[Pepper'D]

this is brother car on brum run nov got out without injury too airbag didn,t go off either

[Chris A]

Ouch, that looks nasty BLB. I was quite surprised I didnt end up upside down myself

Thanks for all the messages of support, everybody. Really makes me feel better.

Insurance have been really helpful so far too.

[Pepper'D]

we had a helicopter come out and everything they couldn't find us it took them half an hour . cop shop was only 5 mins away and recovery van place about a mile down road

[milliethemini]

Chris,

Firstly, thank goodness you are fine. That's quite some damage on your MINI.

Now that you have posted some pictures of your car, I now have a clearer picture of where the impact point was;

The impact is on the rear, on the left hand side (passenger side in the UK). Looks like a rear offset collision. That probably explains why only the passenger side airbag went off in the front, as the force from the impace was probably transmitted to the front.

In a strange way, it's actually a good thing that your driver's side airbag did NOT go off. Why? Because a rear impact like that could have pushed your car forward into another vehicle or an obstruction, resulting in a front collision too. You would want the front airbag to go off then. You wouldn't want a situation where the rear impact activated your front airbag for no good reason, then pushed the car forward to collide with something in front, but by then you wouldn't have the usage of the front airbag anymore, and that could result in some serious injuries for you.

On thing that gives me concern, is that the damage was sufficient to reach the back seats, sufficient enough to dislodge them!!! I fear that if there were any passengers in the back seat, they wouldn't have fared too well from this accident. Chris, what is your take on this?

[SoggyCornFlakes]

Blimey Chris, just seen this. so sorry for the write off but so pleased to hear you're ok. Yet again a MINI has shown to stand up very well in an impact - looks like it might not have been you're fault either so good luck with that

[Ginger]

These pictures are auful, where is the rear wheel? Good to see the MINI did its job though, that must have been one hell of an impact.
G

[jennis]

Again I am saying so glad that you are OK. The damage is terrible. What I'm thinking now is what did the other car end up like?!

[Trina]

Oh no! Was off mini2 yesterday, and just catching up now!
I'm so sorry to hear about your accident, and relieved that you walked away from it. The photos look terrible. Best of luck to you. We'll all miss seeing your Smiley

[scooperman_uk]

christ on a bike. im more than glad to hear that your OK Chris... having now seen the extent of the damage to your MINI. i think your really lucky to walk away. I can honestly say there not much left of your MINI apart from shrapnel and caved in chassis. best of luck with your claim and lets home that you get your replacement soon. Is it going to have the ies on it. i think those a great. If anything your MINI is a great testemant to the degree of safety that is present.....

[mini_magik]

sorry to hear about this chris. like everyone has said glad your ok. Money can buy another ca but you cant be replaced.

Magik

[AmRov]

Wow, what a testimonial to the safety of a MINI! (I think...) Glad you are OK.

So, will there be a Smiley 2 -- Son of Smiley?

[steve5452]

OMG what a mess! glad that only your cars got injured.

[OregonCooper]

Those pictures look bad; glad you're okay.

[R1]

Glad your OK.

Looks like a nasty experience.

[EBMCS03]

OMG! thats looks like one Scary accident... So glad to hear that you're ok. Glad that the MINI did its job...

[BRGreenie]

WOW - glad you are ok the pictures are horrific...

[Majestic]

Sorry to hear about your accident. It looks awful. Are you sure you didn't drive over a land mine?

Glad you and the other driver are OK. Hope you are back on the road again soon.

[stryder]

I've moved most (ran out of time) of the airbag discussion to this thread: http://www.mini2.com/forum/general-discussion/51336-airbags-good-bad.html

[Chris A]

I'm shocked to hear that it's common for people not to wear seatbelts in the states? Why? Surely if they're fitted you should use them. Regarding the airbag argument, there was blood on my side airbag so I'm sure it did something. Frankly I'm usually terrified to be in a car without side airbags, simply because of the number of roundabouts in my town (and hence front-to-side impacts).

My insurance company (Tesco) have been great so far - I'd certainly recommend them to anybody. I had a courtesy car delivered within 2 hours of phoning them. It's a Peugeot 307 HDi, but it's better than nothing.

In terms of injuries, I've had to sleep in a chair the past few nights because I can't lie down. I have a lot of neck/shoulder pain and my neck can 'lock' if I move it too suddenly. Hopefully it'll heal in a couple of weeks.

I'm amazed at how well the Mini held up. I really think I would have been dead in most other cars of this size. Thanks for all the support, everybody.

[Richard Crofts]

Happy your sound and safe...hope the insurance goes your way

Maybe you should look at it as an oppertunity, its an excuse to get an S...(I think yours was a cooper)

ps. remind me to avoid you though, as your not far from me, and as I would rather not test my COOPER like you did yours..

Hope we see you racing about again soon without black deisel smoke puffing from your french mobile....dont you find the 2.0 Hdi really sluggish, those pug deisels really need turbos...i hated them.