Thank God for seat belts!

[KUweatherman]

I've been around awhile, but this is my first post. Sucks it has to be about the death of a bimmer. Thankfully in it's death, the lives of my mom and sister were saved.

My mom and sister didnt make it to a church event as planned Sunday, June 11th. As they were passing through an intersection less than a mile from my parents house, they were struck nearly head-on by a van. The van failed to yield and turned right in front of them. My mom had nowhere to go (she doesnt even remember if she even attempted to hit the brakes). Thank God for BMW's crash safety though! If it werent for them wearing their seatbelts and the airbags, my mom and my sister might not be here today. As it is, my mom and sister were taken from the accident with only minor injuries considering the car is almost without doubt totalled. My mom was the luckiest of the two; she has only minor burns on her arms from the airbags and a very sore right foot. My poor sister though has a chipped tooth, sore foot and two busted lips.

I was down in Springfield, MO when my dad called to tell me about their wreck. I got up here as fast as I could (took me exactly 2.5 hours from the south side of Springfield to Cushing Memorial Hospital in Leavenworth). I'm not afraid to admit that I was scared to death and cried quite a bit knowing they were very lucky. We take life and family for granted and before you know it they can be snatched away from us. Make sure to tell your loved ones you love them as often as possible. You dont know when the last time will be for you to say "I love you" to them.

If you get anything out of this thread, just get this: Please wear your seatbelt! Not only that, but make sure your loved ones do as well. Even the best drivers can get caught in a situation like my mom's at no fault of their own. Be careful out there.

 

[William330]

Glad your family is OK!

Check out the door seams, they're not even effected after
all that damage.

Also check out the metal front bumber (the silver piece of metal
behind the rubber facade bumper), it's pushed back pretty far, which
means they hit hard enough to bend the unibody quite a bit.

Definitely take it as a total, as a car repaired with that damage will
never drive right.

Hope your family recovers quickly!

 

[Big Daddy]

Sad story, however I too am glad your family is ok. The car held up well and is a testimony to the structrual quality of BMW.

 

[KUweatherman]

There luckily happened to be a Leavenworth cop sitting at the light. His dashboard camera also happened to be running. I have yet to see the video, but a neighbor who is a Leavenworth traffic cop (and was standing outside at the time of the accident and HEARD the crash from nearly a mile away) has watched it numerous times. He's working on getting my family a copy. My mom wants no part in seeing it, however my sister does. The neighbor says the car goes from 30 mph to 0 mph *snaps fingers* just like that.

Time for either a E90 or E60 now. I'm trying to convince my parents of doing European Delivery. The E46 in the pictures was purchased at a dealership in Darmstadt, Germany while we were stationed overseas. It's only right to pick up a BMW in Germany.

 

[tazza0712]

OMG So glad that your family is okay. That is one scary sight, but that car withstood that impact very well.

 

[Chicago-Spike]

Glad the car did what it was designed to do for your family. You can also tell your mother that she did hit the brakes as the sore right foot is a sign that she did. Being an ex-paramedic I saw broken right feet all the time in hard crashes.

 

[codex57]

Man, glad everyone is ok. Those pics are great. Showed how the passenger compartment of the BMW is untouched. Everything worked as intended with the happy result of your mom and sis being fine.

If you get a copy of that video, we'd love to see it.

Definitely a far cry from this:

 

[JUS]

Thank God, And Bmw Glad To Here Your Family Are Ok.

Jus

 

[drkeng]

The car did an amazing job of saving your mom's and sister's life and preventing major injury. That is all that matters. Life will go on; the car is secondary at this point. The integrity of the passenger compartment is a true testament to the car's engineering.

 

[KUweatherman]

Reviving a very old thread, I know. Just thought I'd throw out an update though. The 15 yr old kid that hit my mom and sister was arrested for illegally operating a vehicle and issued tickets for failure to yield and failure to signal. He wont be driving unitl he's at least 18 now.

