I am posting this to all to remind you.. if you're tired behind the wheel.. cruise control is not your friend! I was driving back from a friends house at about 4 in the morning, very tired. I had work in the morning and I knew that if slept over, i'd miss work, so I decided to take the hour drive back home. At one point I pulled over because I was so tired.. took a ten minute nap, and continued on my journey. Apparently that wasn't enough of a nap, because the next thing I know I'm in a swamp off of the high way.


Cruise control was set at 70mph (speed limit 65), there is a possiblity that I was going faster, I believe I fell asleep on the gas (last thing I rember was pasing someone) there was NO breaking done by me, I hit a raised F-150.

It was a 3 lane highway, with a grass median, the F-150 was perpendicular to the high way in that median (on the left) and my car went off to the right into a swamp area.

The distance between them was something like 1/8th of a mile(est.) the F-150 was very far away is all i rember.

I walked out of this.. with just a bloody nose, some aches, and a mark from the seatbelt.

These cars are great, and oh so safe, just purchased a '06 c280 4matic, it puts my '05 c240 4matic to shame, and I'm quite happy with my purchase. New car is black on black, sirius radio 6-cd changer... lil bit of an upgrade to my old 240

At any rate, here is a picture of the front of my c240 after the accident.

 

Glad you are ok. The C class is a very safe car. Glad you stayed in the family!

 

Damn... Glad you turned out alright.

I once fell asleep behind the wheel, but it was during heavy traffic. Slightly bumped someone in front of me going approximately no more 3 mph. I learned a valuable lesson; pull over and take a nap if you feel tired. Because when you're tired, you have no idea when you'll fall asleep behind the wheel.

BTW< congrats on the new car.

 

It is good to see that you got out ok.

I enjoy the my car too much to want to fall asleep behind the wheel. Heck, sometimes I wakeup in the middle of the night and take a drive and even dream about driving. I'm weird.

 

hey man glad ur ok but thats not a 05 c240 in the pic, its a prefacelift model

 

I fell asleep at the wheel once in my Civic. I went into the grassy center divider, and managed to somehow stopping before flipping over on the bank. The only damage was the plastic lower valence fell off, but I was able to put it back on.

The other time I fell asleep at the wheel with my Audi. I could aware my guardian angel was watching over me, because I somehow woke up in time to see my lane running out, avoiding a nasty collision with the guard rail AND the truck in the adjacent lane.

I have learned my lesson since. No matter how much of a hurry I am in, if I am tired, I pull over and sleep until I am fully awake.

BUT I don't see these episodes as examples of when to pat myself on the back for driving a "safe" car. In fact, my giant relief is for not running into anyone else. We should all keep in mind that, while we all drive large solid cars, most cars out there are not as well constructed. So stay awake not just for our own safety, but also for others.

 

Yea, that's definitely not an 05.

This reminds me of a posting on Acurazine, a website for Acura enthusiasts (a friend of mine owned an Acura for a few months) and he was telling me how some random person who hates Acura posted an ad that said that "his" Acura had killed his family and it was the dealer's fault for not fixing the "engine mounts" and it was the manufacture's fault for using the same engine mounts off a Honda Accord.

Supposedly, someone proved that person's story was untrue.

And then another Acurazine member made a fake post saying he got into an accident at highway speeds and he came out alright. How he mentions the dealership salesperson informed him of how safe the car was, etc. A few days later, they realize it's an Acura employee (either the importer or a dealership).

Anyways, I'm skeptical. Besides, the car looks really clean for one that came out of a swamp. And why would there be two cars right next to it that look fine?

However, in either case, I hope the people who were in the pictured car were alright. However, I really don't see how that can be an 05 model year car.

I keep some chewing gum in my car. Keeps me awake.

 

To answer your questions... the car was in the tow lot when I took the pictures.. and yes it's an '05 I had an accident in the front from before, they had to replace the whole bumper, so I don't know if that changed it or not? As for being skeptical.. I have some nice shots of the interior with the blood all over both seats and the airbag if you car to see? You can also see the 4 gauges(rpm speedo, tempo, and gas) that is not on any pre-05 c class. also has the newer radio (not the rubbery buttons) As soon as I get to my laptop with more of the pics, I'll be more then happy to post em

Edit*
to be more clear.. it wasn't a deep swamp, it was more of a marsh area, I don't know much about swamps or marshes or what defines them, but the tow guy called it the swamp, and I've heard from others it's considered a marsh

 

I didn't mean to challenge you, nor did I doubt the veracity of your story (nobody lies about falling asleep at the wheel), but when I noticed you said it was a 2005, I first thought it was a typo. But someone else mentioned it and I was reminded of my little taste of the Acurazine forum.

So I just wanted to mention that it is possible that some Mercedes-Benz employee would possibly have something to gain by a story such as this.

Nothing personal against you. Put it this way, when you can't trust the media, the big 5 accounting firms (now big 4 since there's no mare Arthur Anderson), and so on... It's reasonable to be somewhat careful and skeptical (note, I wasn't suspicious, only skeptical) before you completely believe the whole story. Absolutely nothing personal to you.

I totally believe you that it's an 05 car with perhaps the front bumper and the headlights changed, I thought I could see the pattern on the leather that was unique to the 05 and newer W203s. But it's black and through glass so I couldn't be sure of that either.

I honestly don't care to see your interior pictures, however, if you really want to show them, I don't mind either. Must've been more than "just a bloody nose" if blood was "all over both seats".

Glad that you're alright and enjoy the C280. Glad you like it more than the C240, as some people were complaining about the new 7 speed transmission.

