QuestionMark,
I was involved in a collision with a Ford Taurus GL/SE, 1995 year model. My vehicle is an antique Ford Ranger Pick-up truck,XLT 4x4, 2.9L engine, year:1989 The accident happened on a cloudy day at noon with good visibility. I approached a signal light(Red)and stopped. One car in front of me (Ford Taurus). I was behind the Taurus also stopped for the red light. I looked out my window for a second to see what intersection I was at. All of a sudden my vehicle was struck with a jolt so hard that my neck felt like it was going backward and my teeth rattled. I couln't figure out what just happened. It took a couple of seconds for me to collect myself. I looked ahead of me to see a car several feet in front of me with the back end (trunk) stoved in what appeared to be several inches, with a upside down V shape to the trunk. A lady got out,with cell phone in had, sorta looking at her car rear, and started back into the car. I hopped out and said we should move out of traffic. I followed her a few feet around the corner to the right. She parked a car length ahead of me, still on her phone. Looked up and said I had rear ended her. I looked at her car, at my truck...saying I just can't see how this could have happened. My truck looked vertually undamaged except for a dent at the bottom in the center of the front chrome bumper. Also, I noticed the Plastic grill front was snapped and pushed in at the bottom. No damage to the transmition cooler in front of the
radiator or to the radiator. In looking at her car I noticed her trunk pushed in several inches but at the bottom (where the key to the trunk was).Like the impacting vehicle part must have been very narrow to push just the lower portion of the trunk in, then form a V in the rest.
The top of her rear bumper looked untouched ...except for
multiple 4 inch to 2 inch streaks of blue paint across the
entire length of her bumper. . . my bumper in front is of
CHROME.... it just didn't fit! No paint from her car was on
the bottom of my bumper.
I'm still in shock at this point. Looking at her car and my truck in disbelief. Still recalling the jolt I felt and my foot on the brake. The police showed up a few minutes later. I told the police the same thing. I told him I just
couldn't see how it was possible for my truck to have
caused the damage I was looking at. Also said: even "IF" I had stepped on the gas instead of the brake, it still didn't seem possible. He then turned to the other driver and talked to her. Days later I find that my daughter's insurance had cancelled me two weeks before this accident. So I am forced to try to reconstruct the impact and prove that my truck doesn't match the physical damage to her car. I am hopeful that your expertise will help me in this . Thank you. I could provide photos of my truck and another Taurus to you if it would help.
AnswerUnless you were rear ended by another car and pushed into the car in front of you, you must have accelerated forward and hit the car in front of you.
If in fact you had your foot on the brake when this happened then the only other thing to check is to have your accelerator system checked. there has been occasions where the accelerator system caused a vehicle to suddenly move forward even when the driver had not been using the gas pedal.
