Flipsonic

The most important thing is my wife and 2 year old son are fine. Even the safest drivers cannot avoid unsafe drivers who do not pay attention to what's in front of them. My wife was at a red light for about 30 secs. A mini school bus was in front of her. Out of nowhere a Dodge Ram pickup smashed the rear sending glass all over the place. It pushed the ML forward under the rear bumper of the school bus. After she hit the bus in front of her, the ML kept on moving forward as if the driver of the pickup still had her foot on the gas. Two 19 year olds were in the pickup. They called mommy and daddy to come get them right away. As I said, most important, my family is fine. But even if I get my ML back, it will never be the same.

The driver side airbag did not deploy. Is this something I should take up with MB?

Brian_74

Sorry to hear about this unfortunate mishap! In the end, it's just a car and you can be thankful that your family was in one of the safest vehicles you can drive. Keep us posted!

Certainly looks to me like the driver airbag should have gone off.

Got any pics of the truck and bus?

Flipsonic

No pics of the pickup and school bus. Anyway, nothing happened to the school bus and the pickup just had a damaged bumper. I called my local MB service department and he said it depends on the angle of impact. I don't know much regarding when airbags are supposed to deploy but now I will be researching this.

AR.Shah

Sorry to hear this, thank god nothing happened to your family, cars can always be replaced. Imagine if your wife drove a small car and got hit by that Dodge, it would have been devastating ML is a very safe car and not sure if the driver side airbag is suppose to deploy without a direct hit.

I wonder if your car gets totalled, here in Denmark the repairing costs have to exceed 60% of the market value before it’s totalled. Anyway thanks for sharing and keep us posted

sosh

Sorry to see this. Hope everyone is still OK. Re the airbag, I understand that the vehicle must have attained a certain forward speed at the time of impact to have it deploy.

Flipsonic

The pickup hit the ML from behind sending it forward to hit the school bus. There was about half a car length between the bus and the ML. I don't know if that's enough forward momentum before hitting the bus. But as you can see from the pic, it was a very hard hit.

brabusw209amg

did ur wife hit her head on the steering wheel? If so, I see a lawsuit against MB for the airbag. If not, it shouldn't matter. It's better that the airbag didnt deploy since that thing shoots out at 200+ mph. It looks like as if it was a hard hit but cars nowadays are designed to absorb the impact and spread the vibrations throughout the car. Have your insurance company total the car and get a new one.

Brian_74

It looks like an expensive repair for sure! You've got to replace every panel but the doors and no telling if there is other damage to the engine compartment. I kinda hope they total it.

Flipsonic

No she didn't hit her head on the steering. She had her hands on the steering and her upper body was thrown forward when the pickup hit from behind. She was wearing her seatbelt. Her arms hit her head as she hit the bus in front of her. No injuries. My son was in his carseat and appears to be ok.

How do I get my insurance to total the car? Their decision will be based on their survey. I don't think I can tell them what to do.

About getting a new one, the only way that will happen is if I come up with the difference since I will only get blue book value for my car. So it's just like trading my car in for a new one.

Regardless of how I look at this, I'm pretty much SOL. Either I will get a used replacement, or shed more money to get a new one. All this and it's not even my fault. But it can happen to anyone. Just glad my family is ok.

The chasis looked ok to me since the pickup and bus were higher than the car. The damage was higher. But the engine looks like it might be pushed it. I don't know. I'm waiting on the claims adjuster.

jerseyMLdriver

Oh my God! Thank God everyone is aok! What did the boys say who hit your wife's car? What was their excuse? Make sure to get the little one checked out. Neck injuries and back injuries could be pretty serious even if its not visible.

Brian_74

I hear ya! It's one of the reasons I switched to leasing all my vehicles. The last car I owned got egged, door dinged, and even hit by a golf ball. Seems impossible to have/keep anything nice these days. If I get in a wreck and they want to total it, I just walk into the dealership and get a new one. If they wanna spend $20k to repair it, at least I'm only stuck with it for a couple years.

