Accident magnet?

[Sue777]

As you know, I'm a VX newbie, but I love her to death. I have never been this anal about a vehicle before, but I actually find myself standing in the garage just staring at her, and lightly cleaning off any dust or fingerprints I find. (of course, I would NEVER admit that anywhere but here!)
I'm getting really paranoid, though, when I come here to read and find so many postings about VX accidents. I'm beginning to wonder if there's a curse or a jinx on our babies that makes them accident magnets or something! Granted, I've never belonged to a vehicle forum before, so maybe these mishaps are not extreme, but it certainly seems like a higher-than-normal rate of bad luck surrounding these. Can someone set my mind at ease and tell me that they have a LOWER incidence rating that other vehicles? (Feel free to lie if you have to) ;eeko;

If you don't mind, I'm going to start a poll to see just how many of our VX's have been involved in mishaps. I may or may not be brave enough to view the results, though.
Sue

[Anita]

Sue

Many of us belong in another category...

Many belong in the.. We were rear ended, the other car was totaled, but our VX sustained only scratches on the cladding. No body repair, just a new piece of outerwear. :bwgr:

[FeatherFoot]

Partially because the VX is so distinctly different that people gawk and need a plateglass belt buckle to keep an eye on what they are doing.

FF

[Sue777]

Hi, Anita:
Please feel free to go in and edit the poll. I just tried to do it but you need to be a moderator. Please change the wording on the existing options if it needs changing, and add any other categories you can think of that would be appropriate. I just want to see that first option GROW, but I also want to truly know the honest stats, too.
Sue

[Apostle]

actually the rest of us should be safe, there have been 3 so far (this week???)

so everything bad comes in 3's, so were good to go

[WyrreJ]

This recent spate of accidents is definitely out of the ordinary. I don't think it has anything to with the VX being jinxed. But, to come to think of it, these all started up about the time you showed up here. Maybe you are the jinx!:D

[Apostle]

ME? ;eeky;

:waab:


actually, ive been here a while, thank you very much

[Sue777]

No . . . he meant me.

:cryy:

[Apostle]

well, for what its worth, i dont think your a jinx (hopes she believes that, joins the others in the chant "JINX JINX JINX JINX")

[JAG!]

I just voted. Cringing now, since I plan to go on a small little trip next weekend (Thanksgiving holiday)... Now that I voted, I can already see the virtual "target" enveloping my VX.

[2K1 1K2]

no accidents, knock on wood... :smack:

however, i've noticed many more tailgaters since owning the VX.
i, especially, cringe at red lights and stop signs. it's as if the rear of my VX says, "please, inch along till you wedge yourself under my rear cladding - i'd love to feel the warmth of your hood." ;wtf;

here's hoping the string of bad luck ends... :luck:
glad everyone has been o.k. after the accidents.

-jose

[Tone]

If you are worried about rear enders, I’ve got a great 3rd brake light flasher that works to keep them alert behind you. Realize most of the accidents here have been to the front end and may have involved driver error.

[Heraclid]

Personally I have had bad luck with getting rear-ended. I was rear-ended in my Taurus when a guy in a pickup was trying to merge into traffic and got too busy looking over his shoulder and not in front of him, not noticing I had not gone yet either. Pretty minor. Then sideswiped in my Taurus when I had the right-of-way and someone turned right into the side of me having not bothered to look my way first. Rear-ended in my Avenger by a guy in the wrong lane who raced across three lanes of traffic to get where he needed to be without room for it and then was carrying too much speed to stop when he swerved in behind me. Rear-ended in my Avenger again in a parking lot, same way the Taurus was sideswiped. Then rear-ended in it a third time, that being the only time I was at fault, even though the guy was speeding. Took a hit to the rear clip sorta from the side, had the whole thing just about knocked completely off. Luckily never needed any metal work except for the Taurus sideswipe (2 doors, door pillar, fender, $1500).

Most excitement in the VX so far was avoiding a squirrel Friday morning. Slammed the brakes, swerved to the right. The VX took it all in stride though.

Given my history though, maybe I should re-think the brake flasher mod, hmmm?

[WyrreJ]

I really like my 3rd light blinker, but the first day I put it on it had the opposite effect. I had just finished the install and had set it to blink as fast as possible for the minimum duration (about 5 seconds). I wanted to see how other drivers would react and took it out for a spin. The first person to get behind me was a middle-aged asian woman (it's the truth, no stereotype comments please) and she was absolutely hypnotized by the blinkenlighten. She was behind me for about five or six stoplights and at every stop she got closer to my rear bumper than anyone ever had before. Gave me the willies.

But since then, it seems to have the intended effect and I have definitely noticed cars slowing down behind me much quicker than before, especially in situations where traffic ought to be flowing but isn't because of some abnormal event like an accident up ahead.

[Triathlete]

No accidents...but a few scratches from those desert trees while off roading. There are no plants in the desert (around here) that don't have thorns of some sort!

