How To Save $8,759.09. --------- DON'T WAVE!

[shatto]

Two weeks ago I was motoring home after a long day of...driving around picking-up and delivering stuff. Why? I'm a courier, and that is the job description; pick something up from one client and deliver it to another client. In fact that is the way I got the odometer on the Dakota to read what it did (see below) but, I digress.

I was traveling on Highway 13 toward Highway 24 and then on towards Walnut Creek and Concord, and home.

Highway 13 is a four lane highway at the base of the Oakland hills and we commuters were moving along in smartly, like parallel snakes with the segments made up of cars.
Being commute traffic, we all were into a rhythm of the gentle speeding up and slowing as the traffic undulates up the hills and down the hills with the road, and all was going smoothly as it does every day.
In the neighborhood of a mile from the junction of 24 is the final rise of the road before a downhill where the Berkeley traffic begins merging left to continue on and we began working our way into the right lane to be set-up for the off ramp.

Just before the crest is a pedestrian overpass.......
With about a dozen kids........
Waving.
I waved.

It was no more than two seconds, more like one;
"OH****CRAPDAMMIT!" "WhydidIlook"
Both feet on the brake pedal. Looking down out the windshield at the too-near car.
"My 'Scary Good Tundra Brakes' aren't going to stop me" WHAM!

"BLAM!"
Said the air bag.
Blinding, stinky, dust everywhere.
Damn bag blocking my vision so I couldn't steer, so I am using karate and pawing at it trying to get it out of the way but every time I pushed it away, it popped up somewhere else.
Finally off the road and stopped, I popped off the seat belt opened the door and fought my way past the air bag to check on the driver ....... of the BMW....
And the Corolla he hit.

Fortunately, BMW makes supremely safe automobiles. I told the driver not to move but, to do sort of like a 'systems check' and notice if he hurt anywhere and if everything worked. Eventually he said he was fine, just shocked, and I pushed his car completely off the road out of the way of traffic.

The first of three Oakland Police Motorcycle officers stopped, asked what happened, asked if anybody needed an ambulance and, upon hearing that all was copacetic and that the Highway Patrol and a AAA tow truck had been called, he left. The other Motors did the same thing. Amazing to me, as I don't recollect ever seeing a motorcycle officer on this stretch of road.

The Corolla driver came back and we all preceded the exchange of information and had just finished when the CHP Police Interceptor pulled up. We gave all the information to him.

I gave the Corolla driver a bungee and hooked it up so his sprung trunk stayed closed.
The BMW rear bumper was against the wheel and the car wouldn't start.
I drove home.

I couldn't understand why the seatbelt was so short I couldn't buckle it and it was jammed. It is self-retracting in an accident.
[The TRW Active Control Retractor (ACR) links active and passive safety systems. ACR is designed to use braking and stability control sensor information to sense a potential accident. The system removes the seatbelt slack to help better position the occupant in relation to the vehicle's airbag restraint system.]
Who would-a-thunk it! In an accident the seat belt doesn't just stop me, it actively pulls me back.

SO:

$3,594.56 for all the parts, including;
$1,580.75 for the airbag parts and new retracting seat belt.
$611.88 for the expert to come install, test and re-program everything.

To Make 'Clyde The Ride' whole again.
$8,259.09 Parts and Labor
$0 500.00 Deductible

$8,759.09

Having insurance: Priceless.

[VetteOwner]

wow nice. glad everyone's ok.

lotta new cars (domestic and foriegn) have those self retracting seatbelts. amazing things.

also amazing at the cost of airbags isnt it lol

[theholycow]

Wow, bummer.

The airbag stayed inflated? They're supposed to deflate immediately.

Seatbelt pretensioners:

Like airbags, pretensioners are triggered by sensors in the car's body, and most pretensioners use explosively expanding gas to drive a piston that retracts the belt.

I thought I remember that they're powder-actuated, but I guess not.

[shatto]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Wow, bummer.

The airbag stayed inflated? They're supposed to deflate immediately.

Seatbelt pretensioners:

I thought I remember that they're powder-actuated, but I guess not.

It deflated slowly. Of course everything was happening in fractions of seconds.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by shatto

It deflated slowly. Of course everything was happening in fractions of seconds.

Ah. I was reacting to:

Finally off the road and stopped, I popped off the seat belt opened the door and fought my way past the air bag to check on the driver ....... of the BMW....

[shatto]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Ah. I was reacting to:

"I'm not as good as I once was, but once, I'm as good as I ever was."

[JanGeo]

Those kids waving constitutes a safety hazard - I remember reading about scantily clad women on sidewalks causing accidents and they actually got sued because they caused a distraction to drivers.

Hey - I bet you won't be doing THAT again. It is amazing how quickly things like that happen - which is why I stay 3 seconds or more back from the car in front of me - gives me at least a second to react after missing 2 seconds looking somewhere else.

Glad you are ok - yeah toyota has those explosive charges in the shoulder straps to tension them - nice but then only work once then need replacing.

[bowtieguy]

i've seen and heard of too many collisions as of late(even 1 is too many), so here's a fine defensive course refresher...

http://www.smith-system.com/

[shatto]

Then there are the 'Old Folks' driving courses through the Insurance companies.

Three seconds back doesn't work when you wave at kids for one and a half......

[Nrggeek]

Glad you're okay. Point noted - don't wave.