Rear ended then tipped over in the Eurovan

[FJBen]

Well, today sucked. Finally got the eurovan running good last week. Was driving back to my house and got rear ended turning into the driveway:confused: weve had close calls, we live in the country so we are used to people to not paying attention flying up behind us.
I saw her when she turned onto our road which is only 1/4mile from highway to our driveway on county road. I checked again as i was getting ready turn left and she was on me and within .5 second hammered me, launched me while I was turning to get away spun me and combined with nasty winds dumped me on my side.
Ended up in the ER Becuase my stomach/back is really sore they wanted to make sure no internal issues. Scan was clean but just sore. So heading home to assess the damage but it’s totaled. She got a ticket.

Her boyfriend told my wife when she looked up she didn’t see tail lights or turn signal…looked up? She didn’t swerve to miss or brake marks from her. Either way she was hauling @ss and hit me regardless of turning. Not sure how you miss a 6’’8” tall techno blue eurovan…

For those that know…yes this is Blu.o the former Cavevan. Still trying to sort out what I’m going to do.

[elise111]

Hope you are ok, that looks like a heck of a force to do that! Sorry for the loss of your EV, we all get attached to these things with all the memories they help make.
Pete

[steve2sloth]

Wow this is a very sad end to a beloved travel companion, though it's good to hear that you weren't critically injured. You have my condolences. She must have got pretty banged up too to knock your van around like that. Hope that everyone else was able to walk away =/

[FJBen]

Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah it’s a huge bummer for sure.
Got it tipped back over and moved back over. Got a few outside pictures but it’s totaled for sure.

[Abscate]

Glad you are ok. Give yourself a week of paying close attention to yourself and your function.

That double solid yellow just bought that drivers insurance a big loss.

Sorry to see death of a cool Bus
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.ssS!

[volkybus]

Sorry about your crash but your van is not that bad. Where are you location..and what year is your van..It looks better than mine and I'm driving it ..Even if insurance totals it you have the option to buy it back...Good luck either way...Bill Vt & PR

[FJBen]

[FJBen]

[bobhill8]

What a crappy thing to happen right before the Holidays. Glad you're OK.
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1986 Westy
1971 Squareback

[FJBen]

[Zeitgeist 13]

Man, that's such a bummer.

I swear there's diabolical plot to rear end and destroy Techno Blue Westfalias.

My wife got slammed around up in Seattle back in 2017.

Is it the color or the shape that they hate?

They hate these cans!


Link

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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[belky611]

Yours is indeed a sad story, and right at your own driveway, totally sucks. Today I had three near misses - Three! First at a stop sign near a school (slow road) a woman in a Jag had to over shoot on my left to avoid hitting me, then an hour later, while indicating to turn into a parking lot driveway (put it on 500+ feet before) an idiot behind me had to pull around to oncoming traffic avoid me and the idiot behind him had to do the same while blowing his horn at me!! What?

So after I parked I got out an checked if my turn signal was working (it is) - and then it hit me- the turn signals on Eurovans are so low down and small compared to modern cars, zoned out drivers who are programed to notice large bright turn and brake lights at eye level - are missing the little low slung and relatively dim stock lights and the cars behind them can't see them at all possibly (likely)

So as a priority now I am going to figure out some retro fit turn signals higher up on the tailgate - flashy bright led's that are hard to miss!!!

[VolksVelo]

[quote="belky611"]Yours is indeed a sad story, and right at your own driveway, totally sucks. Today I had three near misses - Three! First at a stop sign near a school (slow road) a woman in a Jag had to over shoot on my left to avoid hitting me, then an hour later, while indicating to turn into a parking lot driveway (put it on 500+ feet before) an idiot behind me had to pull around to oncoming traffic avoid me and the idiot behind him had to do the same while blowing his horn at me!! What?

So after I parked I got out an checked if my turn signal was working (it is) - and then it hit me- the turn signals on Eurovans are so low down and small compared to modern cars, zoned out drivers who are programed to notice large bright turn and brake lights at eye level - are missing the little low slung and relatively dim stock lights and the cars behind them can't see them at all possibly (likely)

Glad it's just a near miss and you're ok. Is your van also Techno Blue? 😬

[belky611]

Now that you mention it - I didn't think about the color (but no its not Techno Blue) but Tornado Red!! I mean it stands out !!

Anyway I think I found my auxiliary turn signals at my local science surplus shop

[belky611]

All joking aside, our friends in the original posts in this thread have suffered sad losses / damage to beloved vehicles and I don't want to appear to be insensitive to that. While my posts are slightly leaning to facetiousness, this is a serious matter, in fact again today as I approached a left turn I saw in my mirrors the driver behind me catch sight of my turn signal at the almost the last moment.

I don't think I can post a short video clip here - I tried and it didn't seem to work, so I share this link to my instagram post on the subject to illustrate how I plan to tackle the problem - although that post also has a somewhat facetious tone, it really is about a problem I am taking seriously with a plan I hope will mitigate what I am experiencing and possibly help someone else avoid the same.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnggUALh240/

[belky611]

I've added a new post on installing auxiliary turn signals in my van - prompted by this topic and my stated experience with near miss rear enders in recent days
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9992815#9992815

[KillerGriller]

[FJBen]

Well sorry for the late update and thanks to those who posted up.

Finally got totaled. I’m buying it back at the moment and still determining whether I’m parting it out or using the parts on another eurovan. Damage was up to $14k and would go up once they started work on it.

Still trying to figure out what to do.

[FJBen]

Well, at this point I haven’t found any suitable swap candidates. I had a line on one with a bad transmission but they ended up keeping it.

At this point I’m trying to line up interest on parting it out.
There are a ton of good parts on this rig as almost all damage was to the dead end. There is a little on the front door and slider but other than that everything is pretty solid.

Transmission shifts great
Engine has white smoke, due to being on its side for over a day, so it’s burning all that oil out. Has brand new injectors, plugs, wires and was rebuilt about 20k miles ago from the info I have on it.

Pop top is good, westfalia all trim good only a crack about 3” Long up front from the accident. Has the Cavevan beetle bed floor and table.

Has bilsteins, lift/spacers in the rear 16” tires, aluminum rims

Custom stainless exhaust

Lots of other good things and seats interior great shape

I’m not looking forward to parting it, but maybe it will help others. Gauging interest at the moment then making a plan. I’ve parted 1 vehicle years ago and
That was a huge pain lining it up to part and still have somewhat of a moveable chassis.

[vwwestyman]

It has been a while since I've had time to just surf The Samba much, so this is the first I'm seeing of the crash.

I'm sorry that happened, and you're still dealing with this.

Where are you/the van located? What is the interior setup like? Could you post a couple pics?
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
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