Flipsonic

They were two teenage girls in the pickup. The officer said it didn't look like she knew how to handle that big truck. The driver got out (crying) and made sure my wife and son were ok. Then she called mommy or daddy to come get her. I don't even know who called 911, I think the school bus driver did. I don't know what their excuse was because I didn't even try talking to them. My concern was my family when I got to the scene. I'm sure she was doing something that distracted her from her driving. When her dad arrived, the first thing he did was looked at the front bumper of his pickup. He didn't even come over and talk to me. That's ok, I had nothing to say to them. As long as their insurance will compensate me, that's all I want from them. And if my wife or son are not ok after their checkup, I'll have to find a good lawyer.

jerseyMLdriver

Keep us updated on how everything went. But the dad should have been less worried about his truck and more worried about your wife and your son.

sosh

Most likely you will not need a lawyer unless there are actual injuries and you say there are not. From the looks of it I believe it will be totaled. When they pay you off you can negotiate and be certain they add the sales tax on their settlement. The car's design certainly did what its supposed to do.

wilfred

Glad to hear the family is fine. But the impact was definitely hard so make sure your wife pay attention to her neck & back as these injuries can take a few days or even weeks to surface! And special attention to the 2 year old! I am sure it's hard to communicate with a 2 year old so you have to pay special attention to his movement making sure everything is fine.

Car wise, I think it's close to total, depending on how much damage under the hood. Bring the ML back to a MB dealership. Even though the dealership will most likely sent it out to an authorized body shop as most dealership does not do body work but at least it should be a better than average shop. The insurance will try to get your car to one of their body shop and try not to total the vehicle and put cheap/used parts. You have to make sure they use all new and genuine parts as your vehicle is still very new.

Try to get a copy of the police report as soon as it is available. Who knows what the driver that hit you said to the CHP. I have been in a very similar accident and the driver that hit me said I hit the truck in front of me first then he hit me. In the end, their insurance only paid me half of my car because they said it was 50% my fault

And if it is total, make sure they pay for your rental car whether or not you rent a car, they still have to pay you $30-$50 a day for the loss of use of your vehicle. And if it takes a few months to settle, make sure they pay for the registration and insurance for those months.

As far as the airbag, I do not know where the airbag sensor is on the ML. But most cars have 2-3 behind the front bumper. So it is possible the impact up front missed the sensors based on the pics you have attached.

LRRPJOE

Glad ur fine, car's kind of banged up though.

Flipsonic

Update - This is most likely my last post since I am leaving the MB family. The car is totaled. I received more $$ than I expected from my insurance which is great. I bought a brand new replacement car without reaching in my pocket. My wife is currently undergoing chiropractic treatment. She will be getting "pain and suffering" compensation later. My two year old is fine. The police report revealed the girl that caused the accident is 16 years old. They have only $50k in their insurance policy which is not enough to pay for everyone's damage. I am leaving that for my insurance to get their money back.

So friends, thank you for answering my questions in this forum. You have helped me tremendously. I hope I helped some of you in return. I had a great time exchanging information with some of you. This car is a fine piece of machine. It was fun while it lasted. So to all - au revoir.

peacemf

think maybe he brought a range rover?

tarponbeach

The other nice thing about leasing (at least in my State), is that GAP insurance is included in the lease. So, if a vehicle is declared a total loss, GAP pays the difference between depreciated value, and what is owed on the lease.

Rod Barajas

Probably a BMW X5...To bad...I work at a BMW Dealership and I roll in a 2007 MB ML350 and I love it!

c240PORTUGA

why are people so quick to want to sue car manufacturers when an airbag does not deploy. the last thing you want is to get smacked in the face with a deploying airbag. many people get skin burns as a result. they design cars now so that airbags only deploy when they really have to. the hit on that ML looks to have been a high hit in the front. usually the sensors are on the lower rails and without a significant impact to the front bumper, they should not deploy.

MJ50

if MB protected ur family, y not get another MB?