I had a huge post typed up and I went to imageshack to upload a picture to go with it and when I tabbed back it was gone, arg!

So, despite me always telling people to learn to drive and to never use their brakes when you're in a slide.... I flipped my car over.

A little background for the story. I was in NW Iowa with my fiance and our 8 month old son because she needed to do some noise testing (they want to add windmills) and wasn't comfortable driving on the roads, or what they called roads, between farmland. My car is an 09 xD with a MT and I've been driving since the age of 12 (now 22) and I've driven everything from a mini-bike to 18 wheelers. The only 'accident' I've ever had was going 5 mph when a rear door of an E series van got blown open by wind and scratched my car. I consider myself to be a competent driver and would have never expected to be in an at fault accident. It'd been snowing on and off for 4 days and we were already a day behind on testing because snow + 50 mph winds = 0 visibility and we had to cut testing short.

Anywho, I was driving down a gravel road which was freshly plowed and was not yet driven on. Since I'd been there 4 days I was confident with my driving and didn't see it as a problem. The speed limit was 55 and my speed was varying between 30 and 45 depending on road conditions. While driving I saw a hill and pressed down the clutch and put the shifter into neutral. Hills, dips, underpasses and bridges are notorious for being icy and I didn't want to risk losing traction while accelerating over one. As I approached it my speed had gone down to 30 and there was a big pile of snow on the left of the hill that worried me so I stuck to the right side. The right side of the car dipped a little and we started to slide, just then fear told instinct to step aside and I pushed my foot on the brakes . It took about half a second for me to realize what I was doing and take my foot off but it was too late - we were already in a full on slide off road. You know how people say time stands still? They lie. Before I realized it the car had flipped completely upside down and landed softly in the unpacked snow.

Is my son alright?!? I look back and he's awoken from his nap, but he loves to be upside down so he's smirking slightly. Is my fiance okay? She tells me she's fine and I tell her to dial 911 as she asks me to get our son out of his seat. I undo my buckle and flop down to the ceiling then crawl over to him. I carefully let him out of his seat and wrap him and my fiance in the emergency blanket I keep in my car. Just to be safe I turn the key into the off position.About 2 minutes later I hear something pull up - that was fast. I awkwardly crawl (when you're in an upside down car everything you do is awkward) to the rear driver and pull myself out (no jacket, of course).

"Yall okay"? I explain to him that we're fine and just waiting for the police. "You shoulda waited until I finished plowing this road". I then realize the plow had only gotten the right side of the road... I'd been driving half off road for like 5 minutes . He told me that he gets the 3 mile stretch one half at a time and was making his way back to get the other half when he found us. I shook his hand and thanked him for stopping as he hopped back into the tractor turned plow and drove away. I decided it'd be too much hassle to get back into the car so I figure it's a good time to survey the damages. I walk around the whole car and... wtf? ONLY the front bumper was damaged? Not even a tiny leak from the radiator or a broken fan blade or a tie rod. The crash felt soft, but I was surprised at how lucky we were to not only be hurt but that only the bumper was pulled off.

Finally a sheriff arrives and we hop into the back of his cruiser (I almost feel bad for criminals after seeing the amount of legroom you get in that thing) to warm up. We chat with the trooper for a while but then my son gets a little agitated so I ask the officer to open the door so I can grab something from the car. I wiggle my way back in and reach for the diaper bag which is right at the windshield. I just barely grab it with my fingertips when *crack* the windshield develops a huge crack in it. Ugh, I had my hopes up because I thought it wasn't that bad and now this.... but then I remembered that none of us are hurt and instantly cheer up.

After some more talking and some chomping of cheerios done by my son we all make merry and start making jokes about the crash. I explain how the crash happened and we talk about the new cop car (Carbon E7, it's sweetness... google it!) and finally the tow truck shows up. The guy hops out and is sporting this awesome 80s mullet. :mullet: (that emoticon should totally be put in)

The officer backs up his cruiser to the top of the hill so nobody comes over and accidentally slams into the tow truck. I diligently watch as he hooks up chains to my car and much to my dismay doesn't flip it back over while it's in the snow, but rather drags it on it's roof onto the gravel road. I felt my car's pain for those 3 seconds. Then I notice that if he tries to flip the car in that position it'll just end up in the ditch on the opposite side of the road, and apparently so does he. What does he do? He drags it further on it's roof *cringe* and then flips it over onto it's side and smashes in both driver side doors, side view mirror, fender, and headlamp, then finally rights the car. I had to look away, it was just too painful. Now my original happiness from lack of damage has turned to hatred for the driver who recovered my vehicle so callously. We pull up next to him so I can grab more things from the car and it all makes sense now. "Bob's auto body" - sometimes you just gotta make some extra business for yourself.

