I found another advantage to driving an ultra-low Cd car
At 4:30 this morning I was driving at about 40mpg down a narrow 2 lane rural road lived by forest when a large deer came running out of the woods at full speed just in time to collide with the front of my car. Then the strangest thing I ever saw happened. You've seen where a butterfly strikes the front of a normal Cd car and ricochets straight up, only to fall back to earth behind the car. Well the same thing happened with this deer. It struck the front of my car and was deflected straight upwards by the rounded front of my car. The last I saw of that deer it was going straight up at about 20 mph. If it was daylight, I would have seen that deer falling out of the sky in my rear view mirror. I wonder how high it went?
The amount of damage on my car was minimal considering that it was a 2000 lbs car hitting a full grown deer at 40mph. Since my aero modded car has no flat vertical surfaces in the front, the energies of collision were redirected upwards rather than being adsorbed into the car's frame, as it would be in a car with a conventional flat front end. I can see the imprint of the deer's legs in the nosepiece and a slight hollow in the front of the hood where the deer's body hit, and the lens of the left headlight was cracked. I ordered a new headlight assembly and will need to smooth out the metal on the hood and nose. I'll see about strengthening the parts of the front that dented, so then next time the front of my car acts as a deer scoop I'll have less damage. I didn't see the deer anywhere when I looked around after the collision, so the deer must have survived its brief flight to run off into the woods.
This is my 5th deer encounter in the close to 500,000 miles I have driven this car, so I am averaging about one deer strike every 100,000 miles. I had a lot more damage to the front of my car when I hit a deer 9 years ago at about the same speed before I modded the front end.
I hit a deer in my Metro the very same day I bought it! He ran into the side of me, so I lost a mirror and got a few dents, but it's back to normal now. "Deflecting" the deer with aerodynamics makes sense though! With the pointed nose, there is no real direct impact range to cause major damage.
So you gotta redo the front aero bodywork, or is it OK?
Not to burst anyones bubble but probably the deer has atleast one broken leg, which won't stop it from running off in the short term. Hopefully your area has some coyotes or bear to finish it off quickly.
A tip for those in deer country, if you see one cross the road in front of you, slow down even if its far away as many times there will be others following it across even if they hear your car coming.
We have way too many here in PA. When I go up to my buddy's house, I have to do 25mph in rural roads because they will jump out right in front of you. Keeping a pistol in the car isn't a bad idea in case you need to dispatch a downed animal.
It will cut your Cd down just a little bit, but you could get those deer siren things, those really work. A friend of mine who live in VERY rural Alabama hasn't hit once since she got them. Before she got them she hit at least one a month.
It took about 2 hours of work to repair the damage to the car, other then replacing the headlight assembly whenever it arrives in the mail, so the deer encounter has only set me back about $40. The very similar collision I had 9 years ago required replacing the right front fender, right headlight and turn signal assemblies, and straightening out some distortion to the frame where the flat front of the bumper had adsorbed the collision energies from the deer. It cost about $600 to fix. So aeromodding my car is saving me more than just gas money and the lives of all of those birds and bugs that didn't go splat on the front of my car. Its making deer collisions much safer for both me and the deer.
Why would a deer be afraid of an ultrasonic noise coming from a vehicle any more then they would of the sound of the motor from a vehicle? I don't know how well those wind powered deer whistles work. A guy at work who used to work at a body shop says that he saw quite a few whistle equipped vehicles come in with deer collision damage. Another guy at work said that the only thing that works to keep deer away from vehicles is if people in the area have a habit of hunting deer from their trucks, so deer learn to associate motor vehicles with hunting. They then depart the scene whenever they hear a vehicle come near.
Why would a deer be afraid of an ultrasonic noise coming from a vehicle any more then they would of the sound of the motor from a vehicle? I don't know how well those wind powered deer whistles work. A guy at work who used to work at a body shop says that he saw quite a few whistle equipped vehicles come in with deer collision damage. Another guy at work said that the only thing that works to keep deer away from vehicles is if people in the area have a habit of hunting deer from their trucks, so deer learn to associate motor vehicles with hunting. They then depart the scene whenever they hear a vehicle come near.
Glad you didn't have any major damage, our deer are a bit bigger here and many a car has been written off along with a few people... On the plus side we found a fresh one last christmas and salvaged about 60lbs of venison.
It is amazing what extra benefits that a car designed to be functional rather than stylish has. I'm sure that your car is also far superior in a crash situation now too(not that you need to test it!)
I have had only 1 deer collision while living outside Pittsburh - and it was an actual "the deer hit me" item. driving down 2 lane highway, deer jumps off the hillside into the side of the car ( was a 1990 honda civic - man i miss that car) - anyway damage was not all that bad - repalaced the side mirror and some touch up paint ( left the dent - was not that bad).
I have seen plenty of deer through the windshield's though.
Glad to hear this was "un-serious"
do you have any Pic's of the damage? from your discription was not much anyway.
Steve
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Steve - AKA Doofus McFancypants
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PC Load Letter - what the heck does THAT mean? First Milestone passed - 30 MPG (city) 5/15/08
Best Tank - 10/13/08 - 33.9 MPG City (+35%)
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In effort to drive less:
Miles NOT driven = 457 (Work from home and Alt Transporatation)
I happened to stumble upon this clip.
Don't watch it if you don't want to see what happened to the deer and Basjoos's car. I think this guy was going abit over 40mph.
LOL!!! If that happened to me, besides the sadness of the deer, I'd probably be laughing my face off. That kind of stuff (hitting deer and maybe not noticing) doesn't happen everyday!!!
Those deer things don't work worth a darn. I have a friend who's parents hit deer all the time, so they bought those things for their van, and the van got totaled...
I saw some yesterday while coming back from eating lunch, 2 deer out in the road and field at 12 during the day! I started honking and coasting down ready to stop but they ran off. I've found the honking and coasting method to be most effective.
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Yea.. I drive a Jeep and I'm on a fuel economy site, but you just wouldn't understand... "It's a Jeep thing!" *Jeep Wave*
Where I live deer are thick. I see many every time I drive anywhere. However, I have never hit one and I believe it is largely because I am always looking for them so as to not hit them. People who "hit deer all the time" just can't be paying too much attention.
Glad to hear you are ok; I repaired a celica which hit a deer for my sister last year and it was major major damage.
Be careful out there.
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Originally Posted by NoCO2
It will cut your Cd down just a little bit, but you could get those deer siren things, those really work. A friend of mine who live in VERY rural Alabama hasn't hit once since she got them. Before she got them she hit at least one a month.
Mine may have sucked, but when I had some I hit an animal (never a deer) every week. After about 6 months of heart breaks I pulled them off and haven't hit one since . . . . No idea on brand, the came with my fist supra and were not marked.
