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Old 07-09-2020, 04:21 AM   #1
Larbabe
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Exclamation Collision damage, injury, physics 101

My trusty '03 Impreza and I were stopped at a red light just a couple blocks from home. Way behind was a guy in an old utility service truck with a cherry picker on the back. Either he didn't put his phone down or maybe forgot where his brake pedal was. He hit me going at least 30 mph without slowing.

The Subaru took it like a champ. No real damage in the pictures. His bumper hit mine about where it goes in and mounts to the frame. They replaced the cover, bumper and mount, a little paint and a tail light.

I wasn't quite so lucky. My head hit the headrest so hard I thought I broke it off. Ended up with whiplash and a traumatic brain injury. The neck is mostly healed but some of the other damage is permanent. The guy's insurance company says I couldn't possibly have been hurt that bad because the collision didn't look serious at all.

You and I know that Subarus have a long history of engineering for safety. Most of what I can find on that is for front and side, but I need it for rear impact. Maybe something that shows how solid the car is from the bumper mount straight through to the seat, and how much force a truck like that would have caused. Doesn't have to be elaborate. I just need them to see both that the Impreza can take a pounding without collapsing and that the inertia would be enough to crack my melon.

Any thoughts? If you do, have resources, links, personal experiences, anything that might help please holler asap. Either way, next time you hop in the car remember the engineers who work very hard to make sure your Subaru can save your life. Have a great drive and put down that phone!
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Old 07-09-2020, 06:12 AM   #2
SoFlaRRRex
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I feel like documentation from your doctor that you do indeed have a severe brain injury is what you need, not crash test videos showing how solid a Subaru is.
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Old 07-09-2020, 08:11 AM   #3
Kickinbeatz
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That is complete BS from their insurance company. Any one with eyes can see the weight difference between the 2 vehicles. The Impreza is a relatively small light car, the truck, on the other hand, probably weighs 5 tons or more. At 30 mph, that would pretty much feel like a freight train. It wouldn't matter how well a Subaru is engineered for safety. What you are dealing with here are the laws of inertia and physics.

Insurance companies are the worst when you are going against them. As mentioned above, get doctor's notes or referrals to your injuries. Also, your insurance can most likely be doing the fighting for you.
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Old 07-09-2020, 08:36 AM   #4
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What does your attorney say?

If you haven't hired a lawyer, it adds to the evidence that you've lost your mind in this collision. Ask around as much as you can. You want a really successful personal injury lawyer.

If you don't get a lawyer, you'll be screwed over and over.
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Old 07-09-2020, 10:07 AM   #5
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Sorry to hear. I also agree to hire a lawyer. Your insurance agent/company should be able to find you a good lawyer.
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Old 07-13-2020, 11:07 PM   #6
Larbabe
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Thanks everyone. Good advice. I got a great lawyer who's experienced and has stacks of documents from doctors and all the work they've done. The other insurance company can't believe the injuries could be so bad because the car doesn't look damaged. Maybe they would have been happy if I had a cheap POS car and they had to cut me out with the jaws of life. Have to say, in spite of the injuries, I'm still sold on Subaru. It drove away and didn't need a lot of repair.
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Old 07-14-2020, 07:45 AM   #7
rtv900
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Larbabe View Post
It drove away and didn't need a lot of repair.
So you drove it away?
with a traumatic brain injury?
How long ago was this because you seem to be able to articulate your condition perfectly over text despite the traumatic brain injury.
You joined this site in July 2020 so must have been pretty recent.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you are going America on this one and want a few hundred grand or maybe a mill or two based on what I've read so far?
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Old 07-14-2020, 09:41 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rtv900 View Post
So you drove it away?
with a traumatic brain injury?
How long ago was this because you seem to be able to articulate your condition perfectly over text despite the traumatic brain injury.
You joined this site in July 2020 so must have been pretty recent.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you are going America on this one and want a few hundred grand or maybe a mill or two based on what I've read so far?
i dont know the facts, nor am i picking sides, but as someone who has suffered a TBI, it doesnt make you a mumbling idiot.
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Old 07-14-2020, 11:04 AM   #9
rtv900
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lefty o View Post
i dont know the facts, nor am i picking sides, but as someone who has suffered a TBI, it doesnt make you a mumbling idiot.
right, I understand that, but I also wasn't born yesterday and I know enough about the medical industry to know that ANY complaint about a head or neck gets a box on a form checked "traumatic brain injury"

It doesn't mean there's actually a brain injury.

