wrapped my ms3 around a pole :-/

Sorry to hear about your loss and glad to hear that you are OK. Judging from the degree of intrusion into the passenger compartment, you are REALLY lucky that you didn't have a fractured femur, tibia, or pelvis. Thankfully, the side airbag protected your upper body from the impact.

However, I think that this accident underscores the importance of proper equipment (i.e. tires with appropriate tread) and proper driving technique (i.e. appropriate speed for driving conditions and for driving skill). We could have easily been discussing the passing of a fellow forum member.

R
 
Looks like the airbags did their jobs...I would say the FEDEX truck in the backgroundin one of the pictures got it more wrong that you though :-P

Glad your alright...
 
photo4kj7.jpg

Is the pole you hit the one after the sign in this picture?

I am really surprised the car was able to limp off of the road after you hit the pole.
 
Do you think the Big-Gulp in the driver's door contributed any to the shock absorption of that impact? The cup looks pretty jacked up, definitely took one for the team. (wink)
 
Summer tires

Everytime I see something like this, I am happy I spent $1600 for a second set of rims+all season tires. I did not believe people about how bad the summer tires drive in cold weather until I drove through an intersection on the red light with the brake pedal mashed to the floor. I was still alive, so next day I went on tirerack.com and no surprises ever since.
 
Sorry to hear about the car, man, and I'm glad you're okay.
as far as my next car is concerned, it's not going to be front wheel drive. I need to try something more controllable and more consistent. I want to be able to point the car into the turn the way I see fit. I just don't really see how fwd is useful anymore and how it unbalances cars in most cases.
I just wanted to point out that this is incredibly incorrect of you to say. The automotive-industry wide general push towards front wheel drive was motivated in part by cost effectiveness in manufacturing and in part by safety. Front wheel drive is very consistent, predictable and controllable. The problem as you described it has nothing to do with drivetrain and everything to do with tires and conditions. It's important, after an accident, to fairly and accurately assess what went wrong and why so that you can figure out how to avoid a similar situation in the future, to learn from your mistakes.

You're in Pennsylvania where it has been cold, wet, and snowwy, and you lost control on worn down summer tires. This isn't exactly surprising. It wasn't the drivetrains fault, it was driver's error. You were driving on the wrong rubber for the conditions, and you were driving too fast for conditions. Inexperience bit you in the ass. Please learn from it and become a safer driver.
 
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would love to see an answer to this question
This is almost an irrelevant question that has been discussed before on here. If I can find the thread I will link to it (very similar story, actually, summer tires in cold and snowy weather), but to summarize: there is only so much DSC can do, and it requires a certain amount available grip to do it. Once you have exceeded the limits of grip there is little it can do, and while "exceeding the limits of grip" is exactly what it is supposed to prevent, it requires traction to do its job. No tread, summer compound on cold, wet pavement in snowy conditions is not exactly giving the DSC anything to work with. I'm not sure how tight a corner it was, but I think given the conditions and the state of his tires it's safe to say he was driving too fast for conditions, and that doesn't help either.
 
Ouch!! glad you are ok. Summer tire and worn for that matter with snow and possibly ice is not a good combination. Plus driving a bit faster than normal i think..hmmm. Ive seen some awd vehicles spin because of ice so with those things on the road i dont think what ever type of vehicle will be good. Personally i like FWD cos RWD spins too much for me and much more uncrontollable. My friend traded his nice s2000 when he almost his a pole driving slow and he just happen to accelerate where a patch of ice was. He now drives a FWD acura.
 
This is almost an irrelevant question that has been discussed before on here. If I can find the thread I will link to it (very similar story, actually, summer tires in cold and snowy weather), but to summarize: there is only so much DSC can do, and it requires a certain amount available grip to do it. Once you have exceeded the limits of grip there is little it can do, and while "exceeding the limits of grip" is exactly what it is supposed to prevent, it requires traction to do its job. No tread, summer compound on cold, wet pavement in snowy conditions is not exactly giving the DSC anything to work with. I'm not sure how tight a corner it was, but I think given the conditions and the state of his tires it's safe to say he was driving too fast for conditions, and that doesn't help either.

thank you for the explanation. makes the money i spent on winter tires that much more worth it.
 
