So is it Totalled?

[69_500]

Wife was hit by a Semi in our '04 Durango yesterday morning on her way into work. She was driving down a road, and a semi without a trailer turned right from a center turn lane on a road into the driver's side of the Durango. Then she locked up the brakes and slid off into a parking lot and struck the rear of an empty semi trailer. Everyone is okay, but now the insurance company is trying to say the Durango isn't too badly damaged. (I don't think its too bad, but always was under the impression "totalled" was a value based upon how much it was to repair vs. the retail value of said vehicle at this time?)  Also wondering/trying to figure out why on earth the front air bags didn't go off considering the amount of damage and speed of the crash. Any idea's?

[Charger-Bodie]

I would say NOT Totalled.

As for the air bags. There just wasnt quite enuf inertia created to deploy them. Assuming they were in working order at the time of the incident. 

[gtx6970]

Totalled, Based on the pics. I doubt it, But it really depends on if the frame is hurt. Looking at the pics I don't think so as it looks to be more centered than off center where the frame rails are. BUT fact is it's a 2004 so it might go either way

[69_500]

She was following the Semi in the lane, then he got over into the center turn lane and then as she was going around him (still in the lane) he hit her in the driver's side. You can see the marks on the road where she locked up the brakes when she noticed him coming over into her lane, but the semi driver claims she was passing him on the shoulder. Keep in mind it was a Semi with no trailer attached, so in my opinion no need in the world to swing out an entire lane wide to make a right turn. Let alone without turn signal on, which was addmited to by the driver of the trunk.
And as you can see in the photo's the skid marks start in the middle of the lane swerving to the right, not on the shoulder going to the right. But what has me really concerned is the fact that the airbag didn't go off at all on a front end collision like that. Estimate speed was probably around 20-25 when struck the trailer that was sitting in the lot (white trailer that says Wheaton in the photo's, hit the corner of the trailer square in the front end). Speed limit on the road is 45 so I'm just guessing speed was down to around 20-25 when they hit the trailer. Considering it is about 35 feet from the side of the road.

[mikepmcs]

I agree with Brian, it's fixable.  New bumper covers, tie bar/support, 2 new doors, some engine bay guts, etc... and you'll be back on the road in no time.  Looks like it hit higher(makes sense cause it's a semi trailer) so the frame is most likely ok, mostly just cosmetics and parts, maybe a center pillar adjustment, blending....

Glad nobody was hurt!

What insurance company do you have?

[69bronzeT5]

I agree with the other guys, it shouldn't be totalled. I've seen worse fixed.

[Chris G.]

Not even close to being totalled (IMO). Even a bent frame doesn't carry much weight these days. They simply put another rail in. It all depends on how much it will cost to fix. Mine was literally a couple hundred bucks away from being totalled, but they wouldn't budge.

Glad everyone was OK.

[69_500]

That is what we were wondering. I know that the term totaled means two different things with a new car in comparison to an older car. To me if a Charger was like that I'd still take it. Its definitely fixable. However in the minds of an insurance company, how much are they willing to pay out to fix a 5 year old vehicle with 75K miles on it. I'm guessing resale value can't be more than around $6-7,500 in today's market. From what I see, the one frame rail looks a little tweaked on the drivers side, the radiator needs replaced has a hole in the middle of it, front bumper, hood, front grille, drivers side headlight, drivers side mirror is busted, drivers door, back door on drivers side, drivers side rear quarter has a nice crease down it, and rear bumper. Just wondering if when you add all of that up if it would be more than they would be willing to pay. Honestly I hope they do fix it because I never had any problems with that Durango, and it would have been paid for next week. Mailed in the last payment on it yesterday.

[Mike DC]

 
Agreed.  It's DEFINITELY fixable in the concrete sense.  It's just a matter of the cost/value scale that might total something like that.


Yeah, it looks like the fact that it's hit higher up probably reduced the price of the repair.  The front bumper (and thus, the frame) went mostly under the hit. 

[472 R/T SE]

Was it a day cab truck or did it have a sleeper?  If it was an OTR driver, someone should have checked his log book.  To me it looks like the driver brain farted and thought he had a trailer hooked up so he was swinging wide to make the turn.  It may sound far fetched but when you're dog tired you do dumb sh&t.
If he did have a trailer and signaled it would have been your wife's fault.

