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Rio down. (dial up connection beware - pics inside)

4K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  cgawelko 
#1 · (Edited)
Tuesday morning we lost our Rio to a dip sh!t who doesnt know red lights mean stop. Ran the red light and according to the many witnesses - made no attempt to stop. My wife was injured and taken by ambulance while in the photos you can tell the other vehicle isnt even scratched. Airbags in the kia DID NOT deploy and I am meeting with a lawyer tomorrow about that because the body shop said the seat belt retractors werent even triggered. Book value is anywhere from 7-8k without the options we have - repair is $9128 and we owe $11k. Now for pics of the wreck and later at the towing yard. ((note: the brown soul in the back is not part of the accident - thats me parked there because I was at home when it happened))







 
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#3 · (Edited)
The car was not hit that hard and the air bag sensors have a trigger level that probably was not reached... Therefore no air bag deployed...
The side impact air bags fire at approximately a 18MPH hit ...
I see the "B" pillar was not bent... and your wife doesn't look any worse for wear other than possibly shook up a bruise or two and a few pieces of safety glass...
The car did what was expected at that level of damage... The doors crinkled and the side impact bars contained the impact...
Today's cars are designed to crumple even at low speeds...

If you want to make out on this car...
Have the insurance company pay off the car then buy it back from your insurance company as "salvage" and get two doors and a front fender...Get the rear quarter panel repaired and have the car repainted...
Check out car-part.com for local Oregon "donor" cars for parts and visit a local body shop that wants your business...
You will loose the monthly car payment and still have the car to drive...

Here is a "buy it now" 2012 Rio on iaai.com with damage similar to yours being sold for $1750...
None of the side air bags went off on this one also
https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/VehicleDetails.aspx?itemID=21936428&RowNumber=0&loadRecent=True

I drive a rebuilt "salvage" 06 Spectra, My son drives a rebuilt salvage 08 Hyundai Accent, My daughter drives a rebuilt salvage 08 Hyundai Sonata... We have no car payments and they are very safe..
Dave
 
#4 · (Edited)
The seat belt pre-tensioners normally only work in a frontal collision so it is normal they wouldn't have been activated. As far as the airbags go, I agree with the post above that the damage doesn't look bad enough to have triggered air bags. Modern car air bag systems have their own computer system monitoring sensors to determine which air bags are deployed if they are at all. They are programmed to deploy in conditions where they would provided additional protection.

Right out of the manual:

Side impact air bag

Your vehicle is equipped with a side impact air bag in each front seat. The purpose of the air bag is to provide the vehicle's driver and/or the front passenger with additional protection than that offered by the seat belt alone. The side impact air bags are designed to deploy only during certain side-impact collisions, depending on the crash severity,
angle, speed and point of impact. The side air bags are not designed to deploy in all side impact situations.

Curtain air bag

Curtain air bags are located along both sides of the roof rails above the front and rear doors. They are designed to help protect the heads of the front seat occupants and the rear outboard seat occupants in certain side impact collisions.
The curtain air bags are designed to deploy only during certain side impact collisions, depending on the crash severity,
angle, speed and impact. The curtain air bags are not designed to deploy in all side impact situations, collisions from the front or rear of the vehicle or in most rollover situations.

Why didn’t my air bag go off in a collision? (Inflation and non-inflation conditions of the air bag)

There are many types of accidents in which the air bag would not be expected to provide additional protection. These include rear impacts, second or third collisions in multiple impact accidents, as well as low speed impacts. In other words, just because your vehicle is damaged and even if it is totally unusable, don’t be surprised that the air bags did not inflate.

Pre-tensioner seat belt

Your vehicle is equipped with driver's and front passenger's pre-tensioner safety belts. The purpose of the pre-tensioner is to make sure that excess slack is taken up in certain frontal collisions (or side collisions). The pretensioner seat belts will activate together with the air bags, where the frontal collision is severe enough.
 
#5 ·
she was hit at 25mph - at least. because thats a 25mph zone and the lady said she panicked and hit the gas right at the end too. She has more than just a couple bruises lol I wish that was everything.

