Wounded KK

zoso7374 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:45 am

So I am on my way to work this morning on I-78 in NJ, and traffic gets stopped (pretty common occurance on 78 during morning commute). I knew that it had stopped fairly suddenly, so out of habit I looked in my rear view mirror. Well here comes a Dodge Caravan doing mach 9, and I brace for the inevitable. The guy completely jacked me. I was able to pull to the side of the road. The impact was so hard, that it actually knocked my car stereo out of the dash.

I get out of my Lib, and the Caravan is totaled with airbags deployed. The entire front end was smashed in towards the cab, and fluids spewing out of the engine. The driver (Pennsylvania plates) was not very friendly and didn't speak english. I could see he had 5 passengers in the car, and his front seat passenger was clearly injured. The weird thing is that it looked like the passenger side airbag went off, but not the driver. 4 kids in the back, not sure if they were injured. 7 state troopers showed up in about 2 minutes and facilitated the info exchange, and I drove away.

I must say, that I am pissed to have to deal with this, but the Liberty really took the blow in stride. My rear bumper and tow hitch took most of the blow. I have a shackle in my hitch, and most of the paint is gone. When the fire department showed up, the woman in the fire department looked at the vehicles and said, "Remind me to buy a Jeep and not one of those things (pointing at caravan)." Of course the irony being that they are both Chrysler vehicles. As far as my damage, I have a headache and back and neck pain, but I think I am okay. I am going to get checked out later. I'll put up some pictures later.

BrendonR · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:52 am

Glad to hear you and your KK are feeling alright zoso - good luck with insurance, and repairs.

a friend of mine JUST got her mini out of the shop (had died) after about 3 weeks. She was driving along just the other day, and BAM! she was rear ended. Mini's told her that the earliest they can fix her car this time is April!

Excellent crash test results though

jeepernj · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 12:45 pm

Im really sorry to hear about that...I am familiar with 78 and know how it can be sometimes in the morning. It is frustrating to have to be the victim of someone else's carelessness and recklessness.
I hope you are completely OK after you go get checked out...Good Luck!

SilverKK09 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:08 pm

you know zoso :
I woke up today thinking that your birthday was going to be near this week..... and I thought "Once I get to the office ill open a thread congratulating him for his bday!
and I open up the forum and see this....
Glad you are ok and very sorry to hear what happened..... Im sure it will be fixed and will be as good as new!

Happy late bday bro! and hope everything works out for the best! BTW his bday was on the 15th... as far as I recall

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:10 pm

bummer... at least it was a minivan and not a tahoe like in my case. The KK's are super strong in the rear

zoso7374 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:21 am

Some pics . . .

The caravan that hit me, notice no attempt to brake or steer out of the way, I would love to know what happened, but at the same time, I probably don't want to know . . . idiot. I still can't believe he hit me at the speed he did, and I watched it happen in my rearview. Didn't even leave his lane . . .
It is hard to tell from the pic, but the front end is totally crumpled towards the cab of the van, and the two front airbags both went off. I can't get the image out of my head of him coming at me, there was a moment where I looked and said "Oh s**t."

Driving away, in the opposite direction.

I am going to make an appointment with the adjuster tomorrow. I went to the doctor, and I had a concussion and some back spasms/pain. When I got hit by the caravan, I could actually feel my rear wheels come off the ground. If I had been driving my old Mitsubishi Eclipse, I think I would be really messed up right now. It is really remarkable how the Jeep handled the impact. I will post pictures of the damage ASAP.

SilverKK09 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:41 am

Any pics of the damage on your kk?
from the looks of the caravan you might infer that it is not in a drivable condition and you just drove away!
koool!

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:55 am

Looks about like the PT Cruiser that hit me :lol:

cops kept looking for the vehicle that he hit, and kept saying its mine.... he hit me, couldn't even tell it though.

Glad you are basically OK, back pain can sneak up on you though in a day or two, take it easy!

zoso7374 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:33 am

Thanks for the kind words fellas . . . Tomm I had a similar experience, the cops looked at my Jeep and asked if he hit me directly or there was anyone else between us. I am taking it in tomorrow for an estimate. I will take some pics tonight before I drop it off tomorrow morning.

BrendonR · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:35 am

Very glad to see you're doin alright zoso - good luck at the shop.

TAHOE · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:46 pm

Glad you are okay.Good you are having Jeep checked out, could be some underneith damage you aren't seeing. My nephew got tagged in the rear in his 05 Sport before Christmas, cracked his bumper cover and tore a gash in the rear spare tire, not much else besides tweaking his already messed up back. The other car had a pretty messed up front end, he was in a similar situation on the wonderful I75 in Cinci. I guess these are some tough little suv's.

richd · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:59 pm

zoso7374-hope you're OK and everything works out for you.

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:00 pm

Thats awesome that your ok!!! By the looks of the van I'm really glad i've got a jeep. Once again convinced to get a Reese Hitch or an aftermarket rear bumper :twisted:

zoso7374 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:39 pm

Pics!!

SilverKK09 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:23 pm

hmmm it actually is not that bad!
I thought it was going to be worse!
that is one rusty muffler!

zoso7374 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:32 pm

The liberty is a tank! Is your muffler not rusty? Don't be dissin' my KK bro . . .

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:14 pm

Nice

... did your hitch move forward at all?

SilverKK09 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 9:21 am

zoso7374 wrote:

The liberty is a tank! Is your muffler not rusty? Don't be dissin' my KK bro . . .

hahaha Nah... my muffler is not rusty.... but then again: we dont have the kind of weather you guys have up there

and yes.... the liberty IS a tank

Gimme Liberty · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:01 am

My muffler was rusty as anything when I picked it up new. And every pic I'd seen of the KK's mufflers all looked like they'd been pulled out of the junkyard.

Must have been an '08 "feature"!

stumpjumper_09 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:28 am

looks totaled!!! give you $50 my girl needs a rig so she quits fighting me for the keys

Wounded KK

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