Titan driver’s side head on accident - long (pics)

[Titan Power]

Wow. I'm glad you survived such a violent accident. I hope you and your faimily recover quickley.

Jason K.

[leeroy300]

Originally Posted by BLWedge09

I will definitely be praying for you and the rest of your family to make a complete and speedy recovery. Thank you for sharing your experience with us here at TitanTalk. It looks as though your Titan did its job tot he best of its ability. A good vehicle will sacrifice itself for the safety of its occupants. Your Titan obviously did that. Again, best wishes for a speedy recovery and we hope you continue to be a proud Titan owner.

Well put " A good vehicle will sacrifice itself for the safety of its occupants "
MY best wishes to you and your family .
And one other thanx here would be to all the research & development Nissan and others put into thier vehicles everyday !

[jhromy]

Wow...sorry to hear all this...but im glad you and your family are doing fine...god bless

[goathead]

incredible story and glad you and your family are here to talk about it. you are welcome here anytime and would love to see pics of your new TITAN.

[FLfinfan]

Glad you and yours are ok. Sorry about the crash and the other driver. My plans for purchasing a second car (gas miser variety) are now cancelled.

[DeTitan]

Thoughts and prayers for your families speedy recovery.

This affirms the reason for the purchase of the Titan here as well. Great to hear that in a catastrophic collision the vehicle holds up well. Though my minor parking lot mishap and the resulting damage still does not make sense to me.

Can you shed more light on the side air bag issue.
Would you say that the presence and deployment of the side airbags would have lessened the injuries that all of you sustained?

May want to include the new ML into your consideration set if the truck aspect is not all that important.

[ZubbyZu]

Most early Titan adoptee like my self took a chance on this truck as far as the safety and reliability goes. Information like this kind of validates our choice.

Thank you very much for sharing.

[buzzkillwill]

Incredible pictures and story...

But even more-an incredible survival.

Glad you are still with us.

[titanse05]

Thank God your ok. The pictures are truly breathtaking. Best wishes and I hope you get another Titan.

[KTMNealio]

Thanks for sharing that story. The safety is the MAIN reason I switched from my 2000 F150 deathtrap to the Titan. The rest was just a bonus. Glad to hear everyone came out ok.
- Nealio

[Armada]

I will carry you and your family on my prayer list. Amazing. Thank God, Nissan engineering and the American workers who put your truck together so well.

[PHOEBISIS]

Wow,that was a terrible crash!Any idea of your relative speeds?I'm guessing in the 50 mph range,which make it equivalent to 100 mph head on closing speeds.This was much faster than any Insurance Institute offset crash( 35-40 mph into a stationary barrior,I think).It is pretty amazing anyone survived.Terrible about the other driver,I'll say a prayer for her.
What was the other vehicle?
You didn't have the side airbags?Don't know that they would have deployed in a head on-not sure if they deploy in a near rollover.Hmmm,it sure makes getting a light econo car a bit iffy(2200-2600 lb Corolla,Echo,Scion,Civic etc).Charlie

[Cal]

Originally Posted by FLfinfan

Glad you and yours are ok. Sorry about the crash and the other driver. My plans for purchasing a second car (gas miser variety) are now cancelled.

You know I'm tryijng to pass the healing time by figuring out what I'm gonna replace my Titan with. For some reason cars of any kind do not stir my passion anymore. I'm trying to figure if I should wait for the 06's or just get another 05. I'm half heartedly looking at the Ridgeline. The gas milage advantage and lower cost is an incentive. I know any of the RX300 sized vehicles (I'd include the Ridgeline in that group) would not have faired as well in my accident but the logical side of me says that you don't base this purchase on the safety factor alone. The bottom line is that I really liked my Titan and I'm not a Nissan or real truck guy. This was my first full sized truck.

Thank you everybody for your kind words and offers of prayer, they mean so much more than most would imagine.

Cal & family

[Cal]

Originally Posted by DeTitan

Can you shed more light on the side air bag issue.
Would you say that the presence and deployment of the side airbags would have lessened the injuries that all of you sustained?

May want to include the new ML into your consideration set if the truck aspect is not all that important.

All of this was from my observations and conversations with the Highway Patrol

Titan traveling at 55 mph on a slighly curving downgrade 2004 Pontiac GP traveling at 65 mph. Neither vehicle braked before the collision and my Titan was the only one that showed any avoidance attempts (sideways skids just before impact) The impact stopped my Titan dead in its tracks. Both front air bags deployed but due to my accessory configuration there were NO SIDE AIRBAGS to deploy. I didn't know this at all. I mistakenly thought all Titans came with the side and roof air bag/curtains. Titans also had an option for a roof airbag of some type but again not with my combination. Hard to say if my realatively minor injuries would have been lessend with more airbags of any type. We (the wif and myself) did not have any airbag burns. They must be really big when they come out because they (air bags) looked really tiny immediately after the crash.

The combo of front airbags, shoulder seat belts, side door impact beams, and extremely good crash impact design (crumpling to absorb, engine moved to the left instead of into the cab, etc.) saved our lives. I can't say this strongly enough. Lucky all of this is in cyberspace because I'd probably slap the hell out of the next "brake shudder" or gas mileage winner. Just seems so small in the place of things. I really don't think this accident in a Tundra would have turned out the same way. Even if they don't have the infamous Titan "brake problem". I wonder it the Tundra forums have folks saying their truck saved their lives. Sorry for the rant... just seems like badly misplaced priorities.

The impact caused us to go off the road and slide on a pretty strong inclide. 32 foot furrows and we didn't roll! Truly an act of God!! The other car caught fire but again thank God we didn't. I was trapped for at least a half hour. And the Franktown Fire Dept,EMT teams and CO State troopers did an amazing job, holding my head up while they cut me out, getting me up an embankment. So smooth, it was obvious they were well trained and very good. I'm going to drop a little surprise by the firehouse this summer. I know most (especially myself before now) take them COMPLETELY for granted. This is one old boy that is going to follow up, not sure what, but we'll think of something.

Cal

[PHOEBISIS]

Cal,I sorta like the Ridgeline,but you won't improve your city mpg by getting one.I have a Pilot-same awd,and same 3.5 v-6 as Ridgeline.It is about 4450 lbs.I
get the same 12-14 mpg in pure city driving as my XE KC 2WD with the 2.94 rear end.It is rated at 17-22 vs the Ridgelines 16-21.Most folks on the Pilot forum get the same-kinda disappointing city mpg.Now on the highway,the Pilot delivers a true 22-22.5 mpg if you stay at 65-68 mph.The Titan will give about 19.5 so you can expect the Ridgeline to get you 3 mpg more than a Titan in hy driving.
If a lot of your driving is 20-30 mile trips on a rural hy,then the Ridgeline will give you a decent improvement over the Titan.If you do a lot of city driving,you will get about the same.If you get a 4x4 Titan,expect a little advantage for the Ridgeline.I would bet the Ridgeline will perform very,very well in all crash tests(they all come with side and side curtain airbags,and weigh about 5000lbs-Titan weight)Charlie