[WormGod]

And some of us get to vote twice. ;)

One Dragon Green totalled.

One Ebony banged up pretty bad on the front drivers side quarter.

[AlaskaVX]

No accidents, but man those rocks love to beat the hell out of my windshield and hood! Must have like 20 rock chips on the hood and my second windshield has three different cracks going across but they all missed my line of sight, any passenger must hate it though.

[Dallas4u]

Had a dent taken out of drivers side, top, front fender... plus some dents in the hood. It looked like someone had possibly jumped up on top of the hood... weird. The service guy at the dealer body shop said the dent in the fender could have been caused from me opening the hood too far up, pushing on the top of the fender, thereby denting it in. I told him his shutting the hell up could be caused by me, possibly ramming my fist down his 'troat, thereby closing his pie-hole.

Kidding... didn't say it, but a lot of those service guys are just morons.

[Anita]

Originally posted by Dallas4u
The service guy at the dealer body shop said the dent in the fender could have been caused from me opening the hood too far up, pushing on the top of the fender, thereby denting it in. I told him his shutting the hell up could be caused by me, possibly ramming my fist down his 'troat, thereby closing his pie-hole.

Kidding... didn't say it, but a lot of those service guys are just morons.


Let's talk about trouble magnets for a moment...:bwgr:

:bomb::smack: <--------- adam


Jez kiddn, adam...;pr;

[Dallas4u]

Really, I'm a casual, easy-going guy! I promise! :)

[Bantan]

I think we all need a GROUP HUG.
I propose we have simultaneous meets (on the same day) Next spring.
One for each Geographic Region.
It will take alot to do this, but it is possible. Hopefully everyone and their VX can make it.
We can call it "VX DAY":biggroup:

Wha du y'all think?

[Anita]

Im all for it!

;Dr;

[migil]

Whenever I say "I've never..." normally that exact thing ends up happening to me a few days later, so I think I better pass in this survey while knocking as hard as I can on wood...

[NC_VX]

Yeah, the Freakin' Accident Bug hit me. I am so pissed right now! I havne't been online in like forever and I am here to say that it happened over the weekend. I was backing out of a tight parking place and reversing to let someone in, I had three cars around me and was carefully trying to watch all three (can be a pain in the *** with the horrible rear view) and I freakin hit an illegally parked car. The good thing is it was illegally parked so I am not responsible for anything, the bad news is my bumper has a huge dent in it.

Do you know if I can pop it out? I bet it is going to cost an arm and a leg to replace. Other funny thing is, I was going to get the cladding sprayed with a liner next month along with a new Black paint job... now I gotta wait til I figure this ding out!!! I AM SO SAD!!!!

Honestly, I am usually so careful and I was not paying close enough attention, I know how "aware" of your surroundings you need to be in while driving the VX

I am posting pictures and the good news is, I still went wheeling after and kicked the trash out of my Jeep Wrangler. THe VX Rocks!!!!

[ron]

Originally posted by NC_VX
the bad news is my bumper has a huge dent in it. Do you know if I can pop it out?

Depending on the severity of the dent, it may be possible to use a heat gun or a very hot hair dryer and "massage" it out into place. Simply remove the cladding and heat up the inside area of the dent especially the outer perimeter of the crease. Do not focus the heat in one area alone as it may melt or damage that area. Rather "wave" it around the area and simultaneously start pushing the dent out. Don not force it out but rather "massage" it out instead. If the results are successful, you may still end up with visible "stretch creases from the outside. But since you may be covering with line-x or paint, then it doesn't really matter. If the results are not to your satisfaction or the damage is too great to apply, then replacing the entire cladding may be your only option. Keep us updated of whichever way you go with and good luck.

[johnnyapollo]

I did the same thing during the first Orlando meet - backed into some guy at a IHOP parking lot (I was clearly backing up and he tried to go around me, then stopped right in my path). It was a rental car, so no sweat to me (private property and he had insurance to cover the door damage). It put a dent into one corner of the cladding.

I tried removing then heating with a heat gun and working the damage out. It started to work, but the cladding had a bad split right along one reflector. As I heated, the split turned into a big hole. If you have similar damage, the same thing will probably happen to you. It was much easier to order a new bumper cover from Merlin - $220 shipped and got it the next day. It may be worth it just for the time involved to buy the new piece, rather than spend time working out the dent. I think even if you work it out, you'll see distress lines around the dented area and if you're like me - it'll bug you too much to leave alone.

-- Best, John

[VXD959]

------

[NC_VX]

Wow, sorry about the wifes acident, glad everyone is okay!

I am going to try the heat gun and buy another piece. When you said $220 for the bumper, is that the whole thing? If I can fix the other one, it would be great to have a spair... I bet I will damage my rear bumper trying to do something stupid someday... might as well plan in advance. maybe I can have a whole second set for wheelin... It would be a pain... actually, I will just be such a good rider that I won't do damage!!! That works!