My wife rear ended an SUV with my 300m and the bumper was pretty much unscathed like your Durango and the air bags didn't go off either.  I think the bumper's need to be compressed.

It could have been a lot worse.  Glad your family members' are OK.

[mikepmcs]

Found this on Airbag deployment:

Airbags are designed to deploy only when they might be needed to prevent serious injury. In order for airbags to be effective they must deploy early in a crash; in a frontal crash this typically occurs within the first 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds). A vehicle's airbag control module relies on feedback from crash sensors to predict whether an event is severe enough to warrant an airbag deployment.

Frontal airbags: Frontal airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal crashes. Some manufacturers use different inflation thresholds depending on whether people are using their safety belts. One threshold used by airbag designers is "must deploy" which includes a situation such as an impact into a rigid wall of 10-12 mph for unbelted occupants. The "must deploy" threshold is slightly higher — about 16 mph — for belted occupants because the belts alone are likely to provide adequate protection up to these moderate speeds. Frontal airbags may deploy to help protect occupants in side impacts if there is sufficient forward deceleration during the crash. For example, if a vehicle is moving forward at the time of a side impact, frontal airbags can help prevent serious injuries.

New "advanced" airbags are designed to suppress deployment if weight sensors in the seat detect that a front-seat passenger is small or in a child safety seat. Advanced airbags also can deploy at a lower energy level or pressure when passengers are small or out of position, or if the crash is of very low severity.

Side airbags: Because of the small space between an occupant and the side of the vehicle, side airbags must deploy very quickly to cushion occupants from intruding vehicles or objects. Some airbags typically deploy within the first 10-20 milliseconds of a side crash. "Must deploy" thresholds can be as low as 8 mph for narrow object crashes (i.e. trees and poles) and 18 mph for the more distributed side crashes (vehicle-to-vehicle crashes). Several auto manufacturers deploy the side airbags in frontal crashes to help control occupant movement during the rebound phase of a crash. Some curtain side airbags may stay inflated longer to protect occupants in rollover crashes. Allowing the airbags to remain inflated or triggering their deployment during a rollover can help prevent full or partial ejection of occupants.

[69_500]

Truck in the front is the one that hit her. I realize that if he did have a trailer he would have been swinging out wide, but without a trailer and by the tire marks in the road, I don't see any need for him to be an entire lane over to make the turn into the lot. I don't know what has been determined as to who was at fault in the accident though, but I would assume it would be him. I mean without a trailer, even with a right turn signal on, there would be no reason to be turning right from the center turn lane. I had also asked my wife if they looked at his log book, or even if he was asked to stick around for a drug test as I was told that with my CDL that if I'm ever in any accident I have to wait at the scene to take a piss test. It might be an Indiana thing though.

[472 R/T SE]

Under I think Federal law he has to be piss tested w/in a certain time frame, but it's the company he works for responsibility.  I imagine they sent him in when he got back to the terminal. 

I can understand you can't figure out why he was swinging wide, if that's what he was doing.  But take my word for it (heavy hauler, crane oiler since '83), when you're pulling a trailer around 99% of the time it's racked in your brain to swing wide.  That 1% you're gonna forget there's no trailer back there every once in a while.  I do know when I run the day cab trucks I would have looked out the back window given that driver's scenario.

Watch a bobtail (no trailer) truck sometime make a turn and see if he doesn't swing wide.

Sorry for all the speculation. 

If they didn't total out Chris G's pick up there's no way the Durango will be.   

[1969chargerrtse]

Glad to hear she's o.k  That's the most important thing here. 

[vancamp]

is it fixable yes, is it totaled maybe, depends on the insurance company o4 durango with a 5.7 and 2wd retail is $8800-$9000 around here they are totaling most at 50-60 percent.

[Charger-Bodie]

is it fixable yes, is it totaled maybe, depends on the insurance company o4 durango with a 5.7 and 2wd retail is $8800-$9000 around here they are totaling most at 50-60 percent.

What!? 50-60 % That means someone has to pay 40-50 % for the ins. Co to break even...Never happen around here .Its more like 85% and alot of the times more.

