Got crashed yesterday

Heading out to town yesterday morning, on the narrow unpaved road not far from my driveway, I go around a turn and see a BMW X5 SUV coming my way. Too narrow to pass, I hit the brakes and stop, and the guy plows into me nose to nose. There was a couple of inches of mud on the road, and pretty slick in a steady rain.

Back up to where road is wide enough to talk to the guy through face masks, It turns out I know him from long time. He's apologetic and we trade info. It's raining, The truck seemed to drive ok, except for fender inner rubbing at severe wheel angles, and I didn't think at the time that it would be a very big deal.

Got to town, called his insurance, and they said to get a quote. Went to a shop that I know is reputable, was blown away price of over 6k, mostly in parts. Lots of different body parts got bent and everything up front feels loose and all the lights are hanging out and the radiator & transmission cooler are in danger of getting penetrated.

Hopefully the repair won't drag on too long. I'm a bit lost without my truck, and now that I see the damage I don't want to bounce it around on the rough road where I live and do more damage.

 

Sorry to hear that, glad you’re okay. Wonder if the high repair cost is due to shipping those parts to Hawaii?

hope all goes well.

 

No, doesn't add much unless something needs a rush FEDEX airfreight. Toyota parts are about the same (overpriced), but take a month to travel by dhow or whatever. Just a lot of them. Looks like the Baja squadron fog and both headlights, hidden lightbar, and the graphics make it a pita to blend paint.
I'm ready to pull the trigger on a new 4Runner ORP for my wife, to replace her MB GLK which is 7 years old and coming off warrantee. I know better than to own a Benz without warrantee. The 4Runner is on the dealer lot and reserved, but locked down until retail sales opens. Perhaps they will let me write it up next week, since we now have a verifiable need of chunky wheels. Oh well, I'm ready for a new grill anyway...

 

That really sucks such a nice Taco, was he texting and didn't see you? Any damage on the X5? Any more pics?

 

X5 damage seemed pretty mild in comparison. He told me he was not going to make a claim for repairs. Road is very narrow in this area, rock walls and drop-offs and mud holes. It was also on a double blind sharp curve with thick vegetation on top and sides. He was probably moving too fast, and didn't react fast enough when I became visible. I doubt he would be texting at that place. It's a road that is not forgiving for those who don't travel it frequently.


was

 

Tacoma trucks crush on impact. Well built to protect humans.

 

Sorry for your loss but maybe you should use this accident as an opportunity to upgrade to an off-road steel front bumper and an off-road steel back bumper for "protection" against future idiots?

 

Each headlight can be 4 to 600.
Full grill and trim and all the extras are in the hundreds.
That's not factoring in all the hidden damage from the support pieces.
Definitely time for a heavy duty bumper.
Good luck.

 

Oh I forgot to mention, you should probably buy a dash cam too if you dont already own one, imagine if someone hits you head on and decides to dispute whos fault it was? insurance would probably say its 50/50 since it was head on.

 

I did the Hana Hwy. Once.

Scenic.

 

I feel like the bumpers on these trucks are ridiculously crappy. Cheap plastic junk.

 

Their meant to reduce weight for better gas mileage and to crumple upon impact so that if you have a high speed accident it doesnt push the front or back bumper in too much, if they were made out of steel instead of crumpling it would sink deeper into the vehicle causing more damage to the truck. Steel or Aluminum bumpers save you during low speed accidents but during high speed accidents they cause more damage than plastic bumpers. Check out this thread that shows how Aluminum and Steel bumpers look after accidents: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/plate-bumpers-after-impact-with-pics.379600/

 

I've gone the heavy armor route on several vehicles in the past. I have decent steel on the front, rear & sides of my old Wrangler.
It's not something I worry much about these days, it's been 15 years since I dinged a truck on the road. This one seems to be going fine, I know the guy and he told his insurer that he was moving and I was stopped. I have great insurance, too, if I need to use it. And we're about to buy a new 4Runner for my wife, so having the Tacoma down for a while won't be too painful.
I prefer to keep the front and rear ends as light as possible. We have a long ride home from town on a rough road, and a lightly loaded supple suspension and low air pressure on strong sidewall tires makes it comfortable cruising fast over the bumps at night when the road is empty.

 

Glad you're okay. Things can be fixed.

 

Still waiting for 2 insurance companies to sort things out so the body shop can order parts and get to work so I can get my Taco back.
Been seriously considering my options for hardening up the front end a bit. Spending over 6k to replace plastic stuff (even if its not my money) bugs me, along with the wait. I don't want to add much weight in front, and I'm happy with the front suspension and lighting (32" hidden light bar behind lower grill & Baja Squadron Sport amber fogs) and the basic looks as they are. Also I don't want to complicate the insurance claim. Since the grill is bashed up, I'm going with a TRD PRO type grill with quicksand Tacoma letters.
So I ordered an AVID welded tubing bumper guard with hoops. It will be like this one posted in '17 on the complete Third Gen Bumper thread by crazychris4124. It's in my comfort zone, being similar to the hoops that fondly protected my '94 Wrangler through a lot of use & abuse over the past 25 years.