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231 Posts
Hello all, first I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your support over the past two years in my passion with the B5! This forum has made owning a Passat more fun than any other car I've previously owned.
Last Thursday morning an overloaded log truck was merging on to a freeway access road as I was about to merge onto the freeway. The truck rolled onto its side and slammed into the concrete barrier seperating the lanes of traffic. I collided with about 10,000 pounds of flying concrete at 60mph, flipping my car twice, tearing the bottom of the engine off and eventually landing turned around and on the drivers door in the water that runs along that road. I have absolutely no memory of the events I describe but have been told that I must have kicked out the sunroof and gained my freedom crawling up to the road from the water and muck. The terrible thing is that during this whole ordeal I was on the phone (with a headset btw) with my fiance and she had to wonder what in the world was happening. My first clear statement was "I was in a terrible accident and I'm bleeding" At that point the phone was taken away from me and she was informed that I was bleeding mainly from the nose. I spent the day in the hospital getting more tests that I knew existed, but was released by early evening.
I tell this story because I want all of you to understand what a safe vehicle we own. I went to see what was left of my "baby" the following day and nearly dropped to the ground. There was not once pices of straight sheet metal to be found. One of the front wheels and drive axle was ripped clean off and another wheel was destroyed. As I stated earlier, the bottom of the engine was ripped off as well. The cool part is that all the airbags deployed as engineered, the seatbelt retractor did it's job and the passenger compartment was for the most part, untouched.
For legal reasons I cannot comment on my physical condition other than to say that I am bumped and bruised for sure with a broken collar bone, but ALIVE!!! ...and that my friends is all that is really important. For all the time and money spent on my B5, I still feel that it was money well spent. The car did what it was it was supposed to do, it gave it's life for mine! :wink:
Unfortunately my laptop computer, along with many other possesions were lost in the accident and I cannot post pictures of the car at this time. If one of you would be kind enough to host them for me, I'd gladly email a few of them to you because the pictures speak louder than I can.
I will be back with a new Passat, or perhaps an Audi in due time, but I will never forget each of you and all the support you've offered over these past few years in the meantime.
David
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Last Thursday morning an overloaded log truck was merging on to a freeway access road as I was about to merge onto the freeway. The truck rolled onto its side and slammed into the concrete barrier seperating the lanes of traffic. I collided with about 10,000 pounds of flying concrete at 60mph, flipping my car twice, tearing the bottom of the engine off and eventually landing turned around and on the drivers door in the water that runs along that road. I have absolutely no memory of the events I describe but have been told that I must have kicked out the sunroof and gained my freedom crawling up to the road from the water and muck. The terrible thing is that during this whole ordeal I was on the phone (with a headset btw) with my fiance and she had to wonder what in the world was happening. My first clear statement was "I was in a terrible accident and I'm bleeding" At that point the phone was taken away from me and she was informed that I was bleeding mainly from the nose. I spent the day in the hospital getting more tests that I knew existed, but was released by early evening.
I tell this story because I want all of you to understand what a safe vehicle we own. I went to see what was left of my "baby" the following day and nearly dropped to the ground. There was not once pices of straight sheet metal to be found. One of the front wheels and drive axle was ripped clean off and another wheel was destroyed. As I stated earlier, the bottom of the engine was ripped off as well. The cool part is that all the airbags deployed as engineered, the seatbelt retractor did it's job and the passenger compartment was for the most part, untouched.
For legal reasons I cannot comment on my physical condition other than to say that I am bumped and bruised for sure with a broken collar bone, but ALIVE!!! ...and that my friends is all that is really important. For all the time and money spent on my B5, I still feel that it was money well spent. The car did what it was it was supposed to do, it gave it's life for mine! :wink:
Unfortunately my laptop computer, along with many other possesions were lost in the accident and I cannot post pictures of the car at this time. If one of you would be kind enough to host them for me, I'd gladly email a few of them to you because the pictures speak louder than I can.
I will be back with a new Passat, or perhaps an Audi in due time, but I will never forget each of you and all the support you've offered over these past few years in the meantime.
David
View my profile