 

I can sort of understand that I guess... as far as the interior pic goes, I'll be more then happy to post them.. mind you the seats arent soaked in blood, just have a good smearing of it, also driped on the armrest, on the driver seat and on the air bag.. Unfortunatly you can't see the gauges in this pic, but you can sort of make out the radio, and the cup holder/armrest area, which is defintly '05. Since i'm doing a new post I'll post some side shots of it as well, just converting these big files with only windows paint is somehwat a pain in the bum.*WARNING* this is somewhat of a bloody picutre


*edit* patrick, I have a 5 speed, not a 7 speed. It's 4matic, they don't come in the 7 speed, atleast not for that year, and i belive not for the '07 either, but i could be wrong.

 

Oh yes, that's quite right, the 4matics come with the 5 speed transmission, my mistake.

A family member of mine drove the C280 as a loaner vehicle and described the transmission as something "one has to get used to". She was referring to the 7 speed tranny's acceleration in top gear compared to the 5 speed transmission's acceleration in top gear. Personally, I think the 5 speed is sufficient, although it would be nice to have some lower RPMs for high speed cruising.

However, I've been told that in the larger displacement engines, the 7 speed transmission is a bit better. But then again, I don't really need to worry since I don't mind downshifting a gear to get acceleration that I'd be more confident of.

 

Interesting find.. I have yet to drive any of the 7-speeds, I live in the north east, and I'm on my college's ski team... so I do ALOT of driving in the snow. As such, I didn't even look at or pay that much attention to non-awd cars.

To give you an example of just how good the 4matic is in the snow. The drive way to our house is very steep.. and I was able to drive my 240 up it with 12" of snow on the ground (officaly the town had 15" but what I meassured was only about 12ish) The 240 took the incline(Now i don't know exactly how to define the incline, in terms of grade percentage, or angle degree, needless to say it's the steepest thing I drive anywhere) like a champ, only problem was this was at night, and the snow caked on the whole front of the car, put the head lights outs :-D I have a pic of it on my phone.. only problem with that phone is the screen died.. if i find a way to revive it and email myself the pictures.. I'll surely post it..

Earlier in the day I was driving my car in the storm that layed out all that snow (yes just one storm..)and it drove just wonderfully, while people were spinning out and getting stuck at intersections, i was flying past them The tiptronic is really quite handy in the snow situations.

needless to say, I'm very much hooked on the 4matic.. it takes slightly flooded highways fairly well too.. but that's another story

I drive to much.. Could write a book about just how damn awesome the 4matic is. At anyrate, if you need any further pictures to disprove your suspiciouns.. I could post the picture of me the night of the accident.. but ya I'm not going to I'm topless and that's just embarrasing (i did have some scrapes on my left forearm.. no scars though!)

Another piece of info I forgot to mention, I got into this accident, 36 hours before my family and I were headed for france... that made for one hell of a vacation. a 7 hour plane ride is entertaining on a multitude of different pain medications.

Embarrasing piece of info.. I injured myself worse when I came home...(in terms of marks..) was getting into my dads ML500... and wasn't paying attention, opened the door into my foorhead... thought i was going to need stiches at first.. I'm just a clumsy guy sometimes i guess

 

Ouch, well, I hope you asked to get upgraded on the plane.

In California, we really have almost no use for AWD. My college doesn't have a ski team, at least not that I know of. However, if I were in the North East, I'd consider acquiring an AWD car. Either the BMW xi, Mercedes-Benz 4matic, or the Subaru Impreza, although the latter would require me to drive manual (the automatic transmission is terrible on the Impreza) and I've never driven manual in the snow. Another thing to think about if I were to get accepted.

I was never suspicious, I was only skeptical. Furthermore, don't worry, you don't need to justify yourself to me, and frankly, you don't need to, since I am convinced.

 

sucks bro

 

Glad you're okay.

Would you please shrink the 2nd set of pictures, for the sake of people who don't have widescreens? If you can't edit anymore, please re-size, re-save and pm me the URL's so that I can change them.

drex

 

wow...that is really F-ed up... did u get to part out ur rear to get some money

 

I'm curious about that too. If a person's car is designated as totaled, can the owner just take apart some things like the wheels and sell them?

 

I'd imagine not, I know the issurance company is taking care of the car. If I ran the issurance company.. I would take and sell the parts myself to recoupe the costs of paying for a totaled car... since techincaly they're paying me for the whole car, it's theirs to do with as they place. I'll resize the images as soon as I get home, sorry.

 

Good luck w/ insurance

 

Sad to hear, good you walked away. Same thing(kind of)happened w/my car the SECOND week I owned it. I just came home REAL late from going out and next thing you know I hit a curb and cause my car to be out of comission(dealing w/insurance and the dealer)for THREE months!! So I bought my first lux car but was making payments on it w/out even driving it! Back then I didn't have the luxuries of having spare cars so I would bum rides and *gasp* take public transportation!

 

Wow, glad you walked away from that! Glad that you're okay too.

Where is MA did this happen?

 

jpc280, would you mind shrinking the pics to 800X600 or less. Not everybody has the luxury of a widescreen monitor, so we have to make sure pics that are hosted through a website are small enough to fit a normal screen.

Thanks in advance (TIA) - drex

 

Good to hear you are ok. I was wondering if they were as safe as some people say. That is the exact car I have. Had to mention though, I noticed the MA plates and I just moved from there. Have to tell me....495, 95? Where were you?

 

glad you're okay. sorry for the loss of the c-class.

 

You are right. You can ask to buy back the car from the insurance company...but if the car is totaled...they give you a check for the whole car...now if you had put a aftermarket stereo or wheels...if you could get them off and put the originals back you could probably get away with that...but most of the time in order to do anything to the car or move it...your insurance company must sign off first.

Glad you are OK!