Rear Impact Bumper

[spazspike]

I suppose it was only a matter of time before it happened, especially considering how many other cars have been getting hit.

Today on my way over to Pentagon City, grandma and granpa decided to rear end me. The good news is, it was at a stop light and I estimate their speed to be between 5-10mph at impact. The better news is that their was no visible damage on the bumper of either car. Minus the imprint of their license plate frame on my slightly dirty car.

Upon closer inspection a little of the green mica paint from their Toyota Camry XLE worked its way into my bumper.

So my question... is it possible that the stopping/impact material under the bumper could have been damaged? Thus causing a potential future impact to be worse than it would be? I wrote down their license plate but they drove around me when I went to get out once they saw no damage had been caused.

 

[Protege5Gurly]

Behind the plastic bumper is a pretty thin piece of foam and then a HUGE steel reinforcement bar. If the impact was only 10 mph'ish and there is basically no damage to the bumper I wouldnt be worried that the re-bar is damaged.

Pe@ce

 

[Glauconite]

our bumpers can take hits pretty well.. just check your muffler.. when i was hit, my oem was pushed in 2" @ least... the good news is i got the MSexhaust for $100cdn just needed to pay the difference.. hehe

 

[spazspike]

Ya, I have an HKS axle-back. The location of the bumper-to-bumper impact was high enough to miss the exhaust.

Thankfully...

 

[Coqui258]

I got rear ended like you TWICE in one week! First time was at a light, and there was no visible damage. Second time was on the highway when the cars ahead stopped quickly... I was able to stop fine, but not the idiot behind me. That time he hit my exhaust, but I haven't gone to get it checked yet. If there's any damage, I'm gonna call him and tell him to pay!

 

[mctoone]

As you all know I have gone through this. Looked like there was no damage but upon further instection I noticed my tailpipe was bent downwards and the struts under the bumper all snapped so that they were lose at the bottom of the bumper. I would check those. Especially the 2 middle ones. They should be welded back on if they came lose at the bottom. ( apparently you can weld plastic) . Those struts seem to give the bottom of the bumper some rigidity. I believe the guy who hit me was not going very fast either.

 

[ssmp5]

The bars that connect the steel bumper underneath is designed to give into the chassis. I know because I got a first hand look upclose at mine after I got hit. You can't see it unless you pull the cover off. Usually the stuff you can't see will hurt you later so I would take it to a shop or pull it off yourself and check.

 

[joka1]

i agree..... actually i would bring it to the body shop and get a free estimate...... my first protege.......(had it for a week...106 miles) anyway it got hit(pretty hard though) but it didnt look that bad..... ended up being 15000 dollars of damage..... and totaled..... not to say yours is that bad but it seems to always be worse than it is!!!!!!

 

[spazspike]

I'd like to think the little bump wouldn't cause $15,000 worth in damage. Hell, that's $400 less than I paid for the car! If that hit could cause that much damage than the Protege5 is more a death trap than the Z3.

I am toying with getting it looked at by a Mazda tech or the local body shop. The mark from the license plate was disheartening but any damage internally to the safety/security of the car is a serious issue.

Thank you... all those that have responded.

 

[Mike R]

I was rear ended by a drunk at ozzfest, the cover is damaged and the foam is definatley crushed. Easy way to check is push the cover in on different places and see how much different the depth is. Mine is about twice the amount where the hit is compared to the other side.

I was quoted $456 just to repaint the cover. It's almost impossible to see the damage-but it's there.

 

[spazspike]

Interesting, I'll check it out... thanks Mike.

I didn't appear to feel a great variation in the bumper 'press test' but perhaps I didn't do it properly.

 

[Mike R]

Maybe you weren't hit as hard as mine was. I think mine was pretty bad. Mine was also offset to the drivers side a good bit.

 

[spazspike]

Ya, I think both the speed and the location of the entire incident was far less than your's. Regardless, I'm taking the car down to the shop tomorrow for confirmation.