Danilo

Hello --<p>I got my 98.5 2.8QTipS about 4 months ago and was involved in a car accident two days ago. Here is what happened: I was merging onto a feeder of a freeway where there was a yield and no one coming on the feeder. The priest in a van in front of me decided to treat it like a stop sign, and not expecting this, while checking the feeder for incoming traffic I hit him going at approximently 10mph, while he was stopped. His van had a high bumper, which impacted right on the Audi symble and crumbled my hood, broke most of my lights, etc. It looked like the only thing wrong with my engine was the hood had bent the fan, which kept me from driving away from the accident. Supposedly I am VERY wrong. I just got a call from an estimator from Don McGill Audi Collision center that it will be approximently $12,000 and TWO MONTHS later before I receive my car. What he basically said is that "it got into my engine." <p>Has anyone heard of something like this happening to an A4? A 10mph crash with a high-bumpered car causing engine damage?! I think that if his bumper would of hit my bumper, instead of my grill, I would be looking at a LOT less damage. I believe there may also be a flaw in the air bag system when hitting a vehical with a high bumper, because mine did not set off. Also, does anyone have results on the 5mph bumper crash test that vehicals are required to pass? <p>In the worst case senerio that they DO have to completely rehaul my engine (from the sound of the mechanic, they might have to), what exactly will they do? Instead of taking the engine apart and back together piece-by-piece, can't they order the entire engine from Audi? What are the chances of my car being almost exactly like it was before? Has anyone had major engine work done to their A4, with a positive outcome? <p>After falling in love with the A4 3 years ago and saving enough money to buy it, I hope their is a happy ending somewhere. It went "0 to my heart in one second flat" to "From my heart to a coma in one second flat." <p>A4less,<br>Danilo<br>

M. Freedman

Danilo :<p>I feel your pain my son. Ac ouple of coments :<p>1. My 'accident' was dis-similar to yours. I was T-Boned - twice - on separate occasions.<p>2. My air bags did not work either. <p>3. Damage (total) was over $19K (CAD$) for the two events.<p>4. The dealer did an A*M*A*Z*I*N*G bodywork job . I challenge ANYONE to tell me where the damage was. The doors close perfectly. A TINY bit of wind noise. Even with close inspection it's almost impossible to tell. Even the pain (Black) matches perfectly. <p>My car was 7K miles old when the second accident happened. 1500 when the first one did. I figured the car had bad KARMA and was going to sell it as soon as I could after that most depressing 2nd smash up. I figured the car would never look or feel the same. I'm now at 12K miles . The car is terrific. I didn't sell it. The body shop did their job above and beyond as far as I am concerned.<p>Chin up. If they are as good as they should be, you'll never know the difference.<p>

T2

I don't think airbags are supposed to deploy at 10mph (nt).

Danilo

The Audi mechanic told me that the airbag sensors are in the bumper. If your bumper went under a truck/van/suv and their bumper hits you approximately at the grill/Audi symbol in a high-hit frontal accident, even at high speeds, your airbags WILL NOT deploy. <p>Since airbag tests are ran against a wall you don't see this problem, but with the increase of trucks/vans/suvs on the road it seems more likely to happen.<p>Does anyone know exactly where the airbag sensors are placed all over the A4?<p>Danilo

Charlie G

If you walked away without injury then you didn't need the airbags anyway. The chance of additional injury (although not likely to be critical) to your fingers, hands and face is increased if the bags deploy. Also, your $12k insurance claim would be considerably higher if it included the air bag system. <p> I had an accident last February in my 96 Passat GLX, wherein a fellow attempted to make a U-Turn from the opposite side of a 55 mph roadway without first checking for oncoming traffic. I clipped the front end of his new Camaro (total loss), setting off both of the airbags in my car. Fortunately, no one was hurt. However, the airbag system added approximately $3k to my repair bill. <p>Sorry for your loss,<p>Charlie<br>98.5 1.8TQMS (4500 miles)

Dale B

My guess is that the impact damaged lots of parts behind the plastic timing cover. (Timing belt, gears, tensioner, are all possibilities, along with the cover(s) themselves.) Beyond this, they probably won't know until they start tearing it apart and check to see if anthing is bent. For example, if the one of the gears attached to the camshafts was bent, it might have damaged the camshaft also. Same with the crankshaft on the bottom end. But these are pretty tough parts, so chances are it won't get that far, with a 10mph hit that was mostly absorbed by the hood, grill area, radiator, etc.<p>Hope you get your car back soon, and as good as new.