And when a guy gets rear ended and joins a forum the next day and repeats the phrase "traumatic brain injury" multiple times it's most likely because he wants a pay day and most likely not because he is legitimately injured and deserves financial compensation.

I get it, he probably has a sore neck, and will probably have no more aches and pains than anybody else once he recovers.
But America right?

I'm not guaranteeing anything, just saying what appears to be likely based on what I've read thus far and based on what I know about our legal system and our medical system.
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Old 07-14-2020, 12:03 PM   #10
Norm Peterson
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I'd have to think that a concussion - I'm sure that one is involved here - would fall into the general category of "traumatic brain injury". Trauma in medical terms is defined as "physical injury" with no further definition of seriousness or categorization of extent.

I can tell you that a concussion isn't any fun, and while you may be reasonably coherent the day after it can easily be weeks before the general fogginess lifts.

We don't know any of the details that could indicate how severe of an injury could be expected in this case. Like how OP was sitting at the moment of impact . . . how much space between his head and the headrest being particularly important as that represents the distance over which the headrest would have been accelerated forward due to the impact, and the relative headrest to head impact speed.


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Old 07-14-2020, 12:09 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Norm Peterson View Post
I'd have to think that a concussion - I'm sure that one is involved here - would fall into the general category of "traumatic brain injury".
correct, a concussion is classified as a TBI
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Old 07-31-2020, 02:25 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rtv900 View Post
correct, a concussion is classified as a TBI
sorry to hear about the accident.

sounds like classic "the other ins company does not want to pay..."

Just because the accident doesn't look bad, doesn't mean it wasn't bad...

Again, said by the insurance folks whose money is going to pay for the damages to property and person.

Physics 101: (F)orce = (m)ass [kg] x (a)cceleration [meters/seconds squared]

Maybe one of the insurance folks would like to sit on a car while it is plowed into by a similar truck [so they could tell you it wasn't that bad]. Do you think they would go for the deal to see that "looks" are not always a tell-tell sign of severity.

Good luck in your fight.
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Old 07-31-2020, 02:59 PM   #13
Dave D.
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Take a quarter and a dime, put them on a table with a slippery surface. Take the dime and shove it at the quarter. Now perform the reverse, quarter (the truck) hitting the dime (your car). You've just seen how momentum transfer works, and when big vehicles hit small ones at even slow speeds the acceleration can be tremendous. Have your attorney check with a science expert (although a decent one I'm sure would already have thought of that).
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Old 07-31-2020, 03:22 PM   #14
rtv900
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave D. View Post
Take a quarter and a dime, put them on a table with a slippery surface. Take the dime and shove it at the quarter. Now perform the reverse, quarter (the truck) hitting the dime (your car). You've just seen how momentum transfer works, and when big vehicles hit small ones at even slow speeds the acceleration can be tremendous. Have your attorney check with a science expert (although a decent one I'm sure would already have thought of that).
nobody is debating physics.
Be realistic, the vehicles are not solid material, so if there was truly that much energy going into the subaru it would show physical damage. You can't transfer momentum into a plastic bumper supported by sheet metal and not deform it.

Plus, they are probably pushing back because they see fraudulent claims daily and obviously the insurance industry would be unsustainable if they had to write a blank check for anything. It would end up like health care.

My guess is, if he attached pictures of the car everybody would be saying, "uhhhh, how fast did you say the massive truck was going?????"
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