It was Friday night, about 11pm. I was driving on the PA Turnpike, a mile west of the Valley Forge rest area, going about 70 mph in the right lane(the speed limit was 65). No one else was around me. Suddenly, I saw something deer-shaped appear in the left lane.

I immediately jammed my foot on the brakes and my hand on the horn. "Wait, deer don't pay attention to horns!" The next moment, the deer is in my headlights, all the light hitting it replecting back at me, then it's bouncing off my hood/windshield and going over the car. No airbags went off, nor did the windshield break. The passenger's side headlight seemed to be out, but the engine was still running and I was going about 40 mph.

"Maybe the car's alright..." I thought as I pulled over and shut the engine. There was some kind of vapor floating around the car. I put my blinkers on and the driver's side blinker seemed to be out. As I got out, I smelled antifreeze, and then I saw the car (sorry, no pictures yet, I wasn't in a picture-taking frame of mind, it was dark, and all I had was my cell phone, so any pictures I took wouldn't have come out very good anyway! The dealership who is doing the work took pictures for the insurance company; maybe I can get ahold of them to post).

Both headlight lenses were smashed out, but both bulbs were still shining. The hood was scrunched up, and I could see the radiator was pushed back at an angle. I started making phone calls. First, get the car off the road, with a call to AAA. Well, AAA is not allowed on the turnpike, so I was transfered to the turnpike authority. Since I said the car was probably not driveable, it was "reportable" meaning the police would make a reportso the person I spoke to sent out a tow truck and the state police. I then called my insurance company and filed a claim.

Someone from the turnpike showed up, and pointed out the radiator was leaking, meaning the car was indeed not driveable. The police showed up and made their report. I called my wife and asked her to meet me at the dealership where I bought the car. Then the tow truck driver showed up and put the car up on the truck. I asked him to take me to the dealership. "Sorry, I can only take it to my tow lot."

Thanks. Its 11:30 at night, my wife is on her way to pick me up at one place, and you're taking me somewhere else? Luckily, I have maps on my Blackberry (thank you, employer!) so I was able to get directions for my wife from the dealership to the tow lot. It wasn't far, but it was dark, her headlights suck, and her windshield really needs a good cleaning, so it took a while for her to get there.

It actually worked in my favor, as the next day, I called my insurance company again to follow up, and while I "have the right to get repairs done at the place of my choice," my insurance company has arrangements with some places. If I wanted to get the work done at the dealership I bought that car at, an adjuster would come out and work up an estimate. Any cost above that estimate would be paid for by me (on top of my deductible). If "hidden damage" was found, "all I'd have to do is" have them stop working on the car (right, like that would be easy enough), have the adjuster come back out, and he'd make a new estimate. OR, I can take it to a dealership thats actually closer to where I live, which is a "preferred partner" (or whatever they call it), no adjuster needs to come out, they fix the car, and give it back. Had my car been towed to the dealership I bought it at, when I realized it'd be easier at a different one, I would have had to call them up and tell them to tow it to a different dealership. In addition to simply being awkward, if they already started, I might not be able to change it.

I'm currently paying about $5 a day for a rental car. It's a Mazda 3, which has no power locks, or windows, or mirrors and no remote. While it does have a manual mode, changing gears is done with the shifter, not with paddles on the steering wheel. It does lock me out of 1st if I'm going to fast, and the shifting is much smoother than my Fit ever was. However, I'll take my Fit over the Mazda 3 anyday!

I spoke to a guy from the dealership today, and he thinks it will take about 3 weeks to fix my car, but structurally, it should be ok. I'll keep everyone updated as developments occur!

In a previous post, I mentioned that I scraped up my bumper on the driver's side. Well the deer did too, in the same area, so that part will get fixed, free of charge! There's something to think about: I hit something that scraped the lower edge of the bumper on the driver's side, smashed out the driver's side headlight, smashed in the radiator, AND smashed out the passenger's side headlight, all in one hit! It was a big deer.

By the way, the police told me they saw the deer a little ways back. I don't think it survived.

 

yo man sorry to hear about that. i hate deer.. im form CT and have had several close calls my self. Hope ur car looks new when the repairs are done... sorry again

 

I've had a few close calls too. Once, I was driving downhill on an icy road with lots of curves, and a deer jumped out. I didn't want to skid out, so I didn't use my brakes. The deer skittered on the ice, fell, got up, and ran into the plants along the road, as I was coasting up behind him.

Another time, a deer jumped out at me, I slammed on the brakes, but hit it, at about 5 mph. Before I could actually stop, it got up and I hit it again! Then it ran off. There was just a little fur and a tiny dent in that car, but it was old, so I didn't care!

 

Man that sucks! At least your car isnt totalled, and at least you didnt get hurt!

 

No, I didn't get hurt at all. I don't know if it's better to have the car totalled, pay off my loan, and then get a new car; or get the broken one repaired (hypothetically speaking, if I had the choice).

