Our Mark 1 D4D crashed into. First accident in 17 years of ownership.

[Madasafish]

Our Mark 1 T Spirit D4d came into our ownership in 2005.  Much loved and 62k miles.

A week ago a  (very rude word ) driver overtook my wife on a 20 meter long strip of dual carriageway at night, and decided to turn left when he was level with her. Hit driver's side front bumper , wing and headlamp . I have replaced the headlamp after some panel beating (crude sort), and it has just passed its MOT but our insurers deem it uneconomic to repair so we have bought it back net of salvage and insurance excess and are about to receive a largeish three figure lump sum.  Crumple zones all undamaged but bumper is cracked - I will  fettle it later. Headlamp on D4D (And T Sport) is not available used (scarce)  and is made in Japan so Approx £200 new! (I received a 10% discount as I have an account with our local Toyota dealer (Pinkstone). Drives well - no steering/suspension damage and radiator untouched.

 

Bumper was moved approx 5cm sideways and many of the plastic trim retaining screws/washers holding on under bonnet plastic shields collapsed with the impact. I retrieved the missing bumper inserts - see second picture next day in daylight, reassembled bumper and it looks ok ish if tatty.Some fettling to follow.

 

 

[flash22]

It doesn't look too bad - the bumper alone writes the car off its unusual for it to be a Jap built diesel on an 03 (JT VIN)

you should be able to plastic weld the crack in the bumper - just drill the end of the crack so it doesnt spread, the paint marks should buff out

[Guest]

Did the other driver not stop and exchange details? Has to be their fault and a claim on their insurance?

[Madasafish]

3 hours ago, mrpj1 said:

Did the other driver not stop and exchange details? Has to be their fault and a claim on their insurance?

Yes.

My insurers- Swinton/Covea - have been very efficient and all done over mobile incl pictures of damage..

[Bernard Foy]

Although it’s not nice to be involved in an accident. Money wise you haven’t done too badly out of the incident. As long as nobody was injured “all’s well that ends well”.

[Cyker]

Oh noooo!   Not the last of the TOC Mk1 D4D's!

I'm glad you didn't let them take it away and am going to fix it - Hopefully it's just the squishy outer bits and nothing mechanical or structural has been affected. They are surprisingly sturdy cars (As I found out having been both rear-ended and sandwiched in my old ones  ), but the jappy-specific parts can be a bugger as you say.

Hope the missus is okay and not too shaken. Make sure to give her a hug and a mug of tea I guess? (I'm about as good fixing humans as I am with cars tbh  )

 

[Madasafish]

13 hours ago, Cyker said:

Oh noooo!   Not the last of the TOC Mk1 D4D's!

I'm glad you didn't let them take it away and am going to fix it - Hopefully it's just the squishy outer bits and nothing mechanical or structural has been affected. They are surprisingly sturdy cars (As I found out having been both rear-ended and sandwiched in my old ones  ), but the jappy-specific parts can be a bugger as you say.

Hope the missus is okay and not too shaken. Make sure to give her a hug and a mug of tea I guess? (I'm about as good fixing humans as I am with cars tbh  )

 

Crumple zones all OK. A couple of brackets bent and the plastic fixings holding on front wing smashed. Total Cost of DIY repair under  £225. (headlamp £200).

Wife quite calm at time . Then distressed. Now recovered. Thanks for your concerns..As we get older - both in our mid  70s, events tend to hit harder

 

Car still looks nice

[corradovr6]

Really sorry to hear this - its a shame the amount of inconsiderate driving nowadays.  My son recently passed his test and i told him that it was as much about watching out for lunatics and distracted drivers as controlling your own car - as i was also advised many moons ago.

 

If you can get a replacement bumper then well and good.  If not, you can do some plastic welding with a heat gun or even an old soldering iron and some stainless steel mesh behind the damage.  I have used this method many times for broken plastic parts.

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

40 minutes ago, corradovr6 said:

Really sorry to hear this - its a shame the amount of inconsiderate driving nowadays.  My son recently passed his test and i told him that it was as much about watching out for lunatics and distracted drivers as controlling your own car - as i was also advised many moons ago.

 

If you can get a replacement bumper then well and good.  If not, you can do some plastic welding with a heat gun or even an old soldering iron and some stainless steel mesh behind the damage.  I have used this method many times for broken plastic parts.

 

That is good advice for all of us owners of older cars that will probably be written off by a minor bump damaging the plastic body sections.

A couple of days ago I had a car in the right turn lane indicating left next to me in the left turn lane.

This is a very awkward junction exiting from a car park with surrounding small shops onto a road from a busy housing estate.

This road in turn is only 3 or 4 metres from a junction with the main road A46, and traffic lights.

I just had to stay where I was until the oblivious driver turned left across the front of my car.

Ok I have an after market dash cam on all the time , so maybe the insurance situation would have been ok for me fault wise.

But a low mileage 2003 Tsport would I guess be just about valueless £500 maybe , insurance wise, so I would sooner buy back the car and repair even if not cosmetically perfect.

 

 

[Cyker]

Yeah, you almost have to develop Moron Detection Psychic Powers as you drive. I personally think I'm barely suitable to have a driving license, but I also think I'm better than at least 2/3 of all the drivers I encounter. That's pretty bad when someone like me is thinking 2/3 of other drivers should not be allowed to drive because they are dangerous!!

I'm constantly trying to spot potential morons and thinking "What's the stupidest thing they can do?" and formulating contingencies for when they inevitably do said stupid thing. (Most strategies are either slow down and leave more space or get the heck away from them ASAP  )

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

13 hours ago, Cyker said:

Yeah, you almost have to develop Moron Detection Psychic Powers as you drive. I personally think I'm barely suitable to have a driving license, but I also think I'm better than at least 2/3 of all the drivers I encounter. That's pretty bad when someone like me is thinking 2/3 of other drivers should not be allowed to drive because they are dangerous!!

