Wrecked my 2005 SRT

[viperbob]

Well, I never thought my name would be added to the list of people who wrecked their Vipers. This is/was my 4th and I have had countless other sports cars over the years and this is my first (and hopefully last) wreck:

Last night in St. Augustine FL, about 645pm, my wife and I went to a local car cruise-in and stopped for dinner on the way home. It was cold (low 50s), which is cold compared to lately, and the road and tires were cold as well. About a minute after leaving from dinner I went to change lanes, from right to left. Someone in a SUV in the left lane saw me coming up, with my signal on, and he stepped on it as I was entering the lane so in order to ensure I would not hit him I too gave it some more gas...too much gas actually. The rear kicked out and while trying to avoid the other traffic I lost it, spun it a bit, and slammed into the guardrail with the driver's side front hitting first and then the rest of the car along the driver's side. The good thing is no other vehicles were involved. To make a long story short, I got 11 stiches and the wife 3...I have a headache and my neck hurts but otherwise we are ok. The car on the otherhand looked pretty bad - a witness told the cops it looked the car exploded when it hit the guardrail. It was dark so I could not really get a good look at it (fluid was leaking so we were kept away) and the place that towed it is closed today so I cannot get pics until they open tomorrow. If someone would like to post the pics to this thread when I take them please drop me an email and I'll send them.

Amazing, the airbags did not deploy. If they had I doubt my wife & I would have hit our heads. And my wife says that her seatbelt did not seem to get as tight as it should have and in hindsight I might have to say the same.

Anyway, I sent Jon B. an email and told him to forward it to Bill Pemberton, since I could not find his email address.

Thanks for listening and advice is always appreciated, especially in regards to the lack of airbag deployment...the pics when posted will explain my concern.

 

[ViperGTS]

You hit the guard rails sideways.
That might be the reason for the airbags for not going off.

Good to hear that you both are ok and have minor injuries only!

The "plastic parts" of the car literally explode by hitting the guard rails - must look very scary!

The seat belts should be tight - I hit guard rails in my GTS (sideways - no airbag going off) very hard and the seat belts fixed me into my seat and helped a lot...

 

[propsail]

Airbags will ONLY deploy when there is sufficent front to rear deceleration (at least over 2 g's), and even then, not in all cases. Do a search for a detailed description of airbag deployments in a previous thread.

Good luck. Better that the car absorbs the energy of the crash and gets destroyed. The energy has to be dissipated somehow, and the only other alternative is it being absorbed by you and your passenger.

Glad you both will be okay.

~Craig

 

[Leslie]

wow! VERY glad to read both you and your wife are ok-I can't begin to imagine what a tough night that was.

I hope you are back behind the wheel SOON. It can be very tough to loose a car, especially a Viper

 

[twinturbo3150]

car can be replaced, glad the 2 of U are ok

 

[DodgeViper01]

Glad to hear that you and your wife are okay and escaped without serious injury. I am sorry to hear about the car but those can be replaced. Good luck and if you need help posting the pictures when you get them, e-mail me at [email protected]

Feel better and be safe.

Talk to you soon

 

[Warfang]

glad you guys are ok, and sorry for your loss

 

[viperbob]

Thanks everyone...that is what makes this club the best.

The driver's side nose of the car hit the guardrail and then bounced back throwing the side of the car into the guardrail. I have a couple pics of the guardrail I was able to take this afternoon that I'll have F355 post. And when I get pics of the car tomorrow I'll get them up.

Time for another pain pill...Bob Z.

 

[DodgeViper01]

Okay. I will post them as soon as I receive them. Have a good one.

 

[Finally got it !]

Glad you are ok. I am a member of this unfortunate club also. I actually had time to brace myself for the eventual collision with a tree. Yes, the body panels do explode on contact. And no airbag deployment either as I too hit the tree on the drivers side.
Before long it will be a distant memory. Get a new one a move on I say!!!!

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Sorry you had to go through this, I understand all too well. Jon's advice willl be well worth it and Bills email is..

[email protected]

 

[Cobraken]

I feel for you bro. I am glad you & your Lady were able to walk away. I destroyed my beloved ACR & my passenger was hurt when I hit a wall on the passenger side. My bags did deploy. Get another Viper as soon as possible (It helped me).

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

Hi Bob,

Hope your neck and head feel better today!

Glad you both escaped minor injuries.

Cold weather/tires can surprise us. It is one of the characteristics of big tires vs temperature. The only thing I can say is always be smooth with power, braking and steering input. Two weeks ago took the SRT out to pick up my son at school, it was colder than unusual and in 2nd gear the rear tires started to spin on the on ramp entering the freeway about 1/2 mile from my garage. No problem with control as wheels where straight, just reduced throttle and continued my day. But cold tire grip is a fact of life that is easy to forget when we seldom have gold weather.

