On Fri, 2009-11-20 at 11:23 -0500, M.L. wrote:
> I was driving home from work yesterday evening. I was stopped in
> traffic and got rear-ended by a guy who wasn't paying attention. I'm
> lucky that he saw me when he did as he laid about 50 feet of rubber on
> the road before smashing into my car. I wonder if he would have even
> hit me if he had ABS (it's an option on his 1996 Nissan Maxima). 

Actually that's sort of a myth. ABS isn't meant to shorten braking
distance, although in some conditions it does. ABS is primarily meant to
maintain CONTROL in a panic stop condition, assuring that your steering
still functions. An excerpt from wiki:

A rotating road wheel allows the driver to maintain steering control
under heavy braking by preventing a skid and allowing the wheel to
continue interacting tractively with the road surface as directed by
driver steering inputs. While ABS offers improved vehicle control, and
may decrease stopping distances on dry and especially slippery surfaces,
it can also increase braking distance on loose surfaces such as snow and
gravel [1].


> It
> could have been much worse if he didn't hit the brakes.
>
> If you'd like to see some pictures go here:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_rtin/sets/72157622717777387/
> 
> 
> Give me an estimate of what you think the damages will amount to ($)
> and I'll give the closest guestimator the Noprize.
> Hints: the trunk won't close, and the right rear door doesn't close
> correctly. The car drives fine so I don't think there is any
> mechanical system damage. The guy who hit me had his airbags deploy
> and went to the hospital in an ambulance.

Wow, cosmetically it doesn't look too bad, but with the rear hatch and
the rear door not closing that tells me the "frame" is damaged. Since
your car (along with pretty much all cars today) is unibody in design
it's likely the damage is high enough that the car will be written off.

TTYL

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