[terwie]

Hey all,

Just wanted to post some pictures of how the element withstood a 'glancing blow' from hitting a huge buck!

I was finishing up a road trip with friends from Vegas on March 28th and was just entering Oregon--Ashland Oregon, to be more exact. We were rotating drivers, at it was my shift to sleep, and my friend's husband was driving the E.

It was a super luck hit!!!! 7am - 2 Deer-s (1 doe, 1 buck) were crossing I-5 about 1/2 mile before the first off ramp to Ashland Or. I can't say it enough, my friend's husband did great, he was able to steer (NOT Swerve) and miss one deer and hit the rump of the buck with the front quarter panel. Split second decision - amazing it wasn't worse!!!

Just duct taped it, and drove it home! Amazing!!!

I keep on praising my friend’s husband!!! The day after we got back, I read a story about some teenager down near Sequim, WA and swerved to miss a deer and hit a tree. He died, and his passengers were in critical condition. DO NOT SWERVE !!!! Hit the damn deer!!!

Another ‘lucky’ thing about this accident, is that I reduced my deductibles when I switched to State Farm insurance. $100 deductible for $3,400 worth of damage!!!!!


Here's the pictures!!!

Had to mark the date

yeah... we couldn't open the door any further....

lucky!! the axel/mechanical stuff wasn't damaged!!! The tires didn't even need re balancing!! Look closely, you can still see some deer fuzz

Before we got the duct tape on

- had to take a picture of the Buck!! 5 minutes after we hit the deer, a passing ambulance made sure we were okay, and called DOT to pick up the deer—looks like he’s immature, and hasn’t grown any spikes yet…just little bumps on the head. Still a huge deer!! My hunting friends actually wanted me to strap it on to the roof *found out..even though it was an accidental death...if I took it for the meat...it would have been poaching and not using legal weapon.. ha!

 

[bigsmokes]

glad to hear that you guys are all safe,,hope it gets fixed fast..

 

[terwie]

oh, yeah, it's all fixed now!

btw, it's fixed now, looks great! even got a nice wax job too!!!

Statefarm made it really simple!!

One thing, my horn sounds awful!! The auto body shop says Honda gave them the wrong horn...interesting.... sounds like it's dying!! haha! I wonder what kind of Honda horn they put into it?? They'll make it right, and give me a loaner for the day that they'll put it in - apparently they need to take the the whole front in off again to get to the horn!

 

[bigsmokes]

no they dont,,,i just changed my horn last month,,the oem horn was to whimpy..i bought a nice aftermarket horn at autozone for $20..it took 20 mins to install...all they have to do is remove the plastic wheel well cover.
the horn is in the drivers side wheel well

 

[ramblerdan]

Glad you and the car fared so well, Terwie. Had the alignment checked?

Removing the fascia is easy-peasy.

 

[terwie]

lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky......

yep, alignment was checked, and everything looked good! I don't even think we drove over the body, just kind of pushed it's rear end and it slid into the median.

Actually, I didn't even wake up when he first hit the deer! I think we were traveling 70mph in a 65 zone...so pretty fast... I only woke when he was pulling off to the side of the highway....I thought we just had a flat tire or something!!

We traveled with another car for the road trip, so glad they didn't hit it. It was a small VW golf, and I'm sure it would have went through the windshield if they would have hit it!!! :shock:

Can't stop saying it, but just a really lucky hit!!

*and the deer didn't suffer anyways too! I hate to see them in pain! died instantly I suppose...

 

[ElementaryEd]

Glad your E is all back together. You are lucky it wasn't worse. I've seen a lot of car vs deer accidents and they can really mess things up.

 

[poppa smurf]

I'm glad that you,and all that were with you, were alright. you just have to be on guard,you never know when one of those deer, or even an elk , decides to comit suicide.:shock:

 

[terwie]

yes, those suicidal deer can be expensive

Driving around a loaner again

The autobody shop gave me a free loaner for the afternoon to take care of the horn.

Looks like I'll be keeping it over night, they can't figure out why the horn isn't working properly, even with a new oem horn! Right now they are thinking there is more electrical damage from the suicidal deer, further up from the horn.

The horn works when it's plugged into regular 12v power, but when it hooks up to my element, it doesn't work...errr..well it groans

:? hummm.....sounds like they may have to open up the insurance claim again...


I guess I'll see what tomorrow brings!

 

[1gr8ryd]

We too got "kissed" by a deer in my wife's mustang, although the deer lived to tell the tale. S.O.B. ran right into the side of the car doing 50 M.P.H. and left a nice dent in the rear quarter panel and sheared off the mirror.

With all the deer in these parts, I've been thinking of getting a brush guard for the front of my E. They're about $200 on ebay. They look pretty cool, and provide mounting spaces for more lighting so I can see those bastards sooner.

Very happy you all were ok.....there have been many a fatality due to kamikaze deer.

 

[snoco1]

Something to think about. If you do just hit a deer with the windshield the element being so flat the dear has a good chance of coming through it. The nice thing is that the front end sits a little higher than most import cars.

The next thing I try and remind people about when wanting to put on a brush guard is that they can affect airbag deployment. Not always stop them from deploying, but delay them. The engineers designed the sensors to activate in a certain way at a specific time. Adding a brush guard is another piece between hitting something and them deploying. I can't remember if the sensors are in the bumpers or if it's another type that just reads g forces. But I just thought I'd through it out there.

Glad everyone was ok, no injuries are always a great thing. I can't believe you'd get in trouble for taking the deer. All though I don't think it would have lasted all the way home without a little "work" on the deer. Haha.

 

[unlimited02]

wow... thats crazy... well at least u got dinner for awhile now hahaha...

 

[Smokin_Guns26]

yup just a way for companys to screw you and make more money