Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General whoops!

if i need to remove the airbags, is my dash salvageable?? its an 1100 dollar part and id rather not buy it if i dont have to. i was in a 4 car pileup on monday, and the car is bad, but probably fixable at least enough for me to drive....only had time for a few pix, but here they are:







i woudl just like to replace the airbag/sterring wheel if at all possible.

these are all i had time to take really before the car was hauled away....is there any way i can ever drive this car again without spending an assload of money??? i dont care what it will look like at this point, i just need it driveable.

here are the pieces under the hood that i need:



the black peice that holds the headlight assemblies,,and these:

my dad knows a body guy, and we can straighten them enough to make it driveable if we have to, but we'd rather buy new/used ones if they can be removed...other than that all it needs is a radiator/condensor and some collant/powersteering lines (power steerring fluid all over street at scene)

and that is all she needs to be back on the road temporarily.

any ideas?? my dad thinks with junkyard parts we can have her on the road again for under a grand (wont be fixed completely, will have only one working headlight, and wont have any body damage repiared, only a junkyard hood)

thoughts??

heres what happened:


There were 4 cars, at the front was a green 2000ish civic. she came to a dead halt in the middle of the road to turn into a neghbirhood...a green 1997 civic behind her slammed on the brakes but civic # 2 didnt hit Civic # 1 until the truck hit her, pushing her into the car in front of her, and then i hit the truck not a second later. my car BY FAR had the worst damage, everybody else drove away. this truck, piloted by a 16 year old kid, decided to peel out of a parking lot right in my path. as soon as he was in the lane, he hit the back of the 2nd civic. he wasnt even in the lane completely yet, but he was already doing about 50. he got 2 tickets, not sure what. i would have been happy/thankful if i could have driven away from this one...and you want to know what the worst of this is???

The cops tried to blame the WHOLE THING ON ME!!!!.

There were 2 units there. The first officer on the scene said that i had hit the rear of the truck causing him to rear end the fist civic, causing her to rear end the car in front of her.

i told talked to the second officer and stated:

"my ins. co is already gonna have their pockets lined with my money over this. He hit that car before i hit him, and if you donâ??t believe me, looks at the damage to my car, it would have been ALOT worse for me to have pushed a 5,000 lb truck into another vehicle and THEN push BOTH Vehicles (totaling around 10,000lbs) into the car in front of them...uh-huh...riiiiiight. Do the math man! I would have had to be doing about 50 MPH for me to pull that off, and my car would not have stayed intact!! it would have disintegrated around the ass end of that truck (if it didnâ??t go straight through it) and i wouldnâ??t be talking to you right now!"

i ended up only got a citation for "Failure to Control speed to avoid a collision"

and for those who are wondering, no i do not have anti lock brakes.

and yes im ok, and no passengers, only a little airbag rash and a busted thumb (thumb was in the spoke of the wheel when it the bags deployed).

the only damage is at the very front, the car still runs great, in fact, i had to turn the car off myself after the impact, the motor didnâ??t die. one headlight (the left) still works. and everything behind the radiator is fine except the powersteering lines. i actually drove this car off the road to the side.

so it runs, just want to make it driveable (new radiator and airbags) i will fix the rest as funding/time becomes available.


opinions??

i dont want to get rid of it, its a great car, and i really cant get a new one at this point anyway...




oh and 2 words...Liability Only...


oh and if this is the wrong forum, please feel fre to move, i didnt know if it should go here or common interests.

First off sorry about your accident.

Secondly check Ebay, airbags are dirt cheap there, like $25$150 depends who sells them.
You will need new crash sensors by the way.

Or you could just remove the rest of the air bag system and call it good.

Junkyards are the place to go, hopefully you can find a tour without front end damage.

Thirdly isnt your car going to be slavage now, I though if the air bags deployed it had to be an automatic salvage.

Your windshield by the way plan on spending $467 to get it fixed.

I got a Contour windshield replaced for around $250.

Make sure there is no major damage to the front wheel drive components, could end up with chronic alignment problems or worse.

I had my windshield replaced for $99. As for the airbags, you would think they would set off explosives sensors when they are shipped, but they go through all the time.

As for the two bigass metal pieces on the front of the contour, just go to a pick-and-pull salvage yard and snag one. You'll need new airbag sensors, and computer too IIRC.

Don't forget to reset the inertia sensor

a new computer??? as in PCM???

im pretty sure if i replace the airbag system i will not have a salvage title.

i have foudn a windsheild at a junkyard for 80 dollars. they manager ahs it on hold.

also the 2 core supports will be replaced new.

the hood is also at a local junkyard, 100 dollars and the color matches.

i only need one headlight.

both turn signal assemblies though i may be able to salvage the left one.

i dont need airbags to drive the car, i can cut the airbags out of the shroud and remove the panel on the passenger side, and duct tape the panel on the drivers side down.

i could care less what it looks liek at this poiunt, just needs to be functional.

the car drives fine, i drove it to the side fo the road and onto the flatbed. the suspension is all ok. i have checked it thoroughly.