Stinking rodent ran out onto the road in front of me and I couldn't stop. Stupid rat!

Punched out the left headlight, turn signal has been reduced to the bulb and holder -- not even the clip is there -- and there is a small roll-over on the edge of the hood.

Lucky, I guess. I was expecting the whole front end to be squashed. No sheetmetal damage to the fender, just a scratch in the paint behind the turn signal. No fur, blood, or such, so the damned rat got away clean. It would have gone in the freezer otherwise, but I couldn't find any traces of it after I checked out the damage.

I guess I'll go junkyard shopping tomorrow. I've got a perfectly good turn signal, but it's the right side, left over from replacing Mom's when the trash man stepped out if front of here a couple years ago.

I don't drive down that particular road at night -- was coming home from work and I'm not familar with where the deer are. All the other routes I know where they cross and am watching.

Peter

Sorry to hear that. I presume it's your '87 300D?
Sorry again
David

Yup. Better than the 280, probably would have done more damage.

I was probably only going 40 when I saw it, much less when I hit it -- just put new brakes on the 300D.

Peter

Ditto your original post.
I got one tonight. A car was behind me with his highbeams up, and the traffic coming at me also had headlights lit. All the glare totally obscured the rodent. At least the damage to the deer was fatal. The damage to my car was almost identical to what you described, except, I also lost the fender molding. The bummer is that while performing some routine maintenance a few weeks ago, I noticed the left side headlight ass'y was broken, so I made a trip to the junkyard and got a good one for $11. I hope there's another, because the stupid critter reduced it to mostly dust. Stupid over populated varmints, vermin scum....

Sorry to hear about that Peter. Big problem around here too. Wife got one and so did I a few years back. I wonder if those little whistling things you mount on the bumper do any good. they are so cheap, I figure why not. I actually have them mounted under the bumper.

Mmmmmm.... Deer jerky.

I remember reading an article some time ago where the State of Maine tested deer whistles on their State Police cars. The result ended up being that the test cars with the whistles were actually hitting more deer than the ones without whistles.

Sorry to hear that psfred, at least the damage was minimal.

Yes I heard a similiar report on those whistlers. They don't know what the sound is, another thing to stun them in the middle of the road I guess.

I have been there before. I totalled a 88 Ford Ranger 4X4 several years ago when I hit one doing about 70. Also, my other half did about 2K damage to a 88 BroncoII about 2 weeks later when she hit one in town, she was only doing about 30!
Glad you were in a MB where the damage was minimal.;)

About 12 or 13 years ago my wife hit a deer with her beloved '83 300DT. She went by the Highway Patrol office to file a report for insurance. The officer made a comment when she said what she was there for that "she shouldn't be hunting out of season." When she left, he said "don't be doing any more hunting out of season."

He was just joking, but she took it wrong and was not happy with him. I thought it was hilarious, but the car wasn't. It was probably the most serious of any deer damage to any of our cars. We have had numerous incidents since we drive 20 miles of narrow, winding, hilly, paved farm road just to get to the highway.

For our family the term "deer in the headlights" has real meaning.

Have a great day,

If I get a CTD (cummins turbo diesel) I want to get a bumper like this one:
http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/pics/data/500/17932PICT0060-med.JPG

It is made of 3/16" thick steel, imagine hitting a deer with that? Unless you were going insanely fast and didn't try to slow down I doubt it'd do any damage! No more fearing the deer lurking in the ditches, makes me think of the Geico commercial with the squirrels. :-D

When we move out to the country, the Chevy is getting a Ranchhand replacement front bumper for just such incidents. Kind of spendy, but a lot cheaper than replacing all the plastic on the front end.

It seems like I seen on TDR where somebody from road armor was trying to sell their product in a group buy. I guess they are the only ones who do the 3/16" thick plating most are more like thick sheet metal. I think he said their product would take 300lb force to yield it where as the other ones only take about 60lb force.

Yes, it would do a pretty good job on a deer, but it still wouldn't help if you hit a Bull. I've had several close scrapes with cattle and horses on the road. They are much more dangerous than a deer. Hitting one can kill you easily.

Regardless of how many pounds of iron you decide to cantilever out over the front of your vehicle, be careful.

Have a great day,

Perhaps a trunk-deploying drogue chute would be more safe? It could sense excessive pedal pressure at moderate to high speeds and pop out of the back to pull you to a stop.

-Aaron

Very true Larry, but it is very rare to have a cow or horse wandering in the roads here. I've heard of people seeing them before but I've never seen one first hand. I doubt it'd kill you in something so tall and huge as the CTD but it surely would do a lot of damage to the vehicle!

Well if you were going so fast that a trunk chute would help something is already wrong and you may just as well start praying.... I can't imagine those making much difference at speeds below 40mph, but it is "free" braking in the sense that it isn't tire dependent.

In 17 years of living where I am and driving every day on the roads I describe, I have only had close calls with cattle and horses less than a dozen times or so.