Anyway, will keep you all posted!

[NC_VX]

Alright Guys, thanks for the advice. This was my first free saturday since the accident so I pulled the VX into the garage and went to work. Amazingly, the heat gun worked! I feel like such a handy-man! That has got to be the cheapest accident ever. I really feel bad for the other guy, his repairs will probably be close to a thousand!!! I love my VX!!!

I will be posting before and after shots along with the other victim when I get a chance to create it all in a single image!!!

Happy VXing!

[Moncha]

Only minor under body stuff from off-roading. Paint's in great shape!

[Navigator]

...And did it's job well. I got a character scar on my passenger side front fender cladding from a brick some kids through from a bridge about 2 summers ago. Black Magic hides it well, but I got a new piece of cladding, collecting dust in my basement waitng to be installed. No urgency for that project, like I said, unles I point to it, no one but a VX owner will ever see it.

Had a windshield replaced, minor scratches from alley overgrowth AKA the urban jungle all removed with elbow grease :naughty: All in all my Vx looks as new as the day I got it.

[Rickster]

My biggest problems is the rednecks in south Texas thinking I am flashing them to get off my a**, but all in all, I believe it gives us that extra edge in traffic.

Rickster

[Dallas4u]

Damn south Texas, east Texas, west Texas, central Texas, and north Texas rednecks!!

Funny... there are some people who just moved to Oregon, thinking there weren't any rednecks this far north. After telling someone that I went to college in east Texas (SFA Lumberjacks!), they said something about rednecks in east Texas... trying to infer that there weren't any in Oregon (for some reason). Well my friends, I am here to say, wherever there is rural land, lots of trees, and only one restaurant/bar/club/motel/grocery/gas station/hang out in one, there are PLENTY of rednecks!!!

[colmhd]

Driving on the Angeles Crest two months after getting the VX. Drove into some cloud coming over the edge at about 3,000 up, slowed to around 25mph, just as it cleared I was confronted with a wall of snow.
VX's can fly!!
The VX hit the wall of snow went vertical and landed flat on top .
4x4's are great as long as you've got a wheel on the ground somewhere.
We had to dig our way out of the windows and try to get the snow out from underneath.
Ended up hiking the 15miles or so to the rangers station and getting a tow.
Only damage was to the front body work. Thankfully no twisted frame .

[Gussie2000]

Well,two weeks ago while on duty the building management office where my company is located hired few guys with a plow truck.the guys requested to had all the parking area cleared because of the amount of snow (6 inches) so all cars were removed from the area,but my VX & one of my co-worker's 2007 expedition remained while they was plowing & guess what guys .........

Scratches were found on my toy & my co-worker's SUV. WHAT THE F@#%*)

happened here ? :eek:

Since we didn't had no proof of who did it i & my friend decide to had revenge agains those bastards,we went to an 99 cents store & bought a bag of BIG marbles,find out the guy's address & BAM shattered their two truck windshields.

Those jerks had anknowledgedment of who those remaining SUV was belongs to,because our company issued windshield ID tags to all their employees to being displayed over the dash board for ID identification because many neightboors uses the parking over nigh to park their cars with out permission,since my company works 24/7 the building management decide to rely on us to enforce the non-overnight parking without permission so with the tags displayed the tow truck knows which cars aren't belong to any of the offices that does business in the building.

Now i've looking around to find out a good body shop to have those ugly scratches away,they were done with a key,many of them,right under the badge at the driver's side & two more at the passenger door.

But i've thinking about a do-you self finish work,however i need some advice about products that can be use in order to have those scratches out of my sight every time i approach my toy :(
Is any product out there can be use,i'll highly appretiate all replays guys,Thanks ! :o

[etlsport]

um.. i wouldnt post anything about breaking out peoples windshields... if i were in their situation regardless of whether or not they scratched your car, i would find your car, drain the oil into a pan and leave it for you to blow up the engine

you are mad that your vehicle was vandalized after you left it in a lot that was supposed to be emptied.. so you go and vandalize their vehicle?

[Gussie2000]

Oh no,emptied their engines wasn't a good move,but i & my co-worker was working,isn't that we left our truck there because of any reason,we didn't know that plow truck would be plowing snow,there's no reason for those guys to even touch another one's property,i'm so sorry the building have no surveillance system,both we knew they did it.

[Zorak]

Interesting you dug up this old thread to post in. Maybe need to add another category to the poll: "My VX got keyed after I p*ssed somebody off"--at least two in two days now.

Not really an "accident" tho--pretty sure they did it on purpose:)

[Gussie2000]

Oh yep !

You are about the thread,but i though opening a new one isn't necessary.

But still looking around to fix those Horrible :eek: scratches,any suggested products out there ? :confused:

[crager34]

Your seeing alot about accidents here, because it's condensed.