My Trailblazer saved my family this week
Anyone living in VA knows what happened with icy weather and traffic this past week. On my way to my parents' in MD from my home in NC, we were one of the many victims of VDOT's lack of preparedness combined with Mother Nature's quirkiness.
We had no indication that the temps were below freezing, and my husband was traveling a safe speed. Let me get that out - first and foremost. We had seen NO accidents thus far in our trip, no emergency response vehicles or police, to indicate there were any other wrecks occurring, etc. As we came onto an overpass bridge, my TB began to fishtail and slide on the frozen up surface. As with all frightening accidents, I don't remember much except the beginning of the slide and the first silent moments after we came to a stop, but here are the facts as I know them:
We slid uncontrollably...no steering skills or vehicle equipment could have stopped this, trust me. At some point we flipped over, landed and skidded on the driver's side, and ended up back on all 4 wheels - but we did not rollover. We came to rest facing the guardrail...and we must have snagged it at some point during the side-skid because it was wrecked as well. Airbags never deployed, though...which is the only head-scratcher for me. Onstar responded and said a rollover was detected.
My husband and I were in the front seats, and my 8 year old daughters (not a typo...I have twins) were in the 3rd row seats. Everyone was seat belted, OF COURSE. We all - by the grace of God and Chevrolet - walked out of that truck with only minor bumps and scratches. The daughter that was on the driver's side sustained an ugly scratch on her neck where her seatbelt grabbed her and prevented her from hitting her head on the window and the pavement below when we were skidding along on the side of the truck.
While all SUV's are susceptible to rollovers...this was a combination of weather and un-salted roads and any car crossing that bridge would have faced nearly the same fate. I'm grateful for the way my TB protected me family during this accident...it could have been a tragedy SO EASILY.
Here's what the driver's side looks like: This is a cell phone pic and doesn't really do the damage true justice:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i72/sayecheese_2006/02-13-08_1253.jpg
Anyway...just wanted to share this with fellow TB owners. I'm all set to go out and buy another one, as soon as I get the verdict of 'totaled' from my insurance co. I have no reservations about the safety of Chevy products after this!
Thanks for reading...Amy
We had no indication that the temps were below freezing, and my husband was traveling a safe speed. Let me get that out - first and foremost. We had seen NO accidents thus far in our trip, no emergency response vehicles or police, to indicate there were any other wrecks occurring, etc. As we came onto an overpass bridge, my TB began to fishtail and slide on the frozen up surface. As with all frightening accidents, I don't remember much except the beginning of the slide and the first silent moments after we came to a stop, but here are the facts as I know them:
We slid uncontrollably...no steering skills or vehicle equipment could have stopped this, trust me. At some point we flipped over, landed and skidded on the driver's side, and ended up back on all 4 wheels - but we did not rollover. We came to rest facing the guardrail...and we must have snagged it at some point during the side-skid because it was wrecked as well. Airbags never deployed, though...which is the only head-scratcher for me. Onstar responded and said a rollover was detected.
My husband and I were in the front seats, and my 8 year old daughters (not a typo...I have twins) were in the 3rd row seats. Everyone was seat belted, OF COURSE. We all - by the grace of God and Chevrolet - walked out of that truck with only minor bumps and scratches. The daughter that was on the driver's side sustained an ugly scratch on her neck where her seatbelt grabbed her and prevented her from hitting her head on the window and the pavement below when we were skidding along on the side of the truck.
While all SUV's are susceptible to rollovers...this was a combination of weather and un-salted roads and any car crossing that bridge would have faced nearly the same fate. I'm grateful for the way my TB protected me family during this accident...it could have been a tragedy SO EASILY.
Here's what the driver's side looks like: This is a cell phone pic and doesn't really do the damage true justice:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i72/sayecheese_2006/02-13-08_1253.jpg
Anyway...just wanted to share this with fellow TB owners. I'm all set to go out and buy another one, as soon as I get the verdict of 'totaled' from my insurance co. I have no reservations about the safety of Chevy products after this!
Thanks for reading...Amy
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Comments
We once spun out bad on the interstate in wet conditions, doing several 180 degree and then a full 360 degree spin. I was surprised how stable our 02 TB was under these conditions.