First person to crash a Yaris 06 in Canada?

[Fivelessbicycle]

I have really been enjoying the car so far apart form the last hour when i hit a deer. Members will be glad to know the deer was totally fine, it jumped up and looked at me quizzically from the field with one of it's pals, while I returned to pick up car parts. Unfortunately the car did not fair so well and I will take it into the dealers tomorrow to get an estimate for repairs. The Toyota grill badge popped off, the bumper inverted, the hood won't open and the passenger side headlight is loose. It is comforting to know you can hit a pedestrian pretty hard and they might just get up and look at you funny. Ultimately this must be an endorsement of the pedestrian safety features on the Yaris 06. I will keep you posted on repair cost and will post pics if requested.

P.S. Has anyone else crashed a 06 Yaris yet?

[swng]

Sorry to learn about that! However, look at the positive side i.e. both you and the deer are fine after the accident! I wish that very soon you will be able to tell us that your car is fixed and you are on the road again. If you don't mind, tell us if Toyota can do a fine job of restoring your car to 100 per cent like new, I mean as if the accident has not happened at all.

[Fivelessbicycle]

I went to the Toyota dealer to get some idea of repair cost. They thought it would be around $4000-$5000 to repair it! Let's remember the deer was fine. The car looks fine except for the badge that unclipped, a loose, hairline cacked, bumber and snapped off mounting point on a head light. The impact collision speed was at about 30-40 kpm.

I was looking as some Toyota publicity and they said parts were cheap. The front bumper was less to replace than a light. I guess the badge is the expensive part.

Now the scary part. To get parts the dealer thought it would take upto SIX MONTHS as they have to be shipped from Japan. Can this really be true? Is Toyota so unprepared? Has nothing gone wrong with a single Yaris in North America yet?

I was thinking of e-mailing my brother-in-law in Tokyo and asking him to get a price on one of those nice Japanese Yaris bumpers instead of the north american ones. Does anyone know if the bumper fixing points are the same in Japan and north america?

I will be getting a quote from a body shop tomorrow and will keep you posted.

[echo_hrs]

From the cost of the quote, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the lower beams in the unibody structure (the frame, so to speak) got bent and needs to be straghtened out...While the cosmetic damage may be more minimal, indicating less damage, that speed of impact with a heavy object will definitely cause some major structural damage...

[swng]

I think echo_hrs' estimation of your car's situation is right. Damages are uaually more than skin deep when a car is crashed at the speed you described. A six months wait is of course unacceptable. You may like to check again with Toyota Canada. Escalate to higher levels if necessary. I think they have an obligation to stock parts if they sell the cars. I am no legal expert but you may like to find out if your insurance underwriter wants to be involved in the negotiation. May be the dealer can make the car just road worthy(safe) again as a first stage and complete the whole repair job in due course when all the original parts arrive. BTW, have the air bags deployed? Thanks for sharing your experience, Accidents happen when they happen but I will be driving very very carefully. I certainly would not like to be grounded for six months. Best wishes!

[Willys]

Hi Five...
Where abouts are you from?? I live in what seems to be a hot spot for deer too!!! I now drive with both eyes in the ditch instead of one the road!! The deer are usually waiting to pounce from the ditch or field as you approach!!! It must be a ritual or something!!! Lets see how many cars we can get this season!!! They all have little car stickers on their necks for the number of vehicles they have damaged!!! lol
OK ...doesn't sound nice, but, too bad you couldn't put that expensive deer in the freezer!!! I'm not a hunter but have had a deer steak once and it was fantastic!!!!

Hope you get your baby back soon...6 months???WOW That's criminal!!!!!

[CorollaKen]

You should invest in real deer horns and keep both eyes on the road....
http://www.safedrives.com/products.asp?cat=55 < these guys are members of the TN family too>

And why doesn't the Toyota dealer swap you for another new Yaris - you can't have had it very long and it would keep you happy as a customer with one of thier newest cars on the road. HOw much does a Yaris cost anyway - one car is noise in thier bottom line for a year...

Of course what do I know... :p

[amykathleen]

that sucks about the accident, but good thing the deer is ok! good thing it was hit by a yaris and not a bus!

any updates about your yaris?

~Amy

[Fivelessbicycle]

I took the Yaris to an insurance approved body shop yesterday. They thought it would cost more like $3000 to fix but were not sure. Interestingly enough most of the parts are available in North America. The bumber I believe is coming from a Toyota parts depot in L.A. (You can get parts for a Yaris in the States but not the car yet!) Other parts are coming from Toyota depots in Toronto and Vancouver. Unfortunatly 'bumper spacers' have to be ordered from Japan. The external damage to the car is hardly noticable. However once you get the hood open it is a different story. The rad support beam has to be replaced, as does the A/C condenser, The hood, bumper and passenger headlight and various other clips and fastners. The body shop will be getting other parts shipped to them directly from Japan. This will probably take a month instead of six months. What do Toyota know!. They just sell the cars. I will keep you posted on the time it takes.

Swng - the air bags did not go off

echo_hrs - there was no damage to the body structure just bolt/clip on parts.

Willys - I live in Kingston, Ontario. Be carefull if you are driving around here near the 401. If you see the deer that hit my Yaris please feel free to eat it, if you can catch it. It has a Toyota badge on its antlers.

I also asked the bodyshop if deer whistles/horns work. They said they had 8 cars in for deer strikes at the moment and some of them had deer whistles on them!
Apparently 17% of all deer colisions occur in November.

If you do ever hit a deer, the only way the insurance companies will believe you hit a deer and not a lamp post, is if they can find parts of it on your car. Luckily I had a few hairs that I had not removed. I removed the vomit as the acid discolours the paintwork. A deer strike will not raise your insurance premiums (so they say). So a bit of fur can be worth its weight in gold.

P.S. Can I post images in this forum without having them on a URL? I would love to show snaps of the damage.

[Silver Streak]

Originally Posted by Fivelessbicycle

I removed the vomit as the acid discolours the paintwork.

Interesting...you hit the deer, it vomited on your car because it was mad, and then trotted away? Interesting.

Glad to hear you're ok and the deer is cool. A car can be replaced, but not a life.

P.S. Can I post images in this forum without having them on a URL? I would love to show snaps of the damage.

You can upload your pics into the TN gallery for everyone to see...but there's no way of just attaching them anymore.

[Fivelessbicycle]

Here are some photos of the damage. Thank you for the image posting info. Does this look like $3000 of damage?
I like your comical description of what happened. A deer with real attitude!


Front looks okay. I pushed the bumper back out and re attached the badge. There are hairline cracks on it.

Rad beam is bent. The nylon tie connects the two fixing points that usually are one above the other.

Headlight fixing point has been temporarily repaired by body shop.

Hood catch is bent

I will post photo of deer hair if members have the stomach for it?

[jrksmith]

I have...well i guess had a 2007 Yaris S, my husband crashed it on saturday and landed on top of another car at no point during the crash or when they pulled the other car out from under mine, letting the car fall straight to the ground, did the air bags go off. Has this happened alot?

[willtotheumm]

at least you're alright dude

My friend and his friend wrecked a brand-new Yaris, I think it was the day after, they were released. Well, not wrecked...totalled. Rather, wrapped it around a pole LOL. I think I posted something about it on here (or was it TO.com?)