Hope you both get over this nasty physics lesson. Time for a new 2006, that will make you fee better!

And the car exploding is a good thing, as it is absorbing energy.

 

[ViperJohn]

Glad to hear you two are OK. The car can be replaced.

Just curious, what gear were you in and at what speed?

 

[Yellow32]

Glad you and your wife made it for another day.

Some tips:

In low traction situations (wet, cold, etc.) always go up a gear higher than you normally would, that will help keep the bite down.

When in tight spaces (guard rails, traffic, no shoulder) only punch it when pointing exactly straight ahead, no 'turn' to the wheel at all and even then, squeeze the power on.

And with those run flats, always make sure your cold tire pressure (pressure reading after the car has been sitting for more than 6 hours - gives time for the air in the tires to cool) is at least 32lbs.

-J

 

[JUCD VPR]

Yah very glad to hear you are ok. That is very unfortunate that happened. i hope everything works out for you.

 

[viperbob]

I was going about 40 in first gear, shifted to second and gave it some gas. At least I think so...happened kinda fast if you know what I mean!

I've been on the phone all morning talking to the insurance company, police, etc. and took some pics of the car & guardrail that will be posted soon. By the way, according to the witnesses/police report, the car hit the guardrain basically head-on and in the pics you see that the front end flew down along the guardrail leaving paint behind towards the front of the impact while the car continued backwards in the other direction after hitting the guardrain again in the rear/side.

 

[DodgeViper01]

As requested Bob, here are the pictures you sent me. I decide to post them all. Glad to see that you are okay. That accident looks pretty scary.

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[viperbob]

Thanks for posting the pics Keith!

In case anyone was wondering, the interior pic shows how the steering wheel separated from the dash.

 

[RedLiner]

Its very depressing when something like this happens, especially when its a car you really dig. Seems like the traction issue is more frequent with Vipers(hence, snake bite). I've had many high horsepower/ light weight cars in my life and never had the traction issue I have with my Viper. Its gotta be those crappy tires?? Does anyone have any suggestions of better tires to run, cause the Michelins **** for traction. Yeh you need to heat up the tires and worry about road/air temp and tire pressure, but those michelins are horrible. There is got to be a better tire to run and not have the traction issues that we experience.

Got Traction??

 

[DodgeViper01]

Supposedly the PS2s are night and day for traction in the Viper. I would try those. Other than that, besides race tires, I do not know of any alternatives.

 

[DodgeViper01]

Thanks for posting the pics Keith!

In case anyone was wondering, the interior pic shows how the steering wheel separated from the dash.

No problem. Glad I could be of assistance.

 

[mbccenter]

All I can say is thats gota hurt

 

[ViperJohn]

Ouch, that looks like it hurt. Now hook up another Florida SRT brother and let him swap out those wheels for his /her 10 spokers.

By your speed and gear you definately hit a good torque spot in the power band. I imagine it broke loose about a second after you punched it.

 

[Bobpantax]

Glad you are OK. It is more than a little weird that the accident happened right next to an Outpatient Surgery Center. It shows in the photos. If your engine is not damaged, it looks like it is mostly body parts, radiator and other front dwelling components and possibly part of the front subframe. Your wheels appear to be sitting normally so maybe there is little or no suspension and frame damage. Please let us know what the insurance company decides. A search of this site produces many, too many, posts describing cold tire Viper bite. There are probably many more incidents that have not been reported. Good luck with the post accident procedures.

 

[ViperGTS]

cold tires and/or hydroplaning
changing lanes
a little (!) bit too much on the gas

even at 50 mph ..... may end up in

loosing control,
spinning,
a crash.

Newbies be warned!

 

[96GTS]

I wonder if the jacka$$ driving the SUV thought it was worth it just to keep you from moving over. It's sad that people will endanger others so their not 5 seconds late to where their going.

 

[Finally got it !]

Wow. kind interesting after the pictures that the airbags did not deploy. Also the state will nail the insurance company for that guardrail.
Glad you and the misses are ok.....

 

[AviP]

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ViperBob, Glad you and your wife are ok. This just goes to show just how easily the Viper engine can overwhelm traction. And now we have 600-675hp on the horizon.

As to why the airbags didn't deploy, that's because initial impact was from the rear left and then along the left side. See the skid marks in the photo. This snake was slithering backwards!

 

[viperbob]

The car was sliding as it hit the guardrail head-on, slightly to the driver's side, then went backwards where the driver's side rear/side hit the guardrail again. What you see to the right of the pic above (Red paint/scuffs) is the where the fascia flew & bounced down the guardrail...a big chunk of it wound up toward the lower right, outside of the view. Witness reports and the police report indicate the same. It happened so quickly that I am glad others saw it to verify exactly what happened.