I tried very hard to convince my parents to do European Delivery for either a new E90 or E60. However, with my sister starting college this fall they didnt want another car payment. So with the check they got for the E46, they ended up getting an 06 Nissan Maxima.

 

[Tom]

Oh man that is crazy, glad you and your family are ok buddy.

 

[hosagod]

Wow, very scary.

But an equally important moral from the story!

 

[Kirby]

You are so right about seatbelts, I'm glad they did their job for your family.

Last night here, a guy rolled his car on a back road, a passing motorist found him lying in the middle of the road dead. He was thrown from the car - not wearing a seatbelt....

 

[tazza0712]

Ironically enough, I just read a thread on another board about a woman who was thrown from her car because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and survived because of that. The car was absolutely mangled.

Please don't take what I'm saying to mean don't wear seatbelts, because I don't believe that at all!!

 

[codex57]

Reviving a very old thread, I know. Just thought I'd throw out an update though. The 15 yr old kid that hit my mom and sister was arrested for illegally operating a vehicle and issued tickets for failure to yield and failure to signal. He wont be driving unitl he's at least 18 now.

Oh man, means he wasn't even insured. Are there rules that if you do something like that, they take your license away until you're 18? That's cool.

 

[KUweatherman]

Oh man, means he wasn't even insured. Are there rules that if you do something like that, they take your license away until you're 18? That's cool.

I believe he was on his parent's insurance since here in Kansas you can drive at 15 on a learners permit, BUT you have to have a licensed driver over the age of 21 in the vehicle while driving. He did not.

Once we got word the car was totalled, my dad and I went to the storage lot where our crumpled bimmer lay dead and took all the roundels off. I've got the roundel from the hood here in my room.

sidenote: Know those newer Volkswagen commericals showing the people getting in accidents? To this day my mom and sister can not watch them without it bringing up feelings from their wreck.

 

[vegas325]

Glad your family is OK!

Check out the door seams, they're not even effected after
all that damage.
Also check out the metal front bumber (the silver piece of metal
behind the rubber facade bumper), it's pushed back pretty far, which
means they hit hard enough to bend the unibody quite a bit.

Definitely take it as a total, as a car repaired with that damage will
never drive right.

Hope your family recovers quickly!

The fact that the door pillars are not effected at all, is amazing. In most cars, hose doors would be inoperable at best!!!!

 

[KUweatherman]

The paramedics had trouble getting the driver's door open at first. I think that was because the drivers side fender was pushed back though. The body was bent ever so slightly; one of those things you can see in person but not in pictures. I could tell more on the passenger side than the driver's side. Door gaps went from being normal width to narrower, etc. Best example of twisting you can see in the pictures is that of the sunroof. It popped open upon impact and would not close. After saying that though, it could just have been from the sunroof glass popping off its track. Who knows.

She's probably crushed somewhere in a junkyard by now. Hopefully (dont need someone buying a totalled car like this).

 

[Average Jae]

hey man, super late in chiming in, but i'm glad your family is ok and the car did her duty as promised until the last minute.

as much as i love my car, after owning/ going through many o leased cars in the family. cars can be replaced, and one can only hope they protect the occupants in cases like this. that's why you drop the money into these machines.

Ironically enough, I just read a thread on another board about a woman who was thrown from her car because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and survived because of that. The car was absolutely mangled.

Please don't take what I'm saying to mean don't wear seatbelts, because I don't believe that at all!!

as for the above, when its your time, its your time. but given the choice, i think i'd prefer to be insde the car, rather than thrown out of a fast moving vehicle like a ragdoll.

 

[selavia]

Very late too, but after looking at those pictures, just had to say something...
Sorry to hear that, but glad everyone is okay; like everyone else said, the car is a thing, property...people are on a different level than that. A friend of mine was recently involved in a head on collision (some drunk driver crossed the median). He walked away too, Thank God, but he still cannot sit in a front seat of a car without freaking out. I wish your family all the best.


Sean