Blah, my original post was so much better worded and descriptive. Anyway, the 3 of us are all okay and still in Iowa. We didn't rent a car originally because we were rushed to head out here and didn't have time to sign the special rental waiver (We're under 25 and it takes like 30 minutes to fill out) but now having no vehicle were forced to fill it out and on top of that... have a wrecked christmas present Got a call with an estimate - 7,000! Hoping the company will pay for it since it was done while on business.

Too long; didn't read - Car went off road flipped forward, got totaled while being recovered. No one hurt.

Here is a picture taken while waiting for the truck to arrive.

 

hot damn. sorry your xd got totalled . ive seen xbs and tcs flipped but this it the first for the xds. im glad everyone was fine. 7k is hella moneys. i hope your company pays for it. good luck.

 

glad to hear everyone's okay! and cop cars are really upping their game, i've seen a couple dodge charger cop cars around my area and they're looking good!




driving since 12??

 

It's never good to be cocky.

Seriously, though... I'm glad everyone is okay. I hope your car gets fixed up like new. I bet your next one will have VSC!

 

aw man .. hurt me thinking about my car being dragged on gravel =[

hope your company pays for it -- let us know

 

Did you go pick those quotes from his previous posts? Thats pretty funny. Glad you're all ok though.

 

oh damn...that sucks...
glad u r ok!

 

lol, too funny...

glad youre all okay, looks like the xD holds up pretty well upside down....

 

dang man sorry to hear about your car but good to see your alright though

 

ouch!

 

glad to here everyone's ok, cuz in the end a car's just a car, you can get another, another family is a little harder to come by.

 

Glad the family is ok. Hopefully your ride is covered and now you have a funny story to tell your kid when there older.

 

that sucks!!!!!
good to hear everyone is ok.
Now we know the xd can take a roll over pretty well

 

any more pictures?

 

I actually reconnected the ABS sensor for the trip since I knew I'd be driving in conditions I was unfamiliar and weary of. And no way even VSC could have helped me in that situation. Like I said - I was in neutral, so all my wheels were spinning freely to match the road. And my 2 right tires were offroad... so going off road was inevitable no matter what. I just think that me hitting the brakes made it worse.

Driving with your child in the car really offsets your mentality. When I'm alone it's like "If I do this the outcome will most likely be good, but if it gets bad... it'll get bad" when he's in the car "Better to get the car messed up as long as everyone is safe". It really affects you on a conscious and subconscious level.

Also, I'm not sure if xDs can take rolls pretty well. Like I said, we landed very softly and in snow. Not even the windshield cracked from the crash itself. Company isn't paying for it, saying that policy is to rent a car, go figure.... Having troubles with insurance atm :/ so decided to drive it home. Only thing is - the tow truck driver charged 600 for the tow and to drain oil from the block (From being upside down oil got in the cylinders above the pistons) and wants cash only.. blah my bank isn't in Iowa and only lets me take 200 a day from ATMs so I drove home without the car and plan to return friday to retrieve it. I'll take more pictures then, but here is one for now.

 

wow thats just sad to see

 

Be careful doing that... neutral seems like a good idea, but a little power to the front wheels (FWD only) will help keep the cer moving in a straight line. No power to the wheels can actually make it harder to regain traction. FWD and RWD differ a little in this regard. There's really no telling whether VSC would have helped or not. It is designed to help with just this type of situation, but that doesn't mean it would have been able to. VSC modulates engine output as well as controlling individual wheel braking. A little brake action on one or two wheels may have prevented your car from losing traction completely. Maybe not.

As far as the ABS... it is pretty lame to disable such a safety feature on your car. If someone slammed into my car and I found out that they had purposefully disabled their ABS, you better believe I would be suing them or worse.

 

uskrewed, check out the following youtube video... particularly the part that starts at 2:10 and 4:00.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwRNz_OCLmE

 

oh wow, poor xD

 

nice video find!

i was sold on vsc w/ the other video on youtube by fifth gear

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tSy5tHtT1g