[GFujioka]

Last night my son and I were in my Insight and were rear-ended at an intersection by a Toyota Camry. Witnesses estimated the other driver's speed at 10 mph.

Amazingly, it doesn't appear my Insight suffered as much as a scratch. I will probably have a body shop take a look to be sure, but from all outward appearances it truly looks like nothing happened.

I think we may have suffered some measure of whiplash as I'm sore today, but my little car made it through unscathed.

The young driver of the Camry was a nice young Goth kid and I hope for his sake my soreness passes and we don't have to involve his insurance company.

 

[jsanford]

Spot to check...

Check under the plate light lip on your rear bumper--you know, where you'd change the bulbs that light up the rear license plate. I noticed on mine that the fiberglass strips for the bumper body panel there are quite thin--thought a lens or something was missing until I checked my neighbor's Insight.

 

[GFujioka]

Good call, my Insight brother. That little piece is gone as you suspected.

How did you go about replacing yours?

 

[Resist]

You can take the rear bumper cover and lower plastic off very easily, if you wanted to check out any metal damage before taking it into the shop.

 

[Big D Insightman]

My wife and I suffered the same fate in summer of 95 in my 88 CRX HF. We were stopped at a red light and were rear ended at 10 - 15 mph by an illegal alien in a cavailer station wagon. They of course had no insurance but I insisited on calling the cops so I would at least have a police report. My car appeared as though nothing was wrong with it but the I knew that the bumpper had taken a pretty good blow and there probally would be internal damage. Sure enough when we got home to Tenn. (we were on vacation in New Mexico) the spare tire well was beaten in and it required repairing at the body shop. These plastic bumpers with styrofoam backing hide a lot a damage after being hit. As a side note I wound up keeping that car until 4/15/00 when it had over 320k on it since I bought it new and traded it (gave it away) for the first Insight sold in Dallas 6 months after moving here.

 

[Guillermo]

At 10 mph the rear bumper will have internal damage which will make it less affective the next time somoene rear ends the car.
It must be checked from underneath and compared with another insight. Even then the foam inside the bumper is likely partially crushed even if the plastic exterior lots fine.

 

[Rick]

The reat bumpers not overly difficult to remove yourself. There is an alluminum bumper beam behind the plastic which I am willing to bet is damaged if it was hit at 10 mph. You can also pull the storage box out of the well and inspect the area for any intrusions there. You may also want to take and have it checked out just in case as well.

 

[GFujioka]

Thanks to all of you that took the time to respond. You have been very helpful and I will have a professional assess what true damage may have occurred.

Best wishes for the holidays.

 

[Yves M.]

There is no foam inside the bumper. It is just a plastic shell bumper cover and a sturdy aluminium bar under it. The spare wheel well takes the hit because of the two structure beams beside it and it is the rear most part of the car (really thin material also)
See: http://yves.fungiart.com/pages/bumper.htm

There is also this pic that is not on the page:
http://yves.fungiart.com/images/insight ... rear19.jpg

 

[GFujioka]

Upon reflection, I was probably overly hopeful about the whole episode.

This is likely off-topic, but since the accident I've had increasing neck and back soreness to the point where I went to the ER last evening and was diagnosed with whiplash.

They sent me home with muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories and suggested I use a bag of frozen peas on my neck to serve as an ice pack.

 

[Resist]

This is your second statement about a neck injury. Sorry about that but, are you implying "settlement" here?

 

[GFujioka]

Funny. Considered it germane to the discussion about the car's safety.

The young man driving the car that hit me is a nice kid and doesn't need the grief. My health plan will cover any treatment I receive without having to involve him or his insurance company.

And I'll just write a check for any damage to my car and be done with it. I was young once too.

 

[Resist]

Don't let a lawyer hear you talk like that!

 

[Guillermo]

Gary,
If you don't mind answering the following questions to help prevent us from getting similar injuries in the future:
How far from the seat was your head at the time of the colllision?
How reclined to you keep the seat?
Were you facing forward or was your head turned to one side?

 

[GFujioka]

My head was probably 6-8 inches from the back of the seat. I was looking at approximately the 11 o'clock position as there was a police car with lights and sirens across the intersection.

The police unit crossed in front of us, and that is what distracted the other driver according to what he told me.

I generally keep my seat fairly upright. I was the passenger and my son was driving so I was on the side he normal rides on, and he generally has it about 30% reclined.

My son said he heard the car sliding behind us and instinctively braced against the headrest. He's doing fine. I didn't hear the other car slide but wish I had.

 

[Guillermo]

My head was probably 6-8 inches from the back of the seat.

Thank you for replying.
I was suspecting that was the case because 10 MPH is not a huge speed differential.
"5. How should my head restraint be positioned?.............The distance from the back of the head to the restraint should be as small as possible...."
http://www.iihs.org/safety_facts/qanda/neck_injury.htm

A significant factor that determines the crash safety of a vehicle is how the driver and passengers adjust their seating positions.
I hope you feel better soon.