rear ended a guy, may have got lucky, got a few questions

[xSauronx]

I was leaving the RBC center last night after a hockey game, and rear ended a guy. I was 2 or 3 car lengths behind him, and was doing 40 - 50mph when he hit his brakes...and i hit mine, and it caught me off guard so i held them instead of pumping them [in hindsight, i could have pulled onto the median and probably been fine, but meh]

anyway, i rear ended him probably still doing 20mph. my airbags popped

smoke or steam came out from under the hood (i was sure at this point my radiator was fubar'ed, but it was dark so i didnt check til today)

he didnt wanna call the cops--he also just left the game, and since his car had ZERO visible damage, he didnt feel like dealing with it (i suspect he had a drink in him, but i could be wrong, and i would have gotten a ticket for hitting him im sure)

so this morning(i got towed home last night), the car...starts fine.

radiator is totally full, both radiator fans work properly, i let the car run in the driveway for almost 30 minutes and it didnt overheat, and i saw no sign of leakage, and heard no unusual sounds.

did i get lucky on the radiator? its bent in the middle some, and i figure i should drive it around town for an hour this afternoon to see how it holds up, but im crossing my fingers on it

am i legally required to replace the airbags ASAP before im back on the road with it? a friend said he thought not, just that I cant put anything in their place. i still intend to get them replaced soon, but if the car is otherwise ok i may need to wait til the end of the week when i wont have to work. also, while im not handy with cars, is an airbag something easy to replace on my own?

do i need to report this to my insurance? the other driver took my contact and insurance information because he wants to get his car checked out, just to be sure about it, but theres no police report, and i only had liability so i cant use insurance to repair my car (a 1997 altima)

any advice or feedback appreciated.

cliffs:
rear ended a guy (im in a 1997 altima)
my air bags popped
he didnt wanna call cops (his car didnt have a scratch, buy mazda guys!)
i got towed home
radiator, fans, engine, all seem to work fine, car will drive
do i have to replace airbags asap? can i do it myself?
should i keep an eye on anything in particular on the car?
do i need to call my insurance guy monday morning?

thanks!

 

[arcenite]

call your insurance company

 

[xSauronx]

call your insurance company

my father knows my situation and happens to know my agent personally, and ran into him this morning

he said i dont need to call and report anything (again, i have no claim to make on my vehicle since I only had liability insurance), but that the guy i rear-ended does. that guy has my agents office number and will certainly call monday morning

 

[halik]

Probably have a cracked radiator, but it's not leaking till the system gets pressurized. That steam came from somewhere...

And no there's no law or regulation stipulating that you have to fix your airbags. Replacement is DIYable, but generally you have to replace the airbags, ballistic pensioners in seat belts AND the airbag controller (it's got a permanent fault now, generally can't clear it). Not a Nissan expert though.

 

[Throckmorton]

Did you get HIS insurance info?

You need a new radiator

 

[T2urtle]

the guy has the right to call. at the time of the accident he might of not thought much of it but he has the full right to call. You should do nothing as your agent said.

If he doesn't call then you got lucky. I would look into the car but sounds like car is decent. maybe the smoke you saw was his exhaust smoke.

 

[xSauronx]

Did you get HIS insurance info?

You need a new radiator

I didnt. I ran into him which usually would get me a ticket here. maybe I should have

is it worth trying to let this one limp along at all? will it likely last a week or two while I look around? like I said, the car ran a while earlier without anything acting up *Shrug*

 

[basslover1]

Probably have a cracked radiator, but it's not leaking till the system gets pressurized. That steam came from somewhere...

And no there's no law or regulation stipulating that you have to fix your airbags. Replacement is DIYable, but generally you have to replace the airbags, ballistic pensioners in seat belts AND the airbag controller (it's got a permanent fault now, generally can't clear it). Not a Nissan expert though.

Correct.

I got into an accident about 3 years ago only the side impact bag went off. After replacing the thing behind the a-pillar but not the main control unit, my airbag light is still on. I even have one of those fancy Vag-Com OBDII readers made specifically for VWs, and it can't clear the fault from the airbag system.

 

[xSauronx]

Correct.

I got into an accident about 3 years ago only the side impact bag went off. After replacing the thing behind the a-pillar but not the main control unit, my airbag light is still on. I even have one of those fancy Vag-Com OBDII readers made specifically for VWs, and it can't clear the fault from the airbag system.

so in addition to a radiator and airbags, theres the control system and god knows what else?

this is barely going to be worth it on this car, I bet :-/

is it even worth trying to do any of this on my own or should I just say screw it and get an estimate from my mechanic?

 

[exdeath]

40 mph? His car is messed up, he just doesn't know it because of the plastic bumper cover that popped back out. He'll probably call when one of his rear doors drags a little and he notices the gap is smaller in places or when the trunk lid doesn't close quite the way it used to.

As for the smoke/steam you might want to check all your fluids. It could be anything, something that just sloshed around on the impact and came in contact with something hot.

Props for having insurance and not running though like so many assholes these days do.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

40 mph? His car is messed up, he just doesn't know it because of the plastic bumper cover that popped back out. He'll probably call when one of his rear doors drags a little and he notices the gap is smaller in places or when the trunk lid doesn't close quite the way it used to.

As for the smoke/steam you might want to check all your fluids. It could be anything, something that just sloshed around on the impact and came in contact with something hot.

Props for having insurance and not running though like so many assholes these days do.

This,

when I got rear ended in my GTI, at about 20 mph, all I could see was a cracked bumper cover. Once they pulled it off though it was about 1800k in damage that needed to be fixed.

 

[xSauronx]

40 mph? His car is messed up, he just doesn't know it because of the plastic bumper cover that popped back out. He'll probably call when one of his rear doors drags a little and he notices the gap is smaller in places or when the trunk lid doesn't close quite the way it used to.

As for the smoke/steam you might want to check all your fluids. It could be anything, something that just sloshed around on the impact and came in contact with something hot.

Props for having insurance and not running though like so many assholes these days do.

no, I didnt hit him at 40, I was at 40ish when I hit my brakes. it was probably 20ish when I rear ended him. thought I clarified that, but im a little scatterbrained about it all still. we couldnt see *any* damage to his vehicle

 

[Bignate603]

As others have said, you probably need a new radiator. It's the easiest source the white smoke/steam you saw. If you've got a big dent in it you need to pull it out. Decent aftermarket radiators are cheap and are something a shade tree mechanic can do in most cars pretty easily in an afternoon. Check to see if the places it mounts to are bent out of position. If they are tweaked you may have some trouble getting the new one in.

 

[exdeath]

That's how unibody works by design, it distributes the collision energy. You won't *see*any obvious damage because it's not all focused in one spot, but someone who knows body work will see all the little places that were disturbed eg: trunk sill panel, quarter panel, C pillars, etc.

Even a 20mph collision can do a number on sheet metal. Cars are heavy and don't need to be moving fast to cause damage. It was a bumper to bumper collision, Newtons third law applies: for every action their is an opposite and equal reaction. His car has sustained as much damage as yours has, it just dissipated it differently.

 

[xSauronx]

gotcha

radiator mounts look ok, doesnt appear to be out of place or bent out of shape at all, looks like the radiator, front bumper and grill took the brunt of the damage.

the mount in front of the radiator, on which the hood latch is attached, is sheared at the bottom and will need replacing.

ill probably just have to have a mechanic handle everything, i could maybe swap out the radiator, but i damn sure dont know when id be able to :-/

/damn cars or something