Man sorry to hear about that, glad to hear your okay though.

 

Sorry to hear what happened. Your car is one of the nicest looking SCs out there especially with the GS rims. Hopefully, you'll get it fixed up soon and bring it to the next meet for us to see it.

Good luck.

Ed

 

95 is the first year that they put in side impact door beams. You should be glad. I got hit in my '98 SC400 by a F250 pickup square on the passenger door. The pickup hit my door hard enough that the truck could not be driven away. I was able to drive my Lexus. In fact, if someone had been in the passenger seat they would not have been harmed in any way. The door glass did not even break! This convinced me on the spot that I wanted another SC400.

The insurance took a couple weeks before they decided to total it. I had just put a couple thousand dollars into maintenance and upgrades right before the accident (not to mention many, many hours of my time). It was Perfect. I was really bummed.

The insurance company eventually paid me $25K for the car, and I found a '99 SC400 for sale for $17K. I am in the process of putting new Supra brakes front and rear and new 18" rims and tires. If my other car was not totalled, I could not have afforded these upgrades. I miss my '98, but I am loving my '99.

Things will work out fine one way or another, though it may take some time. Be patient.

Tom

 

Hopefully my boy can have a similar outcome!! Newer car, and money left for mods

 

Are you sure about that? I have taken off my door trim many times and have seen a nearly horizontal bar running across the door.



On a second note. Was turning to the side a better choice than getting it head on? The reason I ask is that cars are made to collide head on. Thats where the airbags and crumple zones come into play. I'm pretty stumped on this one, any physics majors in here?

 

You also have to wonder, would you rather have the front end completely mangled, risk frame damage? Or swerve out of the way to try and avoid that, just taking some damage on the side? Since he turned out ok, that makes me think of it that way...

 

I'm not trying to start up any controversy on this topic. I am in search for some facts so if I am ever in that situation I will know the "right" thing to do.

If taking the car head-on meant minimal injury to me, I think I would let the car have it. A lot of hard work has gone into it but its no use to you if you aren't there to enjoy it after...

Yep I am glad he turned out okay. The SC's are well built cars! With intelligent drivers behind the wheels it makes the SC even better!

 

A head-on at 80mph is never going to see you in good condition. Were the cops OK? If so, how? Did your car take much of his speed off?

I would imagine he was "glanced" on the side, rather than T-boned. I don't know where I'd rather get hit with a car doing 80mph... I doubt its going to be survivable in many situations...

 

HOLEY S#1T!!!!!

sorry to hear the news. i'm glad you're ok though. hopefully you will get to keep your car and maybe have some extra cash to play with.

 

bro..."D" called me and told me the news, i'm glad u got out the way and weren't really hurt ...i hope eveything id o.k.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bizzy928
[B]Are you sure about that? I have taken off my door trim many times and have seen a nearly horizontal bar running across the door.


The '95 model was the first to meet the 1997 side impact standard:

http://www.intellexual.net/sc400.html#95

 

I talked to him yesterday, and yes he was sideswiped, the copcar took the brunt of the headon collision. I dont know whats better or worse, but in this case, it seems like he did alot better by turning. I would imagine, that since the airbags came out of the 'dingbats' car a head-collision may have been worse!!

 

It's always hard seeing a fellow member get into an accident. Glad to see you ok but sad to see your ride smashed up... good luck with the repairs.

 

Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. You're probably really pissed right now but soon you'll realize that it could have been much worse. I hope your insurance totals it for ya cause the car will never seem right again to you.

I can tell you from experience that you should get to a doctor and get checked out. I felt better a lot sooner because I got good medical care really quick.

Thank god for the SC's being tanks.

 

He did the right thing by turning. Side impacts are no joke, but only if hit flat on the side. what he did by turning was make the impact a glancing blow. a head on impact would have absorbed 100% of the energy within the mass moving at him. By turning and taking a glancing blow he only absorbed roughly 50% or less of the impact he WOULD have recieved by stopping the mass dead in it's tracks.

If it had enough forward momentum to go through him and still mangle the cop car, he probably only absorbed 30% of the mass's total energy, which is awsome.

Glancing blows usually result in little to no injury due to the lack of energy expelled on the car. it is much easier to have a bowling ball thrown at you and you grab the ball with your hand, only to have it slip out the side of your fingers and keep going, than for it to hit you dead in the chest. You only suceeded in catching some of the energy and slow it down. Just like how he slowed the car down, but didn't stop it from hitting the cop.

If you are going to try this, you better be damn good at calculation, or have a trunk of lucky rabbit's feet.