That vehicle in the link says just over 10k in damage but the rear tire is ripped off. I have no suspension damage done to this vehicle. So for $1000 less you would think its pretty severe. The car is going to be totaled out, we are going to have to replace the car. We might sell it to the towing company guy for his daughter because he really liked the car.

I have had many salvage cars but this is her. She is a bit emotionally attached to the car but she has been having a lot of anxiety and everything and wont ride in cars now. Looking for something safer so she can take it a little easy. Was looking at optimas and stuff
 
#6 · (Edited)
Also - "right outta the manual" The IIHS Pole Test (side impact) is tested at 31mph with the impact occurring directly where my car was hit. Those airbags should have gone off. Period.

Not to mention the shop that has it is the one that does repair work for the kia dealer, as well as the Audi dealer, the porsche dealer, and the mercedes dealer and they have it in their shop. Not just going from internet photos.
 
#7 ·
Just because the Speed limit is at 25MPH doesn't mean she was travelling at that speed when she hit the car and cars don't accelerate that much in a situation such as yours... Maybe 1~2mph in that time..

Drivers normally should stay BELOW the posted speed limit...Also like posted by another member it says the side air bags may NOT go off in certain situations governed by the SRSII module..
I just don't see that much damage... But that's just me...

The car my daughter now drives (08 Sonata) had both driver doors hit when it was totalled by a 72 year old lady... I had the "B" pillar pulled by a local body shop and hung two doors (from a "donor" car) for a grand total of $600... So bigger doesn't mean safer just bigger... We have less than $3000 with parts in the car that had 74k miles on it...and it is a Sonata "Limited"!!
You stand to loose on the "mods" like the tires and rims and what little interior changes I saw made on the inside of the car...

iaai.com is a good place to look at "new" model year cars when hit.... Most are there because of mandated "crumple zones" that 5~10 years ago would have been repaired...
This includes Mercedes, BMWs, and VERY expensive cars... They ALL crumple... :)
Dave
 
#8 ·
Well I had a shop fix the mirror on my VW that was not VW certified and it was so crap its not even funny. I have had it back twice over a door mirror. This shop is Kias shop as well as the shop for the big names here in the area. And nobody goes UNDER the speed limit lol personally I am always 5 over in 25-35 zones, 10 over in 45-50 zones, and 55+ zones I dont even bother looking at the speed anymore. But they put it up on the frame rack and said its not too bad, just the drivers side is pushed a little and they could straighten it, but for $9128 they are going to total it out. Personally wouldnt care myself but she is picky and worried and doesnt wanna lose her car but doesnt want to have something structurally compromised
 
#9 ·
yet another doctor visit today. Psychiatrist visits scheduled. So far - PTSD, very deep contusions all along the left side, pinched spinal nerve, limping and a lot of stiffness in the left arm and shoulder. Fan-flippin-tastic.... (sarcasm)... Lawyer has been hired for the personal injury because I just cant take that on with my other obligations. Property damage claim negotiations start on monday.
 
#11 ·
Thanks man. its rough and I keep telling her we need to get her into something else but she isnt interested. I even offered a Porsche Macan S....... i took her to drive a twin turbo Cayenne GTS and she wouldnt get in it because she hated the steering wheel shape.... She just spotted one of those mini coopers with the weird top on them - the one that looks like a baseball hat with wheels and she likes it so maybe some emotional healing can begin when she has that companionship back that she had with the Kia. I know it makes us sound nuttier than squirrel turds but that car was like her child. Between her crying in her sleep because she is having dreams about people disassembling the car (because they told her it would go to copart salvage auction if they totalled it and we didnt buy it back), her calling the body shop and towing company to tell the car she loves her and misses her while crying. Its a mess for her. The pinched nerve is causing numbness over night and she keeps waking up with her left arm being numb, the pin and needle feeling she keeps getting across her shoulders, she doesnt really care about her being hurt but she cant even talk about the car without crying. Saying the car is lonely and they miss each other and stuff.........

Hopefully things will get better soon.
 
