Xterra Goes Boom
Our household is down to one vehicle following an accident in the Xterra. Thankfully nobody was severely injured. Carol took the brunt of the impact with the airbag, seat belt and steering wheel. Jacob and Violet had seat belt burns and indentations but where otherwise unhurt – well maybe emotionally scarred a bit. Jacob was shaken up a bit as was Violet but neither had any significant injuries that weren’t healed within a day or two. Whenever we mention the truck now it is funny to listen to Violet tell us that it is broken – “truck go boom boom daddy, truck goes boom!!!”
Indeed the truck went “boom”. It wasn’t drivable from the scene and was towed to a local lot and later transferred to Gerber Glass and Collision in Duluth. We picked up a rental until the truck could either be fixed or totaled by the insurance company. The rental we received was a new Dodge Caravan. Not a bad van but as typical for most rentals it was lacking in nearly every feature – I was hoping to get to drive a newer model van and get a feel for an upgrade should the option come our way. The rental is nice though, roomier than our current van and certainly roomier than the Xterra is with four kids – not that we could get them all in it.
Ultimately the insurance company declared the Xterra not worth salvage and totaled it. I was figuring the sticker on repairs was between five and eight grand but they turned out to be a whopping twelve. Amazing. However after seeing the truck myself once Gerber dismantled it I could certainly understand the cost. The frame was bent, the engine block was badly damaged, and everything between the front bumper and the driver was either missing, smashed, twisted or broken. Interestingly looking at the pictures of the truck makes you think that the crumple zones did their job but all the stuff “in” the crumple zone paid the price. The office who worked the scene told Carol that she was lucky she was in a solid vehicle and that just based on what he had seen in the past a smaller truck, van or car would have been demolished from the impact – sounds like a good advertising bump for Nissan – the Xterra’s are built tough, meant to be driven hard and take a good amount of abuse.
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Wow – these are really great pictures you took. Unfortunate accident of course, but FORTUNATELY nobody was hurt. I’m glad the Xtera’s crumple zones did their job.