yea it would be like saying that ABS prevents you from losing control, and then blaming the ABS for not working when you skid out of control on ice or something.

i would agree with the loss of control being due to exceding traction parameters. and fwd generally has understeer, which is favorable in an accident scenario because it forces you to make a frontal collision which in a way is the safest accident to be in.

it just makes this accident seem kinda weird to me
 
Yeah

This is almost an irrelevant question that has been discussed before on here. If I can find the thread I will link to it (very similar story, actually, summer tires in cold and snowy weather), but to summarize: there is only so much DSC can do, and it requires a certain amount available grip to do it. Once you have exceeded the limits of grip there is little it can do, and while "exceeding the limits of grip" is exactly what it is supposed to prevent, it requires traction to do its job. No tread, summer compound on cold, wet pavement in snowy conditions is not exactly giving the DSC anything to work with. I'm not sure how tight a corner it was, but I think given the conditions and the state of his tires it's safe to say he was driving too fast for conditions, and that doesn't help either.

I have a hard time believing people don't realize that DSC NEEDS grip to work. Christ, even without computer nanny systems a car's suspension, steering and brakes need grip to operate correctly and reliably.

People just need to stop cheaping out on rubber and learn that the laws of physics ALWAYS apply. There is no magic here.

It's been discussed before but what we need are laws that drive good habits and not laws that try to protect the ignorant. Requiring winter tires in areas that get moderate snowfall is one law I would gladly get behind.
 
The whole winter tires thing causes such a ruckus.....

Honestly, the tires shipped on the car when new are SUMMER ONLY tires, as in, do not EVER drive on these tires in temperatures below around 40 degrees. Simple.

Having lived in severe weather climates, 99% of your driving would be fine on a good quality all season tire, even on snow and moderate ice. I did so for years in upstate NY in the cold snow and ice. No problem at all. You still need to use proper care driving in bad weather conditions. Are dedicated snow tires good, hell yes. But not for everyone, sometimes they are more cost/inconvenience than they are worth.

Summation: Don't drive on summer tires below 40 degrees, good all season tires work well, snow tires are better but at what level of cost inconvenience.
 
Is the pole you hit the one after the sign in this picture?

I am really surprised the car was able to limp off of the road after you hit the pole.

nah the pole is actually in front of the car, you can't see it in the pictures. basically the side of the car hit the pole with so much force that it pretty much bounced back and landed how you see it. I didn't try to drive the car after the impact, just shut it off. I think the brake pedal was stuck down anyway.


Do you think the Big-Gulp in the driver's door contributed any to the shock absorption of that impact? The cup looks pretty jacked up, definitely took one for the team. (wink)

haha, that was actually a peanut butter shake from sonic that I had gotten earlier. I didn't even get to finish the rest of it

would love to see an answer to this question

DSC was off from what I can remember. it wouldn't have saved the car in my opinion.


I realize the mistake that I made, and I should have gotten some kind of all-season tire. my old civic had bald falken tires before and it dominated the snow and wet roads. oh well, what's done is done and no one got injured except for the car.

I still strongly believe that if I were in an awd/rwd car this situation would have a different outcome and anyone can say whatever they want about that.
 
DSC was off from what I can remember. it wouldn't have saved the car in my opinion.


I realize the mistake that I made, and I should have gotten some kind of all-season tire. my old civic had bald falken tires before and it dominated the snow and wet roads. oh well, what's done is done and no one got injured except for the car.

i waiting for your response to that before really saying anything, but first let me just say 2 thumbs up for atlesat admitting that you were in the wrong here and you messed up. But, and it's a big but, i will never understand the mentality here that the average driver has thinking that they can out perform todays traction control. I promise that you can not react faster than it or apply more correct braking then the stability control or the abs in most modern systems. I have made it through this entire winter with the factory tires on the back and some all seasons up front without an issue. The dsc has been so effective the few times the ass end has stepped out. I know that you will believe that you don't think your dsc would have saved you here but do you really think it would have hurt? Could it have made the outcome any worse?? was it really worth going through the extra motion of shutting it off instead of just getting int he car and going??
 
I still strongly believe that if I were in an awd/rwd car this situation would have a different outcome and anyone can say whatever they want about that.

Yeah, you would've hit the pole from another angle.
 
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