But don't dare believe that hitting a cow or horse at highway speed, even in something like a one ton pickup or suburban won't kill you. IT MOST DEFINITELY CAN.

We're talking about hitting over 1,000 pounds! The impact is something you don't want to try out, airbag or not.

The odds of this ever happening to you are very much in your favor. I only mention this so that you can understand the seriousness. This is serious impact.

If you do find yourself in this situation, don't think that it will be like hitting a dog or a deer. We are talking about at least five times the mass of hitting a deer. Do everything you can to avoid hitting it head on.

I have come up behind others in this situation twice. Both times were full size pickups. One was fatal for the driver and the other was very serious ambulance screaming away type of situation.

Be careful out there,

I'm just saying if you hit it with a 7,000lb+ truck that while it would be messy since the truck & animal are so large but the truck being so tall the animal would probably go under it and not over so it wouldn't be such a risk for the driver. If one was in the road I'd be heading for the nearest ditch at the last moment to avoid it because I know who'd win that battle, especially in a car! :eek: I drive like an old woman at night (slooooow) so if/when I do hit something it shouldn't do horrible damage.

Also, you've got to remember that after the initial impact, there may be more serious and potentially deadly impacts.

Just like with motorcycling, it might not be the initial impact that hurts you, but simply puts you more in harm's way.

For example, you hit a deer/bull/horse, then loaded semi hits you from behind at 50 mph. Or you swerve and hit an oncoming car or a tree.

Drive safe...

-Aaron

Sadly, the damage is more that I thought -- took a good look in the light yesterday, and it appears that the deer bounced off the driver's door. Probably why the damage was so light on the front, but now I have two creases on the door panel where the skin was shoved down onto the internal frame.

Probably going to have a body shop fix it.

I may spring for Euro headlamps, though..... part of the reason I hit the stupid deer is that the headlights are terrible on this car -- no one flashes you if you forget and leave the brights on, for instance.... Low beams aren't useful even in lit parking lots, even accounting for my fading vision!

Peter

Peter,

This sounds EXACTLY like my experience about a year ago. I still had US lights, and I guess the two D cells were a little weaker than normal that morning. I swerved and went half way in the ditch and was lucky not to roll it over.

I backed up the road to see if it was dead and to check the front of the car. It raised its head once, but by the time I got the pistol (don't get upset anyone, I carry it legally) and got to the deer, it was dead.

I then shined my FOUR cell flashlight on the front of the car ( I should have been using the flashlight instead of the headlights and maybe I would have missed the deer.) I found no damage, just a little hair.

That weekend my wife asked what happened to the SIDE of my car. The passenger front door was caved in bad. When I swerved, I guess I hit it while drifting on the shoulder.

So, the result was that I pulled the door panel and straightened the door pretty good and then bought a set of Euro lights.

There's a little bit of good in everything, so maybe after you're done, you'll at least have good lighting.

Best of luck,

The problem with using those RanchHand bumpers as locomotive cowcatcher/pilots is that they're bolted to the same mealy, expendable, mild steel mounts that the doggone OEM bumper is bolted to.

I cannot count how many Tahoe/Suburban/Expedition/Excursion/F250-350 Ford Power Stroke pickumup trucks I've seen going down the road with their RanchHand mashed back into the hood because the mount was weaker than the bumper.

It's just stupid engineering, that's all.

Larry:

Sure enough! The reason I got away so cheap is that I couldn't drive very fast -- had to slow down because the road vanishes if someone coming toward me, and I think the deer walked into the road behind the car on that side.

I did stay on the road -- stomped the brake hard, but couldn't stop. Probably only going 25 mph at impact. No sheetmetal damage up front besides the rolled hood.

Door is probably totaled -- dished in and oilcans, so repair is iffy at best, and I have no desire to try to skin it.

I'll go junkyard shopping again soon -- going out of town tomorrow in the TE (after I get a new flex disk in) -- what a life!

I'm seriously considering Euros -- the wiper is busted loose on the driver's side anyway, so I'll check with Bernard at European Connection, might be able to upgrade.

I'll call the insurance company next week. Two claims in three years -- got backed into in a parking lot at night, creased the rear fender on the Volvo.

Peter

I hit a deer last night, I've never hit anything till now. I'm 18 so it was an experiance, I'm just glad it was in the Benz. I was going 50mph, the speed limit was 65mph; on a back country road. I had my friend and two other girls in the car. My friend yelled "DEER!". Boom, I saw the deers body fly and land in a ditch near by. He got up and limped away sadly enough. I was so mad, I wanted to beat that deer to death. I was so worried because I have heard and seen bad stories of cars hitting deer. I thought my car was in for it. I was suprised to see only the the plastic that outlines the headlight was cracked. My car has saved me three times now! If I was in a Honda, this story might not have such a happy ending.

-Steve

http://www.lopatka.net/11-1-02/img7.gif
http://www.lopatka.net/11-1-02/img8.gif

Mercedes-Benz approved deer repellent.

I think that may look a little bit out of place on my W123 though. :D Maybe instead of blue I could try it in polished SS? ;)