AJL

You really don't want the airbag deploying unless you need it. You need it when the car is deaccelerating extremely fast, meaning that your carcass is accelerating towards the interior of the car at an undesirable rate. The airbag absorbs some of the energy that would be imparted into your head and chest, a good thing.<p>Hence, the airbag is triggered by an accelerometer, not the amount/location of "crush" to the front of your car. The accelerometer could be in the trunk, under your seat, it doesn't matter where...<p>AJL<br>98 Passat

Joe S.

i feel your pain...the same thing happened to me three moths ago...here is the deal...someone stopped to talk to his buddy in the middle of the road...the person behind him slams on his brakes, i slam on my brakes and the person behind me reacts slow...i drive looking at my rearview and run into the ranger in front of me while trying to minimize rear end damge....well, the ranger's bumper is taller than my bumper so i lost the headlights, hood, corners, fan assembly, radiator, etc...the etc is the most important of the damge....the little impact i had, about 10 mph, caused the motor mounts to break, broke the fan assembly, spliced the engine harness connected to various assemblies, broke the headlight washers, bent the transmission linakge, broke the rear driveshaft, the valve cover cracked, etc...the engine was designed to break apart form the mounts and slide back...that is exactly what it did...<p>well, the body shop fixed the body, no probs cause it missed the bumper and the unibody...no bends in the unibody!<p>but, i had the car brought to charles maund where kevin wallace, their top mechanic sqaured away my car....it rides EXACTLY like it did before the accident....he checked all the specs on the car, measured the body and everything....i thought the car was dead, but after two horrible months, it was resurrected and is now better then ever...i upgraded to bosch euro lights, and other mods with the insurance money....<p>if you want a copy of my repairs, give me a hollar and i will fax it to you...<p>joe s.<p>98.5 tqms wett 1.0/ram air/brullen/neuspeed springs/etc...

pup.

hi,<p>i can't comment on whether or not the repairs/replacement of your engine will yield a satisfactory result. a previous reply seems to suggest it's possible to restore the car to it's original running condition.<p>what i can say is that my 96 A4 was broadsided by a trash truck awhile back. while i was going through an intersection he clipped my right rear quarter panel, right where the fuel cap is. since it was a truck, momentum sent me flying, with my left rear wheel hitting a curb. after hitting the curb, w/ my car around 45 degrees from the curb, i continued forward until i hit a parked car. my front end hit the car's left rear door. that sent the parked car up onto the sidewalk, w/ it ending up perpendicular to the curb. it's a very good thing no one was walking on the sidewalk at that time. <p>anyways, there was no engine damage. my suspension had to be completely replaced, new rims, tires, and the list of cosmetic fixes are too long. i went to this shop who repairs audis, porsches, and bmw's. it was in the shop for 2 months. it's been more than a year, and i can honestly not tell the difference.<p>so have faith. after it happened, i thought the car could never be the same. now i have to remind myself it was ever in an accident.<p>cjw

mark b.

Sorry to hear about your wreck. 3 months ago I did about the same thing with my 3 month old 1.8t. A guy in a high bumper van made a right off an x-way ramp...I come up... see him drive off...look left...go right...WHAM! He stopped 10 feet up to check a map. I hit him at about 5 mph. All in all, not too bad. Pushed the bumper in and over on the right, broke the headlight washer, scratched the lens, dinged up the bumper pretty good, put two small dings in the front of the hood, cracked the grill and did some damage to internal support brackets. Total bill was just under $1,300. With 20/20 hind site plus reading your story, I feel lucky! The repairs went fine, they matched the brilliant black great as far as I can see, but I don't think they can ever be as good as they were before. Good luck.