foot slipped off the brake - and crunch

[lovetoski]

My wife was driving the 80 today, and her shoe was wet, slipped off the brake and she rear-ended a Previa. Nobody hurt. Previa was unmarked, driver checked and no damage at all.

The 80 though did sustain some damage. Contact was at low speed, perhaps 5mph max. Directly head-on. The top of the bumper is supported by two vertical brackets (which are bolted onto the frame). The top of these two brackets have a slot, facing outwards. A bolt fits into this slot, which secures the top of the bumper.

Interesting how the damage occured. As the bumper was pushed back, the vertical supports twisted, allowing the slot to turn towards the rear of the car, once they were turned far enough, the bolts slipped out of the slot. The top of the bumper, thus freed from the supports, sliced into the body like a guillatine. (sp??)

4 hrs of work, a come-along, prybar, ball-peen hammer, etc and it looks OK. Needs a little touch-up paint on the valence. It's not perfect like it was, but it could have been far worse...

Question though, seems odd that the top of the bumper would come out of these slotted supports so easily. Is it possible that the bolts weren't tight enough? (They are now!)

 

[tarbe]

I wish someone would tweak my bumper enough to justify dumping the OEM.

Hey, wait a minute....I can do that!

On subject, I had to tighten mine after the first time offroad. The sqeeking of the bumper sliding around drove me nuts! I suspect it might not be uncommon for them to work loose. At least yours and mine did!

 

[PHAEDRUS]

as long as everyone is ok that is what is important.
chances are the bolts were loose on ya.
what paint code is yours???
just in case I happen upon some at work.
Dave

 

[lovetoski]

what paint code is yours???
Dave

Don't know the code, but it's white. Actually, even though there were quite a few cracks/chips/etc on the front valence after getting it back (more or less) into shape, I was able to make it look OK with a bottle of touch-up paint.

Impact bent the A/C condensor too...going to have to watch that for potential leaks.

Oh well...

 

[gbell210]

I think there was only 1 white in 94 so the paint code is 45. The Duplicolor scratch fix2-in-1 is code TY 01578 White 045 Toyota (Only know this cuz the bottle is sitting right on my desk in front of me hope it helps.

 

[alaskacruiser]

One of those bolts on my bumper came completely loose and fell off- not sure when as it has never been involved in an impact, although my rig has seen offroad use. Got any pics of the before / after?

 

[lovetoski]

Got any pics of the before / after?

Digi camera was at work. Could take "after" pics if you wish.

 

[Safado]

You went head to head with a Previa....and lost! Glad no one was hurt...but you gotta admit it's kinda funny.

 

[CruisinGA]

Exact same thing was the case with my old OEM bumper...


Just bumped a guy from behind on saturday....

Only I have an ARB bar now, so it turned out a little different.

 

[lovetoski]

I pointed out to my wife that an ARB bumper would have made for a very different outcome. Of course, that might have worked against us, as she rear-ended the Previa. She'd be at fault of course. However, for the "perfect" fix, and ARB makes the most sense....

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Bullbars are not forgiving in the least. My mom rear-ended herself on my bullbar(backed her car into my old Jeep) and it wasn't pretty. She'd had the 'Benz 2 weeks and did 1500 in damage to just the trunk lid(she managed to avoid damaging anything else, thank god). As bad as it was, I still can't figure out how she didn't see the freakin thing, I mean it was lifted 8" on 35s, not exactly a little truck!

Ary