jasone36

Recently I was driving through an industrial park and hit an unpainted (effectively invisible) speed bump at around 45 MPH. The speed bump was the same exact color as the road.

My car made a terrible noise and my head almost hit the roof (good thing the top was not open).

Immediately after this incident my car started making a strange noise when idling, the kind of noise which an old bus makes when it is idling, like a slightly deafening low volume sound which stops as soon as you start moving.

I would welcome any thoughts on this. Thank you.

robertrios

iTrader: (11)

you probably crushed parts of your exhaust system, take it to a shop and have them put it on the lift before it gets worse ...not a good thing if its pinched or disconnected somewhere.

bacardi

jason
if you don't say you were doing 45 you may be able to get the owner of the property to pay for the damage because the speed bump was not painted yellow and it was night time and
could n't see any speed bump. they should have been painted.

VVTiBob

Hmmmmmm....was this on public or private property? I'd fine it hard to believe it was unmarked on public property. If the speed bump is on private property and is unmarked then then you may have a limited claimed, but you hold joint responsibility/liability too.
IMO 45 MPH in an "industrial park" is not a safe speed considering the typical conditions of industrial parks, i.e. nearby buildings, driveways, parked cars, walkway paths and pedestrian activity.

It would be wise to have the car inspected as suggested for damage to the exhaust, suspension and both set of mounts (motor and transmission).

Seems to me responsibility for this incident falls to an issue of personal character and your own ethics. You know, .... how we behave when we know no one is watching.
I hope the damage is very minor, but more importantly, an opportunity for a lesson learned.

jasone36

VVtiBob, you bring up good points. Unfortunately, there is really no option for shifting liability. I was on an "access road" to an industrial park, so likely on technically a 'public roadway', but the type of neighbourhood all around is the type where unpainted speed bumps are the least of their worries (think very low-income, inner-city urban area where you see more "bail bond" and "check cashing" businesses than anything else).

Ironically, the super low income areas with the most run down housing typically have the nicest "SUVs" on 28 inch rims (they call them "dubs"), hardly the kind of place where you'd find anyone taking the liability for an unpainted speed bump. Makes me wonder how all these high end SUVs on "dubs" with low profile tires fare on the terrible neighbourhood roads.

Next time I bring the SC430 in for service I'm going to ask them to examine the bottom/exhaust for visible damage, it seems the sound has somewhat subsided in the day after the incident.

bacardi

bob
your answer is 100% right. i was looking at the other angle. i know, i know.

JohnnyCake

LOL, around here, a dub is a bag of weed.

braheem

iTrader: (4)

dub short for double = 20" rims

deuces short for twos = 22" rims

You guys better not be sporting CL stickers up in there.


Meaning $20 dolla' worth