acdii Report post Posted February 21, 2014 My poor Flex took a big crunch this morning. The winds were very strong and caused a lot of blowing and drifting snow, but you could still see far enough ahead to avoid other cars, or so I thought. We reached a small rise that has a house on it, there were some drifts much larger than anywhere else on the road, so I started to slow down, then we got past the hill, and the road disappeared, 2 seconds later, there was the back of a car, dead in the road, no lights, then BAM!It happened so fast there was barely enough time for Oh SH to come out. Not even enough for the IT part. The next thing I know, we are in the ditch, airbags gone off, smoke everywhere, then we got walloped by the person who was not too far behind me. Then he got hit a little bit after that, and then another one hit. All told it was a 7 car pileup in this one section where the blowing snow was so bad you could not see the road. Up until that time the visibility was fine, so wasn't too concerned. Goes to show, can't assume the roads will be like that everywhere. This was the worst I had ever seen anywhere around here. It appears that the car I hit had hit another car a little while earlier, and both were sitting in the road, the car I hit had no lights on, had the flashers been on I may have been able to see it in time to avoid it, or at least not hit it so hard. It hit so hard the back doors were blown off the car and it was spun around, and then I got hit from behind by, of all people, one of the first responders who was on his way to this very crash scene. By the damage to my Flex I can see that I did try to avoid it since it was all on the drivers side.Pretty sure its a loss, both airbags and the drivers side curtain deployed, the steering wheel I can turn 180 degrees with out any power on, the front is smashed on the drivers side, the drivers door had to be pried open so we could get out since the passenger side was in the snow bank and the wind was blowing against it and had piled snow up along that side of the car. The windshield is all busted up from the airbag, the headliner is busted from the side curtain, and the rear is all caved in from the other car. The smell of gun powder permeates the car, my clothes, my hair, and everything else.The car did what it was supposed to, it protected us, it deployed the air bags, it dialed 911, it killed the engine, and turned on the 4 ways. But most of all, other than some aches and some bruises, my wife and I are fine. I am still calming down from the event, and the emotions are overwhelming, and I love my Flex even more, sadly though this will probably be the end of it. Knowing what hitting the deer cost to repair, this is far more damage done, and will most likely be a loss.Some of the other drivers/passengers had to be pulled out and taken to the hospital on backboards, but not from the car I hit, and I am not sure who hit the pickup, or if the pickup hit afterwards, I dont know, it all happened so fast, now I know how the Turnpike stuff happened, one moment everything is fine, you can see far enough to avoid this, then Total whiteout and BAM. I never ever thought I would have this happen after 30+ years of driving including big rigs in these same conditions, but you roll the dice just right and it happens.Thank you Ford for keeping us safe. In a way though, I am glad it was the Flex and not my Fusion, it could have been much worse, the guy who hit us would have been in the back seat. 4 ptek, Ted Swing, hybridbear and 1 other reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
