Rear-ended yesterday

[Danno1985]

Yesterday, I was in a turn lane to merge onto a freeway. The light turned green and traffic hadn’t started moving yet, but the guy behind me must’ve been distracted because next thing I knew I felt a sharp “bang!” and the truck jolted forward. I don’t think he could’ve built up much speed in that space, maybe 10-15mph max, but it shook the truck.
I pulled off to the side and got out, expecting to see body damage on both cars. I went through this a few years ago in my old Tacoma, which was totaled by a texting driver in almost the same spot. I was surprised to see minimal damage on either car, other than my bumper no longer being straight and an indentation in the other driver’s front fascia the shape of my tow hitch. Luckily, the guy had insurance. I assumed it would be a matter of either realigning the bumper or getting a replacement from certifit or rock auto, but now I’m starting to wonder if something is more messed up. Truck seems to track straight, but my steering wheel is tilted to the right now, which has me concerned that the frame is bent. Is that speed enough cause frame deflection on these? The car that hit me was a Dodge Avenger - nothing big. I filed a claim and am going to have it looked at and get my neck checked out. Counting my 2003 Tacoma (rip), this now the second truck I’ve bought from a no-salt state that someone rear-ended, so I am going to be extremely bummed if this ends up being frame damage.

 

[sgtsandman]

The bumpers are crush zones. So designed to bend first in order to absorb impact forces some. You could try straightening the bumper with a hammer (it might work), grab one from a junk yard and paint it to match, or buy a new one.

I doubt there is any damage to the frame and I can't see how getting rear ended would effect the steering but I'm not going to say it can't happen. If you are going to let the insurance fix it, it shouldn't be that big of a deal and if it does need some more work for whatever reason, they should be able to take care of it. I think it's going to just be a bumper and maybe some new mounting brackets. They might even be able to just fix it with new mounting brackets.

 

[Danno1985]

The bumpers are crush zones. So designed to bend first in order to absorb impact forces some. You could try straightening the bumper with a hammer (it might work), grab one from a junk yard and paint it to match, or buy a new one.

I doubt there is any damage to the frame and I can't see how getting rear ended would effect the steering but I'm not going to say it can't happen. If you are going to let the insurance fix it, it shouldn't be that big of a deal and if it does need some more work for whatever reason, they should be able to take care of it. I think it's going to just be a bumper and maybe some new mounting brackets. They might even be able to just fix it with new mounting brackets.

That’s what I’m hoping for. My worry is that because the frame took the brunt of the impact via the tow hitch, it may have somehow bent the frame enough to mess up the axle, causing the alignment issue. Fingers crossed that isn’t the case and it’s just a coincidence.

 

[franklin2]

I had the same thing happen to my 86. I thought there was minimal damage also, it did break the taillight. I told the guy to give me $75 for a taillight and I called it good. I did not realize till later when I glanced down the side of the truck that the bedside over the rear wheel was poking out. So something got shortened somewhere. It never did drive any different, and it was a beater so I was not too worried about it. I took my foot and kicked the bedside back in over the rear wheel and it was mostly fixed.

But you might instead of looking at the bumper, sight down the side of the truck and see if it's still straight.

 

[RobbieD]

I was surprised to see minimal damage on either car, other than my bumper no longer being straight and an indentation in the other driver’s front fascia the shape of my tow hitch.

I'd have it looked at by a good body shop. The bumper, and the hitch, for that matter, don't appear to have surface damage (paint scratches, torn plastic trim). If the force was from the other car's fascia and just on the tow hitch, then something had to bend (frame or brackets), or fasteners had to slip to make the bumper that crooked.

Hard to tell in the pics, but the bumper itself may have a slight twist, that would be better seen from the side.

It sucks having your truck take a hit. Definitely have a body shop look at it, and good luck!

 

[franklin2]

The picture below is a pretty good view of the side. I am assuming it got hit on the pass side rear more than the driver's? Mine I guess got hit harder, since it broke the taillight. But just to be sure, run your hand down the bedside, the weak point is right over the wheel well. Make sure there is not a wrinkle there on the bedside.

 

[Danno1985]

The bedsides look straight to me. I wasn’t able to capture it in a photo, but I also feel like the top of the tailgate and the front bulwark of the bed aren’t parallel either. I don’t know, it’s tough to tell since the panel alignment on these was never that great from the factory. The gap between the bed and the cab looks fine. When my Tacoma was rear-ended, I knew it was a total loss when I noticed small dents in the cab where the bed had smacked into it. Keeping my fingers crossed it’s just the bumper.

