Thank you Audi and CG-Lock

I walked away from this.  And my 19month old is fine.

Do NOT leave a hole for someone to turn left through if the right lane is not clear.  Do NOT go through a hole when someone leaves you a hole and you can't see the right lane traffic.

I'm gonna be sore tomorrow. My nose is busted up a bit. 

That looks pretty bad. Glad to hear both you and your kid are OK.

In reply to PMRacing :

Jeebus. Helluva hit. Glad yall are alright.

Did you get the munchkin checked out? We're old enough to know when stuff aint right. He isn't .

Also, chuck the car seat .after that kind of hit, i wouldn't trust it again in another.

I know, im a random dude on the internet .that is first responder to lots of accidents, and have been in over 40 myself. So, take my advice/concern for what it cost you.

Glad you are both okay!  

Double check with your insurance. They often cover car seat replacement. 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

EMTs checked us both out. We will head straight to the docs should anything crop up.

Thanks for the concern everyone. 

The hit was maybe 40mph. Thanks to racing reflexes I was on the brakes and it was over before I knew what happened.  But I can replay everything in my head. Weird.  Gonna be hard to get to sleep tonight.

I just hope the passenger in the other car is ok. They had to cut the doors off to get her out. She was conscience and talking but pretty banged up.  It was a Saturn SUV. 

Ouch.  Glad both you and the little one are OK

Wow! So happy you and yours are okay! I know the exact scenario you’re describing and detest it. I can’t understand why people think it’s okay to turn left across multiple lanes of traffic when they can’t  see the traffic in all of the lanes! 

As I literally just said in Daylan's thread, it's amazing what you can walk away from in a modern car. Glad you're both ok, that's scary E36 M3 with your kid in the car.

Glad all are okay! 

Will not be needed... 

I predict you'll be car shopping in 2 weeks. 

I can't sleep now.  Every time I close my eyes the crash replays in my head. I hope the other people are ok too.  

I'm already trying to figure out what to get next. I'm going to need something quick for my commute and my car hunts have lasted months before. This was a rare car. 2015 AT Quattro 6MT. I found it in FL and had it shipped to MI. I have an agreed value policy on the car so I should get a bit more than I owe on it.  Should I move up to an S4? Find another A4? Get an appliance for a bit until I find what I want?  I guess that's for another thread.  

I hugged my family extra long tonight. The outcome of this could have been much worse.  

In reply to PMRacing :

The wife was driving and I was in the passenger seat when an old man pulled out directly in front of us. She didn't have time to even hit the brakes and I was able to get out "oh sh" before we T-boned him at 35 mph right in the driver's door. I was fine and made sure she was fine before I checked on him. He was hurting, thought he had some broken ribs and he was having trouble breathing. He had to be in his nineties. I thought about him for two days before I got ahold of his daughter and she said he was sore but okay. I just kept picturing in my mind his ribs puncturing his lung. Even though I was mad at him for pulling out in front of us I was relieved he wasn't seriously injured. 

Those situations just suck all the way around.

Take the he kid and yourself to the doctor tomorrow for a checkup. 

Throw one out child seat. Buy new one. Insurance will 100% cover the cost. Make sure you take a sawzall to it or cut out the harness before throwing it out.  I had someone try to trash pick mine that was in a wreck. Gotta love Seattle.  

Fueled by Caffeine said:

Take the he kid and yourself to the doctor tomorrow for a checkup. 

 

Throw one out child seat. Buy new one. Insurance will 100% cover the cost. Make sure you take a sawzall to it or cut out the harness before throwing it out.  I had someone try to trash pick mine that was in a wreck. Gotta love Seattle.  

I second all of this. You and the Kidlet may be fine, but you need to be 1000% certain.

Yikes - all in all the Audi looks like it took the hit really well?  Not much to say other than we hope you and the family feel better.  

BoxheadTim said:

That looks pretty bad. Glad to hear both you and your kid are OK.

Yeah, that was quite a thump.  I'm glad everybody's OK.  I probably don't need to tell you this, but definitely get re-checked in about 3 weeks or a month.  Sometimes it takes a while for the hidden injuries to become apparent.

I hope the settlement goes smoothly and in your favor.

Appleseed said:

Double check with your insurance. They often cover car seat replacement. 

Some car seat companies will replace them for free if you give them the old unit.  They do post-impact stress analysis on them.

PMRacing said:

I'm already trying to figure out what to get next. I'm going to need something quick for my commute and my car hunts have lasted months before.

I'm glad everybody seems OK. 

The other's insurance should be covering the rental for a while. Don't be afraid to buy a beater to get from A to B while you search for a long term keeper, either.

ouch. very glad to hear everyone is OK. 

and yes, I hate hate hate that scenario. It is all too common around here. General guideline: DO NOT stop or slow to let someone in or across unless traffic around you is stopped. Like for a red light. 

This is also the scenario that kills the most pedestrians (IIRC from my driver's ed days). Be very careful before you waive a pedestrian on. Good to stop for them at crosswalks but you are not the best judge of if it is safe for THEM to walk or not. Waiving them on gives that impression. Especially true with kids. 

PMRacing said:

I walked away from this.  And my 19month old is fine.

I'm a career firefighter/EMT and I respond to crashes like this every day.

