crunched A4Q

[ti@bazooka.amb.org (Ti Kan)]

Folks,

I have bad news to report...  That new A4Q euphoria I was
experiencing just took a cold shower.

Yesterday evening I was driving home from work and while
on a surface street I turned a corner and found myself
looking at glaring sunlight.  As I adjusted to the
sunlight I found traffic stopped dead ahead of me _in the
shadow of a building_.  Oops, jam on the brakes but
too late and I rammed into the rear of a Jeep cherokee
at about 20mph.  He in turn got pushed into an old Datsun in
front of him.  No one was hurt in the incident, thank
goodness.

I never thought that anything like this would ever happen
to me.  I had a completely accident-free history in my entire
18 years of driving.  Sh*t happens I guess, and I can't
blame anyone other than myself for not seeing and reacting
soon enough.  As far as insurance is concerned this will
be my fault...

The driver of the jeep was extremely angry and was constantly
screaming expletives.  I can understand that he was upset
but such behavior wasn't helping matters and I certainly
didn't want this to happen any more than he did.  I kept
my calm though, through the next hour dealing with him
and the police.  The Datsun driver was remarkably cool
and good natured.

My poor 2.5-month old A4Q, though, has a crunched nose.
The hood/grille, bumper, and lower valance definitely need
replacement.  The fenders look to be unscathed and the headlights
are remarkable that they are not broken.  One of the turn signal
lens is broken but I suspect that both headlights need
to be replaced anyway.

I have not tried to open the hood yet (it is somewhat jammed)
so I am not sure if there is any damage to the front
horizontal support.  The car still runs fine, smooth as
always, and no fluids leaked.

The airbags deployed during the impact.  The driver side bag
came ripping through the sport steering wheel and the passenger
side bag came out of the "air bag cover" on top of the dash.
There was smell of the air bag detonator when it deployed.
They inflated in an instant and deflated quickly, just as they
should.  I am quite pleased that they worked but this means
the steering wheel needs repair/replacement and possibly
the passenger side air bag cover, not to mention the bags
themselves.  Now I can say I have experienced an airbag.
I had my seat belts on and it probably was enough restraint
in this particular impact but who knows, the bag perhaps
did save me from an injury.

In retrospect, I consider the damages to my A4 quite small
compared to the damage to the Jeep cherokee.  His rear end was
pushed in significantly, enough so that the rear wheel well
is bent and is jammed against his rear tire.  The Datsun's
rear end was also somewhat pushed in.

Argh...!  Accidents can happen to anyone at anytime.
I regret to report this to you but one lives and learns.
Now I have to deal with insurance claims and all its
aftermaths...

Any recommendations for a good body shop in the San Francisco
bay area?  Should I use the Audi dealer?  I heard good things
about the Anderson-Behel (local Audi dealer) body shop...

I hope you all have a safe weekend.  Please drive carefully.

-Ti

P.S., I guess this is a heavy-handed way to solve my front license
      plate holes problem in my front bumper. :-(
-- 
    ///  Ti Kan                Vorsprung durch Technik
   ///   AMB Research Laboratories, Sunnyvale, CA. USA
  ///    Internet: ti@amb.org
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