I'm constantly trying to spot potential morons and thinking "What's the stupidest thing they can do?" and formulating contingencies for when they inevitably do said stupid thing. (Most strategies are either slow down and leave more space or get the heck away from them ASAP  )

 

Spot on there Cyker,yes nearly everyone thinks that other drivers are worse than them.

But having the self awareness to realise that we all make mistakes sometimes goes a long way to make safer driving.

And yes,moron detection is an essential skill on the roads, I like you am constantly (unconsciously most of the time) on the lookout for clues , the car itself for a start.

Very rare to see a safe driver in a neglected vehicle IMO,such as bald rear tyres visible from behind them,old body damage (severe of course not the minor sort discussed here)door mirrors hanging off etc.

The driver behaviour, not signalling, chopping lane to lane,road racing, never looking in mirrors, eyes down not bingo 🚓 but messing around with a mobile.

Contingency for the inevitable too true, I think of it as a safety bubble, where traffic allows, front rear and both sides as much room as possible.

Frightening situation an oncoming HGV on a single carriageway overtaking, I am looking for escape routes , maybe gaps between trees, better to hit a stationary tree though than a 60mph lump of metal.

Of course you and other experienced drivers already know all this and more, but when I was younger I wish someone had pointed out things like this to me.

As I found out to my cost , others causing accidents always costs the victim.

 

[bathtub tom]

6 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

better to hit a stationary tree though than a 60mph lump of metal.

Not sure about that, trees can be very unforgiving objects to hit. I wonder what is worse, going into a tree at 60 with only one crumple zone, or a combined 120 crash with two crumple zones?

[Cyker]

That's one of those questions I hope I never have to find out the answer to  

The Yaris has always been an incredibly sturdy car tho' - Toyota were always very proud of their Zero Intrusion interior cell design.

And these new ones turn into a balloon play pit if they are crashed into  

(At this rate the spray-foam emergency system from Demolition Man might become a reality  )

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

2 hours ago, bathtub tom said:

Not sure about that, trees can be very unforgiving objects to hit. I wonder what is worse, going into a tree at 60 with only one crumple zone, or a combined 120 crash with two crumple zones?

Hello bathtub tom, I see your point, I would not like to hit a tree at 60 mph, and have so far managed to avoid it.

As regards crumple zones I was not considering those in that scenario.

I was thinking only of escape routes between trees and the possibility of hitting one being better than a head on at a closing speed of 120mph.

I do not know if crumple zones exist on HGVs and I am no expert in physics, but I reckon if I was hit by 40 tonnes HGV in my 1 tonne Yaris crumple zones would not matter all that much.

Either way tree or HGV is probably a moot point,as both are hopefully extremely unlikely.

Unfortunately there are a few such incidents near here on the A15 single carriageway with HGVs.

 

[Bernard Foy]

20 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Hello bathtub tom, I see your point, I would not like to hit a tree at 60 mph, and have so far managed to avoid it.

As regards crumple zones I was not considering those in that scenario.

I was thinking only of escape routes between trees and the possibility of hitting one being better than a head on at a closing speed of 120mph.

I do not know if crumple zones exist on HGVs and I am no expert in physics, but I reckon if I was hit by 40 tonnes HGV in my 1 tonne Yaris crumple zones would not matter all that much.

Either way tree or HGV is probably a moot point,as both are hopefully extremely unlikely.

Unfortunately there are a few such incidents near here on the A15 single carriageway with HGVs.

 

As Cyker wisely pointed out it’s a question that we hope that will never be imposed on us. I think it’s a between a rock and a hard place 🙏

[Stopeter44]

On 2/24/2022 at 11:44 PM, Cyker said:

I'm constantly trying to spot potential morons and thinking "What's the stupidest thing they can do?" and formulating contingencies for when they inevitably do said stupid thing. (Most strategies are either slow down and leave more space or get the heck away from them ASAP  )

Something scary didn't happen to me the other day. A section of autoroute, about 5 km in total, where two autoroutes join and 5 lanes go down to 3. I can see a white Audi A1 weaving through traffic, maybe 15 km/h faster than the others, I had ACC active, on the medium space setting.

There was a black Nissan Juke moving marginally faster than me in the outside lane. The Nissan driver had also seen the Audi bearing down on him, and decided to get out of the way, which meant into my buffer zone. Which was about the same time the Audi dove for the same space. Fortunately, even though the Audi driver was being reckless and had a total disregard for other drivers on the road at the same time, he was paying attention, and instantly switched back to the outside lane. 

The ACC did it's stuff and the car braked before I could have, and nothing happened, but it was a question of micro seconds, the traffic was moving at about 80 km/h, it would have been a multi car pile up!

[Bernard Foy]

5 hours ago, Stopeter44 said:

Something scary didn't happen to me the other day. A section of autoroute, about 5 km in total, where two autoroutes join and 5 lanes go down to 3. I can see a white Audi A1 weaving through traffic, maybe 15 km/h faster than the others, I had ACC active, on the medium space setting.

There was a black Nissan Juke moving marginally faster than me in the outside lane. The Nissan driver had also seen the Audi bearing down on him, and decided to get out of the way, which meant into my buffer zone. Which was about the same time the Audi dove for the same space. Fortunately, even though the Audi driver was being reckless and had a total disregard for other drivers on the road at the same time, he was paying attention, and instantly switched back to the outside lane. 

The ACC did it's stuff and the car braked before I could have, and nothing happened, but it was a question of micro seconds, the traffic was moving at about 80 km/h, it would have been a multi car pile up!

Thanks to Mr Toyota 🙏