Got rear ended...

Wow

 

thats what i'm going to end up having to do, what happened with yours?? PM me if you want. I'd like to pick your brain.

edit: pm sent, i need info!! lol

 

Went from a diesel to a tacoma. This was left over. I like to think of it as a detterent

 

yeah i think leaving hitches in are the way to go

 

Sorry about that, glad you ok. Just sucks! Got rear end last year. i had to see a chiropractor for my back for 2 months.

my damage was 10k it was the same damage as yours. Unfortunately not totaled.

The person at fault there insurance paid all repairs.



my accident

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/321973-got-rear-ended-past-saturday.html

 

I personally think having the hitch in can help depending on the incident. On my drop hitch there is paint off a civic and a mercedes. Both times the hitch stopped them from hitting my bumper while messing up theirs, but they also did not hit me as fast as what happened to op.

 

Trailer hitch ball FTW! punched a nice hole through the bumper and radiator of the offending vehicle

AAAaandd that's why I leave my ball on the hitch!

Glad you guys are alright

 

guess that is a good point

 

Did that witness just leave the scene of the accident?

Glad you all are okay. Hope your rig isn't totaled.

I keep a big red shackle hitch in as a visual deterrent. (And to yank Ford Explorers out of the sand)

 

I cant believe that mazda drove away beavis!

The hitch definitely acted like a pry bar and magnified the damage, but if I hadnt had it on there, the other car would have gotten lodged under my truck for sure, causing me to go further forward impacting the car in front. He was going 35-40mph according to the cop's best estimate.

choppersx, how long did you have to wait for a frame? was it new or used? How is the truck since repaired?

 

The part of the frame where it was damage was is a bolted on part,my truck been riding well. No issues. The alignment came out good.

All parts were brand new dealer parts.


Repair wait was 3 and half weeks.

 

Not a bad wait time.

Just noticed the bed hit the cab, plus both airbag lights just came on, none of that was in the original estimate...

 

Whoever doing the repairs make sure the shop do detail inspection and adjuster as well, adjuster from your insurance. My bed was replaced except the moldings and bed compartments.

i got the same marks of paint scraped from the bed.

The airbag lights also turn on mine, autoshop took my truck to reprogram it to the dealer including my passenger seat belt sensor.

on my bed where you see the zig zag white line was all cracked across. i found out a day after the repair, the bed was not sitting straight. My adjuster when to go look at it and they ended up ordering that piece. No questions asked.

 

Cool, thanks for the heads up

 

No problem, feel free. if you have any other questions.


The waiting part sucks.

 

Didn't think of that

 

I agree with Bevis. I think the truck would come out better without the hitch then with.

With a very light fender bender, the hitch might help add damage to the other car, but seems most threads on here when someone is rear ended with a hitch in, they have frame damage. I took mine out for this very reason.

If you keep finding more damage, I might start looking for stock parts to switch out with your modded parts incase they total it.

 

I'm kind of on the fence with this issue. I had my hitch in when I got rear ended. It punched a hole in the offending car's grill, but I had no damage.

With a big hit like the OP had, I have to wonder if the hitch was not there if the car would still have hit the receiver with a similar amount of force after plowing through the bumper, smashing the tailgate and bowing the sides of the bed. The frame took most of the impact but I'm not sure if I would rather have the rest of the back of the truck take more damage instead.

The way I see it, it's a lose/lose situation either way. If dumbass plows into the back of your truck as hard as that guy did, stuff is going to get damaged. I'm just glad the OP and his girl weren't injured.

Oh, and Patrick, I'm also very satisfied to see the dumbass (without a valid license and insurance) that hit you wasn't able to drive away from his mistake. Hopefully he does some jail time too.

 

back in 07' i had an F250 decide to use me as a stopblock at an intersection...

a frame and 18k later... i didn't have a hitch ball in at the time. hitch still got rolled under and pushed the spare tire into the pumpkin of the diff.

i was still able to drive away.

 

Good info there. I'll just keep mine in.