Totaled Viper 2 days after buying it...

[TrevorR90]

I swerved to miss a deer, slightly, it was in the middle of the road so I ****** the wheel to the left a little bit because I was in the left lane and went to straighten it and the car all of a sudden did a really really sharp right and hit a tree. I got out of the car and thought that I hit a patch of ice or my inexperience lost control. BTW I came out without a scratch, no injuries whatsoever. I went back to look at the car the next couple of days and I noticed the right rear wheel was turned in. Not sure how it would break like that as there is no indication that the wheel hit something or anything! Adjuster and mechanics agree. Theres no damage on the wheel on both sides. It just looks like the rod or whatever just snapped. Car's is obviously totaled and I only bought it 2 days prior. Never got on it or anything, never had it passed 80mph or even got to hear it roar.... It only had 39,000 miles and its an 04.

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

 

[georgethedog]

Sorry to hear your story. Glad you are ok. Hope you have good insurance. How old were the tires??? One thing about a Viper... It needs new good tires or they get hard and slippery quick.

 

[TrevorR90]

Bought the car from a dealership and never even got to pop open the hood or even inspect it. Looking at the adjuster paperwork, he measured the tires at 8/32 tread depth on the rears and 9/32 on the front.

 

[ACRucrazy]

Looks Luke the right rear knuckle broke. I hate. There are a few threads with the same showing the same problem. Scary thought.
Glad you're ok.

 

[denniskgb]

Did you run flats? It is another recipe for disaster

 

[BlackSnake99]

Those rear tires look bald as a baby's butt.


More to the story....

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...-wrecked-my-car-i-just-bought-2-days-ago.html

 

[TrevorR90]

Those rear tires look bald as a baby's butt.


More to the story....

http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...-wrecked-my-car-i-just-bought-2-days-ago.html

Rear tires were measured at 8/32, wanna see the adjuster report? Not sure if you know but the adjuster bases the value of the car on the tires as well. He rated them at 80%. They look bald because of mud and water..

 

[speedracervr4]

More to the story....

There really isn't more to the story in the link you posted other than peoples opinions of the situation and the posters questioning his character. I do find it interesting that the only damage on the right rear is where the A-arm broke. I would definitively take some close up pictures of that area.

 

[PDCjonny]

Those pesky deer. They never hang around for questioning.

 

[ACRucrazy]

Rear wheel breaks off!!!

rear suspension defect

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

2006 with 10k miles broke
2005 broke
2004 with 39k miles broke
Comp coupe broke

 

[ViperSmith]

Rear tires were measured at 8/32, wanna see the adjuster report? Not sure if you know but the adjuster bases the value of the car on the tires as well. He rated them at 80%. They look bald because of mud and water..

you are missing the point - tread doesn't matter if they are old tires

and best thing to do with a deer is just hit it (I know it is after the fact) - far more damage and dangerous to swerve

 

[ACRucrazy]

Always better to hit a deer

You must be registered for see images

 

[Drew]

In this vid he swerves slightly, stays in control, minimal damage to car, but the deer didn't fair so well.

Car 1 deer 0
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3aUViPxLhwE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


In all honesty this is a shame to see. Whether or not the rear link break caused the accident or happened sometime during the out of control and crash portion that car shouldnt of been on the road.

My one year aniversary of loosing my first viper is Feb 18 215am. These pics brought back a devilish haunt that will keep my baby away well into april.

Sad to see your wreck, glad you got away with no injuries, if you get a second chance of owning another viper im sure like me, once bitten for stupidity/not heading warnings ... it wont happen again.

 

[AZTVR]

Those rear tires look bald as a baby's butt.l

Based on what ???? Looking at an internet photo on an iphone? Excellent detective work, that !

To the OP, most of us feel for you. There have been quite a few of these stories posted here that start out "It was a cold and dreary night..." and it never ends well. This can happy with any car in that situation; but, with those wide rear tires, the car is a more susceptible, I think. I have had a similar thing happen to me with a small British sports car years ago. I was lucky to be on an empty 4 lane highway where I did a last second avoidance maneuver and did 2 opposing 180s on a dark wet road and ended up back in my lane going the correct direction. I lucked out, you didn't. I'd like to try that again and see if it was just my inexperience or if it was just unavoidable.

 

[commandomatt]

Is it possible that the light swerve caused the knuckle to break and that was what ultimately made the car spin out of control ?

I suppose it would be hard to prove what happened first but it appears that this type of rear end failure isn't the first

Dodge, SRT, Chrysler or whatever they call themselves these days may want to look a bit closer at this before some guy goes and throws a lawsuit out there.