My Fit is probably worth more than my bank loan, but it's not worth more than my total loan, including what I borrowed from my parents! By the way, am I supposed to notify the bank of the incident?

Now I don't have a clean title

 

dont know if u need to notify ur bank... prolly not.. one time i was in a car nd my friend hit a baby deer... was a dark rainy cold day on a back woods windy road. we were goin slow due to conditions when a baby deer literalyl appeared infront of the car.... well we hit it and my buddy slammed on the breaks.... the deer slid down the wet road got up nd ran off... only damage to the car was a tiny crack in the hear light... and some hair... nottoo bd but it still sucked

 

I've been wondering if the Fits design would make hitting a deer safer. A lot of people die hitting deer. Sounds like the Fit's design really minimized the potential danger of the accident by having the animal roll over the car instead of hitting the windshield full force.

 

good poitn... although the car was severly damaged... nothing structural was hurt... the Fit seems to take crashes well... reassuring if god forbid i wreck it...

 

Just keep in mind that the guy hasn't had a chance to take a good look at it yet. It may be structurally f'ed.

 

Hopefully it works out and your car can get fixed. One of the NSX guys a while back hit a deer and the thing didnt "go over" the car like it did on your Fit. The deer instead went though the car and punched a hole through the windshield and the passenger side of the roof. Needless to say the car was a total loss, the only saving grace was that no one was in the passenger seat or they would have been hurt really bad.

 

I'm not too worried about Deer. Now the Moose we get up here WOULD have me worried . . . LOL.

Glad to hear you are okay!

p.s. I'm surprised that the airbags didn't go off . . .

 

Jeez that sucks!!!
Luckily it didnt end in tragedy (well, for you anyway)
Hope your car has a speedy recovery.

 

I'm not sure why the airbags didn;t go off, but my thinking is that they are designed to go off from sudden AND COMPLETE deceleration, i.e., going from >15mph (or whatever the cutoff is) to 0mph in a very short period of time. I only went from 70 mph to about 30 mph, in a relatively long period of time. Hitting something and having it fly over the top of your car, only slowing you down (and most of the slowing down was probably due to me hitting the brake) is VERY different than hitting an immovable object and stopping abruptly. It was just as well, as the seatbelt was plenty of restraint, and the airbag probably would have smashed into my face, injuring me. Plus, it would have been that much more to fix.

Minor update: The guy thinks it'll take about a week to get in the parts, and 2 weeks to work on the car, so it'll take about 3 weeks. Hopefully, while he is waiting for the parts, he can do some of the body work.

 

Ouch! I always get on/off at the Valley Forge exit. It is definitely deer season.

Your thinking is correct on the airbags. They are only going to go off if the impact is strong enough to cause potential head injury that can't be prevented by the seatbelt alone.

Good luck on the repairs.

 

that does sound like your fit took the damage much better than the '90 chrysler lebaron that i was in when my friend hit a deer (a buck to be exact).

it totaled her car, pushed the hood all the way up to the windshield, and the deer went airborne over the car, which was a convertible with the top down, and we were going about 55 mph.

i'm so glad you were ok after this, and the fit did what it was intended to do. i was terrified of driving for a while after being in that accident.

 

I hate those damn deer. I've had a couple close calls myself, this time last year I almost hit one in my Civic doing about 60, I swerved and missed it by about a foot, I stared it right in the eyes through my driver's side window as I passed it. Second time back in August I was driving with my mom and sisters coming back from visiting family in Illinois and I was driving down I-80 doing about 80 and just barely missed one again by swerving.

My mom has had worse luck, she's hit 3 or 4 since we've moved out to CT.

 

maybe there should be a systemfor rating cars against deer impacts? since it is a big problem and can cause a fatal accident...

 

I didn't have time to swerve, and if I did, I probably would have gone off the road, possibly making things worse.

UPDATE:
I spoke to the guy in the body shop and he said it looked FAR from being totaled, and I'll definitely be getting that car back. He's ordered some of the parts (hood, fender, headlights) and is going to get it into the service shop in the next few days so they can take it apart and see what kind of damage was done

 

I read your story and I'm sorry to hear what happened! I'm happy to hear you're ok and that your fit will be up and running!

My "friend" at the time, was driving my car through some technical canyons and avoided a deer. However, he lost control of the car and crashed into the mountainside. >.<!! I was pissed!! My insurance said that because the crashed was caused from AVOIDING THE DEER, that this accident will be a ding on my record and that it would've been better to hit the deer. yeah... that's AWESOME!!! Anyways, good luck with your repairs and I hope all goes well. High five for all the Fit Driving deer Haters

 

can we start a club: fit driving deer haters lol but it was good to hear the mechanic doesnt think ur baby is totaled... hope your repairs r done soon.. btw did you actualy kill the deer?