Got rearended, day after christmas. It was a earlier model dodge neon. 16 year old women driver. I was sitting at a stoplight for about 30secs, and then she came flying up at about 25-30, not sure if she got a hold of her brakes before she hit me. I can attest that all dodges are not bulletproof. But you put a 6inch aluminum drop hitch and you got one heck of a fighting chance. She ended up going underneath my hitch and stopped the ball midway back on the hood. Pushed her motor out onto the ground, and airbags deployed on her pile. Best part was, Sticking it in 4 wheel drive and driving off her hood, haha. I feel bad for the girl, but she was definatly texting on her cell phone.. Best part was she told the cop that i "stopped to quickly". HAHA, witness straigtened (not that it needed to be)that out and she ended up getting a couple of tickets...
I will be taking it to some place to get the frame checked and body looked over, but i dont forsee any damage, as she was pushed more to the ground than hit me going foward. Lucky i guess.
The girls father called me up lastnight and asked if i was alright, and appologized for his daughters actions. (the lying)
I will no longer leave home without my trusty drop hitch

 

Glad no one was hurt, and that's a good story. I've left the imprint of my 2 5/16ths ball on a few bumpers and grills! Gotta love a good hitch.

 

That's the problem, he should have made her call to appologize.

 

Watch for the two or three day later soreness.

Check your hitch for damage, cracking, bent parts
Class 4 hitch draw bar:
Don't leave home without it.

"He stopped too quick"......priceless.......like it's YOUR fault.

 

I was rear ended in my F150 a few years ago...he was trying to run a stop sign i was JUST leaving (read...took my foot off the brake). He ate the BIG weight distributing hitch I leave in the truck ALL THE TIME.

His car...comapny rental, a new impala! Not even plates on it yet! He leaked just about every fluid under the hood! I had ~$2500 in damage: new frame hitch, tail light, some body work/paint, and a new seat track....sent me ALL THE WAY BACK!

Moral of the story....leave the hitches in! I actually paint mine red....no one can ever claim it as illegal!

Glad eveyone's all right!

Merry christmas!

Tony

 

I would like to see her convince a judge that your 8000# truck is capable of stopping faster than her 3000# car given the fact that she wasn't following too closely, speeding, or driving distracted.

Of course you stopped too quickly, If you hadn't stopped, she wouldn't have hit you.

Btw, I leave my hitch in, I figure thats 4" less than they thought they had.

 

I have been to atleast a couple hundred jaws calls/ mva's over the last 3-4- years
that involve people talking or texting on their cell phones, and out of that, the majority were young girls on there phone.

 

I got rear-ended by an early 90's Topaz about a month ago. Pushed his hood up about a foot. I've got a couple little dents on the underside of my bumper. The one side is pushed a bit closer to the fender. No body damage. The repair estimate is $921.00. The body shop is going to check for hitch damage when they remove the bumper. Check your truck over REALLY good before you sign off on the deal.

 

I am very interested now! I don't have a hitch in my receiver usually, sounds like it is a good idea to put one in! How much of a drop I should get, given I run 33" tires? I have a 2" drop hitch but never thought of it as a Neon-stopper...
Thanks!
-P

 

I take my solid 6" drop to 1-5/16" ball hitch out in the winter after I put the boat away. I am afraid it will get stuck inside the receiver after the winter.

Maybe I should put back in!!

 

She got all checked and is out with a clean bill of health. took it to a friend of a friends shop. There were two small little dings in the bottm of the 6 inch aluminum drop hitch, and a bunch of blue paint...hmmm, wonder where that came from. He took off the hitch and checked it for any tweaking, and used some big machine to check the frame or alignment?? Sounds like no harm was done to me.
PaulDaisy - I am running a 6inch drop with 37's and a 6inch lift, probably gone to buy a "forgot the name" adjustable from 5" to 10" as i tow several different types of trailers. mostly utility. i would say 4?

 

In the wonderful town of quincy Il theyve put an ordinance in affect to where trucks with hitch inserts in them and no trailer are supposed to get ticketed..was on the news! they say it was causing 2 much damage to cars that accidently bumped into the rear of pickups! ***???? i leave mine in and thats why, to keep there neon out of my $700 worth of exhaust, if they hit someone,thats there problems, how can they ticket us for leaving our hitches in. just thought it was kinda ignorrant.

 

my rear bumper is a piece of 18.75# c-channel. wall thickness is a hair over 1/2 inch i believe. 32inches of weld holding the reciever into the middle. then 32 inches of weld holding it to the 4x4x3/16 angle. held to the frame by 10 1/2inch grade 8 bolts. there is an 8 inch drop reciever that stays in all the time... i don't want to see the car that decides to hit it.

 

Why do you have bumper? to protect your vehicle in the event you bump something. Why do we leave our hitch in, to protect our vehicle from a bigger bump. That ordinance is crap, i would be writing some goverment officals till something got changed..or in spite, i might just weld the hitch in. "Im sorry officer, it is non removable".
That seems kind of dumb the would do that. the cars are usually worth less. take my case for instance with no hitch. How much damage would there have been? she would have still totalled her car + the cost of damage to my truck. Doesnt seem like it adds up to me. It's not like we are driving around with a 20ft stick of round stock in the bed, using it as a joust!

 

That sounds like a cool ideal to me.