Well I've enjoyed my 5 for 6 months, but...

[Evan_in_CA]

I think my wife totaled it. From what she told me and my mad CSI skills after seeing the damage to the car, it appears that it unfolded like this...

She had a sudden loss of pressure in the rear left tire that caused her to lose control and veer into a semi that was in the lane next to her. She hit the front wheel of the semi with the corner of the front bumper, and the lugnuts basically tore off a large portion of the front right of the car. The car bounced off of the semi's wheel but momentum caused it to pivot around, causing the right rear of the car to try to cram itself under the trailer. When the tires on the trailer met the rear of the car, it pretty much punted the entire thing like a football, back across the left lane, through a wide dirt center divide and into 2 lanes of oncoming traffic. Luckily nobody was in those lanes at the time so she got the two kids (2 and 4 y/olds) out and onto the median with the help of some Samaritans, and a couple of guys stopped to push the car out of the road.

I have a feeling it's probably totalled, what do you guys think?

Here's the front right corner, or what's left of it -

Here's the left side of the front bumper, you can see where the lugnuts of the semi wheel grabbed into it -

The back corner where it tried to get under the trailer and was then punted by the trailer tires -

The hatch opening is smashed in a good 2 inches on the right side, and quite deformed.

Roofline has a new curve in it -

The motor is crooked and the framerail is smashed into it. There's a good crease in the frame just behind the motor, it was impossible to get a good pic of though -

I'm just happy that my wife and kids are OK, we can always get a new car. I just hope she doesn't get an "at fault" from the insurance company for it, I can't afford that. Not sure if they blame a tire going flat on mechanical failure or if they try to say lack of maintenance. I just had them rotated and checked a week and a half ago when I put the Racingharts on and they tire place said they were good.

Here's a few more of the pics.

 

[autoxes]

Ouch, that's ugly. Thank goodness your family is okay!

 

[chief_wiggum]

Holy Cow, thank God your wife and kids are alright -- you're right, cars are replacable. I'm no insurance adjuster, but that sure looks totaled to me. It will be interesting to see if they find anything (screw, nail) in the tire that blew causing the accident -- maybe a defective tire?

Anyway, what's important is that your family is safe.

 

[opus]

There is no way that vehicle is not totaled. The engine and front suspension work alone would probably be in the 4-6k range and then you get into the body damage. I'm just glad your wife and kids came through it alright. Just out of curiosity, what tires did you have on the 5? I only ask because I notice the aftermarket rims, which were sweet by the way. I also can't believe that not a single airbag deployed!! Especially the front ones since the whole front bumper was knocked off.

 

[nazgul350r]

too close to call, but you better take the racingharts with you'

 

[Evan_in_CA]

The last car of mine that was in an accident had less damage to the front end and it was not nearly this bad, that one was $7k to fix. Not to mention the rear damage which looks pretty dang extensive to me, and not bolt on parts back there either. I will be real surprised if this is not totalled. I would take the wheels with me, but the one that had the tire that blew is thrashed and another one has a big gouge in it, I guess from crossing the dirt center divide and jumping back up onto the pavement. It's not worth the hassle to find replacements, then take them off and sell 2 good ones and one decent one.

Tires are the factory Proxes, I just had them rotated because the insides of the rears weremwearing faster than the outsides. I had them mounted on the new wheels on opposite sides of the car, so the more worn part was on the outside of the wheel instead of the inside.

 

[mazdadude]

So no airbags/side airbags were deployed?

Glad to hear that everyone is OK! The car on the other hand, looks pretty sad. (boom05)

Hope that they total it for you.(yes)

 

[kudakev615]

that car is totalled for sure. most likely insurance is gonna have to investigate the cause of the blow out. with you having just putting non-oe wheels on the car just a week and half they could rule against you. but most importantly your family is okay

 

[ProtoType5]

Definitely totalled....Good to see everyone came out OK...and a testament to the quality/safety of todays automobiles....

 

[mrbwa1]

I would think it's a total loss. If not I would try and fight for it.

Out of curiosity, did you rotate yourself? It sounds like you have a mount and balance done. If so, dig up that receipt and documentation. The tire place would have to have looked for damage. Hopefully they didn't roll/cut a bead or something.

The good news is that everyone is okay and yet another 5 has proves it's crash worthiness. You have also reaffirmed my belief in safe cars, even though I haven't really been in a major accident in any of mine.

 

[Evan_in_CA]

I had a tire shop (Big 0) move the tires to the new wheels, rebalance them and rotate them so the worn inners (not worn bad, just a bit uneven) were on the outsides, on the opposite sides of the car so they still rotated the same direction.

 

[coolmazda5]

Yikes, gives me the creeps seeing and reading this thread, especially knowing that the loved ones were in the car, but good to know the damage stayed in the metal and plastics. That thing is ready to be taken and sold in parts (whatever that can be salvaged). No repairs will get it back to "normal", my 2 cents...

Thanks for sharing the pics, and hope wife and little ones are not that stressed by now . A weekend trip somewhere nice and quiet is in place!

 

[Zoom5Zoom]

Glad to hear everyone is ok...

Car is finished...end of story.

 

[twentysixtwo]

That'll buff right out......



Someone had to say it!

Glad to hear everyone's okay, I'd guess that it COULD be fixed but the question is if you'd WANT it fixed. With the distortion on the body and the engine it might look okay when they're done but it will never be the same.....

 

[Mazda5wannabe]

I'm glad your wife and kids are okay. Pretty scary stuff!

I'm also impressed at how solid the passenger compartment remained. Considering the events of the accident, the 5 did a good job of protecting your family. It's probably a good thing the airbags didn't deploy. A friend of mine just totaled her Mazda 3, and the only damage she received was bruising from the seat belts and burns from the airbag in the steering wheel

 

[x10dude]

Wife and kids are OK... that's All that matters.

But I'm not sure about other Mazda5 owners, but they are just "painful" to look at... makes me cringe

 

[MD5]

The car looks totaled, but the passenger compartment's integrity looks uncomromised.

I'm impressed.


Glad none of your loved ones were injured, but it appears that the 5 did it's job.

 

[fishdonotbounce]

Hey man I'm glad that your kids and wife are ok.

What I wanted to say was that there was recently a HUGE recall on tires due to the valve stems causing catastrophic failure. One person has died because of this.

Just something that you should know in case you haven't heard.

 

[MSP SuperStreet]

A guy I work with had a similar incident with a F150. Same thing, side-swipped a semi-trailor. He was alright and no airbags deployed. The truck didn't look bad, but all it took was for the firewall to be creased and it was totalled.

Gald to hear everyone was alright.
Ditto on grabbing those Racing Hart Wheels.

 

[skyhawk]

same here glad all is ok.

now I'm having second thoughts about remounting the worn toyos in my MZ5.I'll just leave them as they were mounted. Theyn I'll replace them all.