First, I'm glad that you walked away, but please take your child to be checked out ASAP. This is one case where I would probably recommend the ER vs. a private doctor, as they understand MVA trauma better in the ER. EMTs can tell you when something is bad, but they're not qualified to tell you that your 19 month old is okay. I wouldn't let my guys do it.

If I were writing this report, I would describe it as a motor vehicle accident with "a high mechanism of injury" and most likely (though I'd need need a closer look) , with passenger compartment intrusion.

Don't mess around with your kids, especially if they are too young to effectively explain what they feel inside. I wouldn't let you and the child leave this scene without signing a release form stating that you refused transport for evaluation against medical advice. I'm okay with adults making that decision for themselves, but the ER staff will never give you a hard time for exercising caution with a 19 month old with this kind of a hit. Show them this picture.

Insurance or the manufacturer should cover the replacement of the child seat. Be sure to get one that is rated for side impact protection. I haven't bought one in more than five years, but I think Britax and Recaro used to be the highest rated back when I was shopping. They are worth the $300. Check the online ratings first.

And on a side note...this kind of accident happens all the time. My office looks out onto a four lane road with a bunch of little strip malls on it. I literally look out onto a spot where this happens almost daily. Someone wants to make a left turn out of the parking lot. Good Samaritan in the right hand lane stops and waves him out. Car pulls out and gets T-boned in the driver's door by a car doing 45 in the left hand lane. Good Samaritan shrugs his shoulders and drives on. Driver pulling out is at fault and gets a ride to the hospital. It's unfortunate, but it happens so often that it's ridiculous.

Wow, yeah, glad you and yours are okay. And this is why my wife drives a newer Civic Si, not her old one. 

Glad you are okay Phil

First - glad this wasn't worse.  It drives me nuts when people "let" you out, and get annoyed when you don't take it.  I'll wait another 30 seconds till I can see for myself, thankyouverymuch.  

But second - can you explain how CG-Lock helped?  Did you use it as the driver, or is it helping keep the car seat fastened?

mikeatrpi said:

First - glad this wasn't worse.  It drives me nuts when people "let" you out, and get annoyed when you don't take it.  I'll wait another 30 seconds till I can see for myself, thankyouverymuch.  

But second - can you explain how CG-Lock helped?  Did you use it as the driver, or is it helping keep the car seat fastened?

What is "CG lock"?

NOHOME said:

mikeatrpi said:

First - glad this wasn't worse.  It drives me nuts when people "let" you out, and get annoyed when you don't take it.  I'll wait another 30 seconds till I can see for myself, thankyouverymuch.  

But second - can you explain how CG-Lock helped?  Did you use it as the driver, or is it helping keep the car seat fastened?

What is "CG lock"?

I'm not sure how it applies here, either.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. The kiddo is doing fine today. We had her checked out and there were no problems.  The car and car seat did it's job.

As for CG-Lock it will require a bit of a story.  My dad invented it for performance drivers of street cars to hold you in the seat better. Not a harness but something that provides more stability than a standard seatbelt. He didn't want to put anything unsafe on a seatbelt so it was crash tested to FMVSS standards.  The testing engineers saw the results and said "holy E36 M3".  The CG-Lock improved safety over a standard seatbelt with or without airbags...significantly.  How does it do this?

In a crash there are 3 impacts. 1. The car hits something. 2. Your body hit your seat belt. 3. Your internal organs your bones. CG-Lock takes the slack that builds up in the seat belt (next time your in your car pull the slack out of the seatbelt, go for your drive, then look how much slack has built up) and allows you a longer length of time to slow down in an impact, removing most of #2, you hitting the seatbelt. You begin to slow down with the car. I don't remember the numbers exactly but there was huge (10s of gs) reduction in deceleration of the occupant in a frontal crash test with CG-Lock vs. without. That inch of slack in a seatbelt is a large amount of room to take up in a crash. (never wear your seatbelt above a jacket at the waist, btw). 

So basically, the CG-Lock allows you a longer amount of time to slow down during an impact, reducing acceleration, thus forces on your body. We have reports of people who crashed and walked away and the police didn't believe they were driving. There is a binder 3 inches thick of thank you letters for accidents that people walked away from and may not have.  Auto companies basically said "we meet regulations, we don't need this" when they were shown. Have you noticed new seat belt buckle designs?  They worked around our patents to incorporate similar ideas. Not as good, but better than a standard slip tounge seatbelt. 

The Audi did it's job, and did it well.  But I think I would have had more injuries without a CG-Lock. Right now I have a bruised nose from the airbag and some tenderness from the seatbelt on my chest. No visible bruising from it.  My glasses didn't even get damaged. Why?  1 inch less of seatbelt slack and a tight seatbelt around my waist.  

Alternatives? Don't twist your seatbelt (I used to do this). The friction caused by the belt twist can break it in a crash.  Baby seat clips?  Not rated for adult weight and difficult to adjust.  Pull and lock method?  Inconsistent placement and can losen over bumps. Harnesses? If you need a harness, get one.  

Anyway, that's my long story of why I am thanking CG-Lock for those that have asked.  

​​​​Again, thank you all for the concern and advice! We are watching our daughter like a hawk and will continue to do so!  Cars can be replaced, we can't.