Slid in Snow on Turn, Hit Curb in 2011 Venza, Damage?

[Scorpio13]

I was driving a few days ago and the conditions here were terrible (tons of snow on the ground, wasn't very well cleaned at the time), and on a left turn (~10km/h), my Venza began to slide and I was able to somewhat regain control with the help of VSC and traction control, but it was too late and I "smashed" into the curb. It was a bump in the road but nothing too loud seeing as it was a low speed hit, I didn't go over the curb, just hit the side of it with my tires.

No damage done to the tires, or to the body of the vehicle, everything seemed fine from the outside and I was able to continue driving after the incident.

Now, a few days later, I'm noticing my steering is a bit more stiff and when I let go of the steering wheel, the car goes slightly to the right (the side that had the impact).

I'm not sure if it was doing this before or if I'm being paranoid because of the accident, but does anyone know what the possible damage is?

Going to take it to my mechanic soon and see what he says, hopefully no damage to any of the parts (or only some cheap parts damaged), and hopefully I'll only need balancing done.

It's a 2011 AWD model, was actually surprised when it got out of control, the Venza has always handled great for me in all weather situations, anyone know what could be wrong or where I should go to get things checked, any checks I can do myself?

[nitronate33]

could be that it just knocked the car out of alignment, could be worse. you might have bent or damaged the outer tie rod or ball joint on the end causing the stiff steering.

[johnyks]

First, sorry to hear of what happened. Same thing happened with my wife's Sentra. She slid on the snow and hit a curb also. You describe the exact symptoms of when I was driving the Sentra to the Nissan dealer to find out what the damage was. I had to go very slow, but I made it there.The damage beside the steel wheel and wheel cover was to the lower control arm, spindle knuckle and front wheel-bearing assembly. Unfortunately, the cost for repairs was $1,221.90, but here's what you need to do, as I did - reach out to you insurance company. They reimbursed me for most of the cost of the damage. It wasn't 100% reimbursement, but I did get most it back. I simply described to them what happened, and they said they would cover it. So please contact your insurance company before you get it repaired. After the dealer finished with the repairs on my wife's car, I drove it home, and it was like new. No pulling, no difficult steering, And I have not had any problems since then regarding that issue. So hopefully yours will be the same. Again, you may want to reach out to your insurance company. It may take a couple of days to get it repaired. I wouldn't trust anyone with that except the dealer, but that is your decision. The dealer may give you a free loaner car while it is in the shop. Hope everything works out for you.

[Scorpio13]

Originally Posted by johnyks

First, sorry to hear of what happened. Same thing happened with my wife's Sentra. She slid on the snow and hit a curb also. You describe the exact symptoms of when I was driving the Sentra to the Nissan dealer to find out what the damage was. I had to go very slow, but I made it there.The damage beside the steel wheel and wheel cover was to the lower control arm, spindle knuckle and front wheel-bearing assembly. Unfortunately, the cost for repairs was $1,221.90, but here's what you need to do, as I did - reach out to you insurance company. They reimbursed me for most of the cost of the damage. It wasn't 100% reimbursement, but I did get most it back. I simply described to them what happened, and they said they would cover it. So please contact your insurance company before you get it repaired. After the dealer finished with the repairs on my wife's car, I drove it home, and it was like new. No pulling, no difficult steering, And I have not had any problems since then regarding that issue. So hopefully yours will be the same. Again, you may want to reach out to your insurance company. It may take a couple of days to get it repaired. I wouldn't trust anyone with that except the dealer, but that is your decision. The dealer may give you a free loaner car while it is in the shop. Hope everything works out for you.

Thanks for your reply!

I'm taking it in to my mechanic tomorrow to get it checked, hopefully no extensive damage, car is still drive-able, was able to drive it fine today. I'm going to get him to check it first, and if damage isn't anything too big I'll get him to fix it (this isn't some auto shop, it's my most trusted & honest mechanic so I know he'll do a good job).

Crossing fingers damage is only to tie rods and will only need balancing & alignment, I wouldn't want my insurance rate to go up over this little accident, so hopefully cost is low!

By the way, when you said you had to drive very slowly, was the car very hard to control? Like pulling to left/right very hard? Mine only starts to go off center when I let go and it's very slight but the car is still controls fine unless I let go of the steering wheel completely (steering felt a bit more stiff today too).

Thanks again for your post!

[johnyks]

It wasn't hard to control. But it went off-center if I let go of the wheel, just as yours. I went slow because I didn't know just how damaged it was. I wasn't sure I would make it to the dealer without the right-front wheel falling off. I never experienced that before, so I just didn't want to take a chance of going fast. But I made it and everything worked out fine. And again, I hope yours works out well too and that it doesn't cost too much either...

[scat1]

I did the same thing on my corolla. Drove it 20 minutes on the freeway to get it to my dealership (place of work) after a day (of just being home taking care of other things) and they told my I threw my alignment and a rod. Can't remember the price but it was less than $500. Didn't bother with insurance.

[Scorpio13]

Good news!

No damage was done to the vehicle at all, not even scratched rims! When I slided into the curb, I hit it at the perfect angle, there seems to be absolutely no damage, and the off center steering is just me being paranoid and was probably caused by the curvature of the road.

No broken tie rods or anything, love my Venza!

[Streaker]

^ You're Lucky!