Matt

 

[agdetail]

holy cow. cant believe a deer did all that damage.

almost looked like you hit a brick wall to cause all that

 

[Drew]

dont believe a deer did that, first post states swivered to miss a deer, tried to correct and the car suddenly went to the right and hit a tree

 

[v10enomous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aUViPxLhwE&feature=youtu.be

 

[ViperSmith]

Always better to hit a deer

You must be registered for see images

State Farm agrees. http://wsoyam.com/pages/14607738.php?

 

[BlackSnake99]

Based on what ???? Looking at an internet photo on an iphone? Excellent detective work, that !

Based on the picture he posted. Please note that I said 'LOOK' bald. Apparently, based on his appraiser's report, LOOKS can be deceiving.



I maintain that, in the picture posted, many would erroneously conclude that the tires were worn.

 

[CaptainDavid]

Now I know I need Therapy !!!, Sorry you had that event. I would really look into the rear knuckle issur..

Is it possible that the light swerve caused the knuckle to break and that was what ultimately made the car spin out of control ?

I suppose it would be hard to prove what happened first but it appears that this type of rear end failure isn't the first

Dodge, SRT, Chrysler or whatever they call themselves these days may want to look a bit closer at this before some guy goes and throws a lawsuit out there.

Matt

 

[99 R/T 10]

It is a very good possibilty that your right knuckle broke. It is becoming a major issue with the Gen III/IV cars based on the number of threads popping up on this issue. It should never have broken for a small move to miss a deer.

 

[Garron]

Is it possible that the light swerve caused the knuckle to break and that was what ultimately made the car spin out of control ?

I suppose it would be hard to prove what happened first but it appears that this type of rear end failure isn't the first

Dodge, SRT, Chrysler or whatever they call themselves these days may want to look a bit closer at this before some guy goes and throws a lawsuit out there.

Matt

I just don't believe that a light swerve can break anything on a viper. These are the same knuckles that are on every ACR and competition coupe since day one. It would seem viper owners have a lot of bad luck with seeing deer in bad weather

 

[Bonkers]

Always better to hit a deer

Yes it is. As funny as that photo is, if you consider he had to be going
100mph+ to cause that kind of damage, if he had swerved he'd be
going 100mph+ SIDEWAYS off the road. The driver would most likely
have died.

Cars and people are best designed to take front impacts - though rare,
I have rarely heard of incidents where someone got hurt on a front impact
with a deer verses sliding off the road.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Glad original poster is OK !!

I must say, I cannot imagine anyone buying a used Viper under the conditions that original poster stated: "Bought the car from a dealership and never even got to pop open the hood or even inspect it".

With 39,000 miles on the car with an unknown history...I worry more about abuse by prior owner(s) more than I do a manufacturing defect.

 

[tbsviper]

Sorry to read this. Glad you were not hurt. I have resolved to hit a deer if I must rather than swerve and lose control regardless of what car I am driving.

 

[commandomatt]

I just don't believe that a light swerve can break anything on a viper. These are the same knuckles that are on every ACR and competition coupe since day one. It would seem viper owners have a lot of bad luck with seeing deer in bad weather

You may be right, but if there was a bad batch of these parts out there it seems like it would be better to be safe than sorry. Also consider that many accidents that may have been caused by a failure like this ultimately end up being blamed due to something else since once stuff starts spinning and flying ....its a bit hard to be able to tell afterwards exactly what happened. In other words, these may be responsible for more accidents than we think.

....and a 'light' swerve at 80 mph is still a lot of pressure.

Matt

 

[Garron]

You may be right, but if there was a bad batch of these parts out there it seems like it would be better to be safe than sorry. Also consider that many accidents that may have been caused by a failure like this ultimately end up being blamed due to something else since once stuff starts spinning and flying ....its a bit hard to be able to tell afterwards exactly what happened. In other words, these may be responsible for more accidents than we think.

....and a 'light' swerve at 80 mph is still a lot of pressure.

Matt

Hey Matt,

I am on a pit crew for a comp coupe team. We run the same rear knuckles as the production viper (as did all the comp coupes). As you can imagine it can get rough out there.

You must be registered for see images attach

I don't buy the light swerve and knuckle breaking..... New owner in a viper, winter conditions and back end kicked out end of story. I am sorry it happened, but it is a drivers car.

 

[plumcrazy]

Those pesky deer. They never hang around for questioning.

ya beat me to it.

 

[Mopar Boy]

Dang! Glad to hear you are OK!

Reminder for everyone to watch out! This could have been any one of us.