars. if a full size pickup, like my 5300# Titan, hits my Element then all that Consumer Reports rating will not mean much...

[quote:b943b3c911=" "]How did the cop make out?[/quote:b943b3c911]
The front end of the car was completely smashed in and he wasn't hurt either. I am not sure if he suffered bruises but definitely there was glass everywhere. The windows on the driver's side doors on the E shattered into tiny pieces upon impact. Both cars had to be towed from the scene. Suspension was pretty damaged on the E.

Yes for such a bad accident, we were lucky to walk away and lucky enough to be able to repair the vehicle. I guess it helped there are no B pillars, otherwise I think the car would have been completely totalled because of a bent frame. I forgot to mention that the fault was undeterminable because we had knocked out the power to the intersection. Also the telephone pole hit the driver's side after the cop car hit us because we started spinning. Therefore driver's side suffered a hit twice on that side.

Wish I had pictures to show but everything is just fine with the E now although the auto body shop had a hard time finding suitable replacement doors because the E has only been out 1 year and there aren't enough parts yet in the market. First they got a pair of driver's side doors from an accident but those were more damaged than they thought. Luckily they were able to get another set. Car definitely looks brand new now.

I can vouch for the safety.

My wife and daughter rolled our Element twice and hit the concrete median. They were going 65-70mph when the accident occured. My daughter was in a car seat with the teather. They both came out fine. I was very impressed with the integrity of the body after such a bad accident.

I don't believe that the roll over gives ammunition for the Element being top heavy or anything. I believe most cars will roll when traveling 70mph and whipping the steering wheel hard.

That Element was totalled. We got another one.

I was somewhat disturbed to see the Insurance Institute rated the side crash test results as overall poor on the Element. You can see the results on the "links" section of this website.

When I bought my E, I did so under the security of Consumer Reports recommendation that it was a safe car for kids (Apr 2004 car issue), and the NHTSA four star crash rating for side impact.

I am not sure why the Insurance Inst rates it so differently. I don't know enough about the testing procedure of one vs. the other. But it didn't make me feel good to read it.

You need to take these side impact tests in context.

The Element was among the first batch of cars (small SUVs) to be tested in this insurance institute's side test. They have tested one or two batches since then. The Honda CRV is one of the few cars without side airbags to do better than 'poor' in their test. The Element does well in the government's side test (5* in front, 4* in back).

The insurance institute's test hits the car higher up than the government test. Most cars do poor in this test because the dummies move from side to side and hit their head or other body part on something like the window sill. The government test places more emphasis on structural integrity of the car, and the Element does well in this.

Cars with side air bags rate better in the insurance institute's tests. One might even argue that these tests are designed to favor, or promote, the use of such bags. An Element with side air bags has not been tested in this way, yet.

paulj

>I am not sure why the Insurance Inst rates it so differently...

Because, frankly, they have an anti-SUV agenda. SUVs are overpriced relative to more plebian sedans, and are therefore more expensive to fix/replace. Plus SUV-sedan collisions usually result in higher damages to the sedan.

Always, always keep in mind that the bottom line for the IIHS is to improve insurance companies' bottom lines.

Also read:

http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66077#66077

I think these IIHS tests are anti-SUV only in the sense that they simulate an impact by a high bumper. The second batch of cars that they tested this way, large or midsize sedans, fared just as poorly as the small SUV batch. Again, side air bags made the biggest difference, not type of car.

paulj

Thank you for the clarification. I'll know to duck real hard if the car headed toward me looks bigger than my E and duck just hard if it is the same size :wink: .

Well, I have had my E for about a hear and a half. 23k miles so far. To my dismay, I got a chance to see the element in a straight rear end hit. I was stopped at a stop sign and a young woman never even touched the break, just hit me at about 30mph. She was in a Legend. Her car was mashed to the windshild and could not even be pushed off the road. I doubt it is worth fixing. The E had relatively little damage. I drove it away and though the bumper was bent in and the back gate was out of allignment you could still open and close it. My feeling is it did pretty well in a straight on rear-end hit, less damage then I expected. Estimate is about 2100 dollars but since this happened in front of a police station and she received a ticket her insurance company will have to address this one. Painful experience but pleased with performance of rear bumper.

Not to "Rubberneck", but does anybody have any pics to share?

(LEGO is a hypocryte: He hates Rubberneckers!)

FWIW, here are some relevant IIHS/Element links:

Element summary:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle%5Fratings/ce/html/0304.htm

Comparison to other small SUVs:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle%5Fratings/ce/html/summary%5Fsmsuv%5Fside.htm