[500hp_440]

I would push for totaled , that just because of the type of car it is, you know? It is fixable though.
You scared my when I saw the title I though you wrecked your charger , glad everyone's ok, car can be replaced but people cant

[bordin34]

I would say not totaled. If she wasn't hurt then I would say she is lucky the airbags didn't go of, they smell worse than you can imagine 
And now, another opportunity for me to post my crash pictures  . The airbags went of in this and the front was not damaged at all except for the wheel which broke.

[69charger2002]

well here's my take. and truthfully it can go either way. but around here it is 75% of retail value. in this case, that would most likely be totalled figuring all new parts from Dodge and not aftermarket pieces. body/paint/labor for that many pieces, even assuming no frame damage, will get close to 10k in a hurry. my personal opinion, it would be considered totalled out. fixable? of course.. but that isn't the question here. i've seen cars totalled out around here with much less damage. the main thing to consider here is it IS 5 years old, not 1-2
trav

[vancamp]

is it fixable yes, is it totaled maybe, depends on the insurance company o4 durango with a 5.7 and 2wd retail is $8800-$9000 around here they are totaling most at 50-60 percent.

What!? 50-60 % That means someone has to pay 40-50 % for the ins. Co to break even...Never happen around here .Its more like 85% and alot of the times more.

salvage companys here are paying well for late model wrecks, in early 08 my father had a kid pull out in front of him my father was driving a 2001 ford truck  light damage but it totaled, he was going to buy it back and repair it himself (he is a bodyman) the price the scrap company offered the insurance company made it cost prohibitive to buy back.

[Aero426]

Danny, it looks like a real high hit so that part is good.  Looks like it did not do significant damage to the front rails.  I would say that with the damage sustained, if it had  blown the air bags, then I would say it would be "game over".  So I think you are OK.    Cost has to get to about 70 percent of value before it's totalled. 

[bull]

Bummer. I'm glad no one got hurt. I'm no body man or insurance adjustor but "totaled" basically means it would cost more to repair it than it's worth, correct? I can't see that costing more than $8k-$9k to repair. Much of it is just going to be bolt-on type repairs by the looks of it.

I was going to say maybe they can do you a favor and make it look like an '03 when they fix it but then I thought that might piss someone off so I decided not to say it.

[69_500]

I'm undecided as to how I'd rather see it go honestly. If its totaled then just maybe I have a slim chance into talking the wife into a new Challenger as a replacement. If it isn't then we still have the Durango that she wanted 5 years ago instead of a smaller car. Which was fine by me, as I have used it a few times to tow trailers and it didn't pretty well. Heck it pulled the 500 all the way back from Montana without any problem.

Don't get me wrong we are all happiest that no one was hurt. The odd thing here is that this was about 2 days after I had just told my wife that this would be the first time I had owned a car long enough to pay it off before selling it or trading it on something else. Then this goes and happens.

[bull]

I'm undecided as to how I'd rather see it go honestly. If its totaled then just maybe I have a slim chance into talking the wife into a new Challenger as a replacement. If it isn't then we still have the Durango that she wanted 5 years ago instead of a smaller car. Which was fine by me, as I have used it a few times to tow trailers and it didn't pretty well. Heck it pulled the 500 all the way back from Montana without any problem.

Don't get me wrong we are all happiest that no one was hurt. The odd thing here is that this was about 2 days after I had just told my wife that this would be the first time I had owned a car long enough to pay it off before selling it or trading it on something else. Then this goes and happens.

We drove by the Dodge dealership today on the way home and there was a black R/T sitting there with that new stripe scheme and I half-joked about getting it and trading our '03 Durango in on it. She commented about how much I enjoyed driving the Durango in the snow and then I commented on how I would probably be just fine without the Durango provided I could replace it with a Challenger R/T. Now we're both thinking about it... Probably not the most responsible thing to do but definitely the most fun and daring.

[69_500]

Well I know my wife likes the Challenger's they have out now. She loved the prototype they had on display at Vegas 3 years ago. And ever since then she has wanted a B5 blue one, so once they are actually on the lot I have a feeling I'll be in the market for one.