Well a sucky day for my daughter and her JK last saturday when someone in a total POS car shot gunned a stop sign after stopping and my daughter started going and hit the JK smack dead on the front wheel. My daughter caught of guard never got the license plate but more concerned of her JK never called the police to report it. Of course we did't find out the story until mid evening when the wife called her to see where she was only to get a partial story that turned out later to change slightly, Hmmm, right. So happens I had come down with a nasty bug earlier that evening and no way I was getting out of bed to go see what was what as were talking major body chills so the JK inspection was going to have to weight. She also didn't think he hit her very hard but that will be seen based not the damage that is found.
So it took a few days to get to really look at the JK and couldn't see much wrong until it was noticed that the steering wheel was at least a half revolution out of whack to drive the JK straight and than noticed that the front axles is shifted at least 1 - 1 1/2"s to the drivers side. It drives fines but lost full lock to the left, have a little extra to the right and of course now have the stability control light on creating a little more fun because of the off centered steering wheel. Waiting on getting the JK into service I figured I would crawl underneath again for another look being I was feeling better and I now see that the impact was enough to have allowed the upper right side track bar take a nick out of the engine block just above the oil pan and the front tire has a mark on it where it hit against the shock tower. At this point it appears the impact was a lot more than my daughter thought which would also explain her lower back pain after her field hockey game on Tuesday night.
This morning we took the JK to our local mechanic and a quick look with it on the lift doesn't show any bent comments which puzzles the Bjesus out of me with the off centered axle. The shop is going to get a more extensive look at it but I was really expecting to see a bent track bar or bent control arm brackets but nothing but questions right now. Maybe making a trip to the body shop if the garage can't isolate the issues so we shall see. And all this just before I was installing the sling leveling kit that arrived last week, ugh

 

That sucks. Glad she is okay b/c that could've ended badly. You should emphasize the importance of reporting it ASAP and being more aware of her surroundings. Hope this has made her better prepared if it ever happens again in the future. Hopefully no more accidents

 

Yes very glad she is ok and made sure she understood that her wellbeing was way more important and metal objects can be replaced, she can't be. She did get a bit of an ear full on the lack of communication to us and the reporting it to the police.

 

So the verdict is.................yes, a trip to the collusion center, damn it! Gonna have to have it put on the frame rack to check it out with the lasers for a possible bend, all of the other components appear to be unbent and again, truly surprised.

 

Got the JK back today and a little more done than expected but hey no frame damage. Knew the trackbar was bent so bought a Teraflex forged trackbar to replace the stock but the shop also replaced the two lower control arms, pitman arm and steering box as well as worked a little on the arm brackets. I really think they replaced more than needed but when it comes to steering I had no problem with the steering box being replaced just in case something was torqued from the hit. Had I had more time/notice I would have upgraded the control arms from stock too but just glad everything is back in order.

 

Glad everybody is okay...

Material things can alwaya be replaced, people can't..

Still sucks, I'am a accident investigator for the city I live in. So I see literally five (5) to ten (10) accidents a day, from minor fender benders to fatal accidents. I have worked thousands of accidents and ton of hit and run accidents. I tell my wife all the time, grab your phone and take pictures as quickly as possible.. especially the other vehicle, tag, occupants, etc... just in case they deside to leave.

The majority of the accidents I see come from following to closely.. Unit 2 slow/stopped suddenly and unit 1 couldn't stop in time before striking the rear of unit 2.

The second most common accident is... failure to yeild the right of way making a left turn. Most of the time at intersections with traffic lights and the person makes a left turn on circular green traffic light and get hits... it happens a lot.

Four way intersections with stop signs all four ways... can be more tricky. They can end up with conflicting statements on how the collision occurred without a witness, as on who had the right of way at the intersection.

Next one that is hard to determine is lane changes. As they easily become also conflicting statements on how the collision occured.

 

Thanks Extremneon, quite happy the only thing damaged was the Jeep. At 17 and the first time being involved in an accident one of the last that ran through my daughters mind was to grab a pic but the thought did come to her mind just as the culprit was pulling away and to compound it, it was getting dark. Sounds like you have a very interesting job although maybe a bit downtrodden at times with the fatal cases and knowing those stats has got to heighten your driving awareness to boot. At one point I thought about trying to get into air investigations but with what I would to have had to do to get there time and money wise it kind of turned me off from it, just should have gone for it.

 

I will say knowing how most collisions occur, has made me quite a bit more aware of how they happen and what to lookout for. Now... granted, sometimes there is nothing you can do and it is all on the other driver, just wrong place at the wrong time, completely unavoidable on your end.

The worst part of my job by far, is notifying the family of the loss of a love one. There is no easy way to tell somebody that... by far the worst and I have done it numerous times and still no easier. Will be things I will live with forever.