#12 ·
Friday Liberty Mutual called to tell me its totaled and they will give me 8600 for the car. I told them to stuff it and call back when they will pay 13k. I have till the 13th to remove the car from the body shop - and since its accruing fees - guess what day I am picking it up LOL! and I have the rental until the 16th - again. Keeping it until the last day. They wanna try to squeeze me for money - two can play that game.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Wow,you have my fullest sympathies for the health issues you and your wife are dealing with now.It was exactly the mental health issues your wife is dealing with that got us to buy the 2012 kia Rio 5 we bought that brought me to this forum.Nothing hurts more then seeing your loved one suffering and if a new car even at a bad deal price could help solve at least a little stress ,I was all for that at the time.
And you ran into the steep drop off value this car has in a replacement context.At least your little Kia's door beam saved your wife from serious injury.
I'm a little perplexed at the air bags not going off but an engineer would have to tell why they did'nt.I suspect the impact went just under the threshold of impact and the car was hit in a glancing fashion that did'nt transfer the true g-force of the crash to the sensor. Kia needs to talk to you and get the car to see what happened.
As far as your legal issues,I can tell you this.If your wife is dealing with health issues from the crash no matter what they are,the driver of the vehicles insurance company is to be held fully respondsible for the costs.
You should NOT be talking about any of this here.You should stop talking about the crash in public and talk only to your lawyers.
And be honest about what is going on and don't tell you wife to be hero and get back on the horse and do things she can't do because once that gets videoed in public once-you lose your case.
Your wife might need expensive counseling for several more years because of the actions of this reckless driver.
The best thing to do now is to stop posting here until everything is decided by your lawyers and to take care of your wife and take very seriously how hurt she is both physically and mentally which I already know you do.
Good luck with your case and God bless both of you,cgawelko.
By the way,at my job,we use the Hyundai vans which are identical to the Kia vans today and we run the dirt out of them and they are some damn fine rides-just gas hungry but great vehicles and sturdy as tanks too.
 
#14 ·
if you pull up the NHTSA webpage - A LOT of people have had the air bags fail to deploy. Someone on there was rear ended at 65 while they were stopped and no air bags. Kia engineers say its the angle of the crash. I said bullshit because the Pole Test hits that same spot and the airbags worked. not to mention the pillar that houses the side impact sensor was damaged too.

and we only have a personal injury lawyer - i am covering the property damage myself
 
#15 ·
Well,it looks like you might have the start of a huge class action lawsuit against Kia here.
I don't understand why you have to cover ANY of the property damage-to me that's just bullshit and you should'nt have to do anything when your wife's car got nailed by a obvious reckless driver.
But I think I know what you are doing.
It's called the real world where you try to get on with your life and try to work things out and blanking insurance companies simply can't stand doing that, it sounds like you are finding out.
I wish you the best in this fight you never asked for.
 
#16 ·
Yeah when I called a lawyer here in town about the property damage they told me it wasnt worth hiring them because I would end up with even less in the end. It bites. But Kia USA is worried, because they have called me every few days to setup having one of their engineers come plug into my car at the local dealership and its a bit hard to drive 18 miles with no doors on the left side lol its just a huge mess...
 
#17 ·
Update needed on this. Car is still smashed. Liberty Mutual is making ZERO effort and i havnt heard from them since May. Turned it over to the insurance commissioner for my state (if they dont respond or provide valid reason for not responding the state revokes their license for here) and they said 45 days and I filed it with them on the 31st. The woman still has issues with the spinal nerve despite months if physical therapy. Last visit with the shrink they said they cant help her how she needs and wrote a referral for a specialized trauma one. Car still sits and i still pay the $378 to look at it in its current condition. I redid the interior though. Have some more stuff in store as things progress but we will see.
 
#18 ·
Also forgot to update the kia inspection. They plugged in and found nothing wrong and proceeded to tell me the airbag sensor is in the pillar and not the door. So i pulled the door airbag sensor off the loom and said so whats this? And no answer. The door has a sensor right in the middle of the door, bolted right behind the door panel. They even put on paper that the airbag light came on when the door sensor was removed.
 
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