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New B-Cool Billet Grill Ruined.... oh yeah and my car

5K views 43 replies 21 participants last post by  Motie 
#1 ·
Just happened an hour ago @ about 5 mph. There is no protection from a head on collision. The 2003 Jeep Liberty was basically nicked... Dont know what else to say but I am upset to say the least. The Cyber whites, Clear Corners and grill all a waste of time. I didn't have the grill on for more than a day! :shock: Most of all, The car. Dont know what will happen, claims adjuster coming tommorow. I know the engine is gone b/c the intake is basically in the windsheild. Coolant and fluids came spewing forth onto the liberty... :-x Oh yeah failed to mention it is only 1 month old, my poor baby.
 
#2 ·
holy crap!!! is that the f-ing battery all the way towards the windsheild??? is that some sort of defect? 5 mph shouldn't have caused that...granted it has crumple zones that is rediculous!!!



edit: hahaha just realized you were opening the hood suicide style...my bad, but yeah, that really stinks, especially since you went right out and baught those mods just after you got the E
 
#3 ·
dayam! what happened? liberty cut you off? didn't stop in time? etc?
 
#4 ·
Yeah man... Shouldn't have happened. I was driving by my clients building and was looking @ it for a split second. I could have stopped in time man... But believe it or not, I was wearing sandals and my foot slipped. I have a manual and was in nuetral @ aprox. 5mph and that was before my foot slipped, so I was most likely going slower. This doesn't really make me very confident about the cars head on colision protection.

S!@#$ happens I guess. It frustrates me because I watched it happen and feel like I could have avoided it by wearing regular shoes (paying more attention would have helped as well).
 
#5 ·
Dude that stinks. Hope youre doing okay?
 
#6 ·
Thanks guys. Were OK. The couple we hit felt so bad. Nobody was hurt and their car was barely touched. I took pics of their car, will post soon. The majority of the damage was caused by they're spare tire on the back. Again, I am dissapointed with the lack of protection on the front end. Still love the E though!
 
#7 ·
Most of the damage is above the bumper. Would you prefer that the bumper was higher, like large SUVs, as opposed to the car height?

The IIHS side impact test that Element did poorly on (without side bags) was supposed to simulate the high impact of a large SUV. This complements the tests done by government, which uses a lower impactor.

paulj
 
#9 ·
Nothing is worse than watching the hood crinkle up towards you...that was definately the worst feeling in the world because you are so hoping/anticipating a gentle love tap but then bam...here is a picture of when I totalled my mom's accord....i was following my girlfriend when she slammed on her brakes (so hard smoke was coming from her tires) b/c she was about to miss her turn...i didn't know where I was going so I wasn't anticipating the turn.....anyhow this is what my mom's accord looked like....and my g/f's car? a 95 civic...NO DAMAGE! slight dent/crack in her bumper that she didn't even get fixed...and my mom's car...totalled....awesome...
 
#14 ·
this begs the question... what kind of damage would have been sustained had there been no spare tire back there on the liberty?
 
#16 ·
S3RUM67 said:
Haha... yeah. I know man, just kills me. Starting from scratch again. Oh well. The fun part is doing it. I will post pics as progress goes on. STAY TUNED FOR MY CUSTOM B-COOL BILLET INSTALL GUIDE.

i can't wait, considering I was waiting to buy the b-cool until i had a better understanding of how to do it with all of the mods you have to do to it to fit properly
 
#17 ·
Don't get me wrong... The B-Cool Billet quality is great, the engineering is horrible. The bottom grille DOES NOT FIT. It will scratch the hell out of the bumper and is NOT worth following their instructions. MTP and joeRogg have the right idea, I just found a way to strengthen the upper grille even further and how to install the bottom with no risk of damage. This requires a bit of modification to the provided hardware as well as a grinder (not a dremel). Anyway, will have that completed as soon as my E is back to normal. Till then...
 
#21 ·
Hondas are made to crumble like that. the car absorbs the impact instead of your body doing it. i know this does not ease the pain of your accident but here is a collision rating for the E. http://www.iihs.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/0304.htm

this may explaine to you why so much damage and help you understand how safe your E really is.


feelin your pain :(
-tom
 
#24 ·
Sorry to hear about the accident.
Glad to hear everyone is OK.

The strong area for a frontal impact is down where the front bumper is.
You can tell from your pics that that area or the E didn't even touch
the Jeep until the hood and grill had sustained most of their damage
from hitting the rear mounted spare.

I bet when they remove the spare from the rear if the jeep they will find that the mount is tweeked.
It happens a lot but usually isn't noticed until later.

Anyway, I think the damage would have been a bit more comparable between the two if there was no rear mounted spare.

Good luck with getting things back to normal.
 
#25 ·
Heres and Update! Got towed this morning to the body shop. Apparently another E is coming today also with a busted clamshell. Anyway, claims adjuster is coming this afternoon... now we wait to see if they will hook me up with a new Billet Grille and Foglights as well. I am also getting them to paint the spoiler SOP to match. Asked him to do the panels too, but hee insisted that it was a bad idea b/c the paint will not adhere correctly to the plastic. Till the next update...
 
#26 ·
I imagine if the roles were reversed with you being rear-ended by the Liberty then it's front end would have looked the same as your Element's and your bumper with only a dink.
 
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