 

[Lefty]

Yesterday, I was in a turn lane to merge onto a freeway. The light turned green and traffic hadn’t started moving yet, but the guy behind me must’ve been distracted because next thing I knew I felt a sharp “bang!” and the truck jolted forward. I don’t think he could’ve built up much speed in that space, maybe 10-15mph max, but it shook the truck.
I pulled off to the side and got out, expecting to see body damage on both cars. I went through this a few years ago in my old Tacoma, which was totaled by a texting driver in almost the same spot. I was surprised to see minimal damage on either car, other than my bumper no longer being straight and an indentation in the other driver’s front fascia the shape of my tow hitch. Luckily, the guy had insurance. I assumed it would be a matter of either realigning the bumper or getting a replacement from certifit or rock auto, but now I’m starting to wonder if something is more messed up. Truck seems to track straight, but my steering wheel is tilted to the right now, which has me concerned that the frame is bent. Is that speed enough cause frame deflection on these? The car that hit me was a Dodge Avenger - nothing big. I filed a claim and am going to have it looked at and get my neck checked out. Counting my 2003 Tacoma (rip), this now the second truck I’ve bought from a no-salt state that someone rear-ended, so I am going to be extremely bummed if this ends up being frame damage.☹
View attachment 91796View attachment 91797

Sorry to hear it. this is one very nice truck.

 

[mikkelstuff]

This is why I built my own rear bumper. Not shock absorbing but those stock bumpers are expensive to replace and are all too easy to wrinkle.

 

[Danno1985]

On the highway drive back from visiting my folks, the steering wheel thing didn't seem as noticeable, so maybe it was a crosswind playing tricks on me. The bumper absolutely has a twist. Upon closer inspection, I can also see indentations from the other car's license plate bolts in the plastic trim - one just above the tow hitch, one about 8" to the right, so yes, it appears the right side of the bumper took more of the impact.

I'm going to wait til my insurance gives me a call tomorrow and see what's what. Agreed, these bumpers are flimsy but I like stock look, and I've already sourced a couple rust-free spares around me, so if the frame checks out ok I'm not going to sweat it too much.

 

[Josh B]

Ditto on let the shop look at it, the dr too if you're feeling bent, good luck on it man

 

[Danno1985]

Ditto on let the shop look at it, the dr too if you're feeling bent, good luck on it man

Thanks Josh. Feel ok but it's tough to tell since I still have lingering neck pain from the last rear-end collision... 5 years ago. The mistake I made then was brushing it off only to have issues requiring pt pop up later.

 

[Danno1985]

Took the truck to a body shop that’s associated with a Ford dealer. I figured they’ll be on the high end $-wise but I really wanted to have someone who knows what they’re looking at check out the frame before Progressive sends some cut-rate hack.
Frame checks out ok. Whew. Looks like just a twisted bumper and bent brackets. The estimate for oem ford parts actually wasn’t that bad, but I’m sure Progressive will try to coerce me into accepting a “used” bumper which is going to be rusted out scrap if it’s coming from anywhere around here. Seriously over their bs. I’ve had progressive since 2008 and this is the second rear-end collision I’ve been in where they’ve acted like they can’t be bothered to pick up the phone or help me out.

Truck aside, feeling like someone punched me in the back today. Went to urgent care and aside from some soreness in my back and neck, everything checked out ok there too, so hopefully everything’s on the up and up.

 

[Josh B]

Simple Xrays don't always work on back and neck, there are farrr too many nerve connections in there

 

[Danno1985]

Along with confirmation that the frame is straight, the Ford body shop also sent an estimate. $2995... to replace the bumper, brackets, and paint to match. Oof. I checked on the Tasca parts site, and while this shop added an obscene markup, the OEM parts are insanely expensive even at wholesale. $560 for the passenger side inner bracket alone (body shop had it invoiced as $800 something). Amazingly considering how many of these trucks were built, they must be running low on some of these parts. In addition to the fact that hell will freeze over before my best buddies at Progressive () go for that, I don't feel like sticking it to the other guy. He goofed up but pulled over, had insurance, did the right thing. My one criteria is that I'll be pissed if Progressive tries to make me take a clapped out used one which, given where I live, will probably be worse than the twisted one on the truck now, but otherwise I'd be fine with a decent chrome aftermarket one from RockAuto. Now that Progressive has all the pictures to make their estimate, I'm tempted to just grab a couple wrenches and mess around with it today and see if there's enough wiggle room in the brackets to at least get the thing parallel to the tailgate from the back which is the biggest thing that bugs me.