Lousy Camry bumpers
in [Toyota Camry]
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From: mdwoman on 23 Nov 2007 18:50 Here are some minutes from a recent NBC Today program. This has happened to me and I' m floored and Very Disappointed to learn that the bumper of my 2003 Camry LE 4 Door is made of Very Thin Plastic and caved in when someone rear ended my when my car was parked in a parking garage and drove away w/ out leaving any note.... The part cost is $245.25 at Toyota. Labor and painting will increase the drive away costs substantially... Does anyone have any alternative to recommend to defray these costs? Hasn't someone come up with a Rubber Bumper that will simply bounce back and not leave a $1,000 bill for the car owner?? Can someone recommend an Auto Body Shop in the Wash, DC Metro area that has reasonable rates? Any suggestions are appreciated. Has anyone ever bought an aftermarket part for their Camry and has a good story to share? Thanks. Car bumpers not protecting cars; repair costs soar MATT LAUER, co-host: Has this happened to you? You bump into another car in the parking lot or you're stopped at an intersection and someone bumps into you, and the next thing you know that little fender bender is costing you thousands of dollars. Well, you're hardly alone. Bumpers today apparently aren't doing a very good job of protecting your car or your savings account. NBC's Tom Costello's in an auto body shop in Bethesda, Maryland, this morning with more on this story. TOM COSTELLO reporting: Matt, good morning to you. This is the problem. A lot of these bumpers simply don't have a lot to them. Let me give you some examples very quickly. This Honda Accord here, this is $2600 in damage. This Volkswagen Beetle right here, $1600 in damage. And while this Lexus looks like it absorbed the crunch pretty well, underneath the hood, $6,000 in damage. The Insurance Institute has tested 17 different models. Only two of the bumpers actually absorbed a bump. Go to just about any auto body shop and just about everybody is looking for a bumper. Mr. ALEX SPECTOR (Professional Auto Body): Well, every car we fix almost has at least one bumper that needs to be repaired. COSTELLO: All those bumper repairs cost $6 billion each year. Mr. ADRIAN LUND (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety): Bumpers are supposed to bump and absorb the damage in everyday crashes. What we see is that they don't do that. COSTELLO: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's new front bumper crash tests were all run at just six miles per hour, parking lot speeds. But the Toyota Camry and the Saturn Aura both suffered about $1,000 damage, and they were among the best performers. The Nissan Maxima's hood crunched on impact. Repair cost, $4500. The Pontiac G6 slid underneath the bumper, nearly $4600 in damage, while the VW Passat's damage underneath its own hood, also $4600. TEXT: Nissan Maxima $4535 Pontiac G6 $4588 VW Passat $4594 COSTELLO: When rear and corner bumper crashes were added, those same cars had 8 to $9,000 in damage for a bumper. Call it parts and labor. Mr. SPECTOR: When we take a bumper off and start looking at a vehicle, it's always almost like layers of an onion as we peel it back trying to find how the damage traveled through the vehicle. COSTELLO: The trouble is, these days, bumpers are often nothing more than a piece of hollow plastic. Mr. LUND: You see that most of the space underneath the bumper is just air. There's a small bumper bar that doesn't even extend to the corner to protect the head lamps. COSTELLO: It wasn't always this way. To prove it the institute also tested a 1981 Ford Escort. Front impact damage, just $86. Twenty-six years later bumpers just aren't what they used to be. Mr. LUND: Thousands of dollars in damage at just a fast walking speed. COSTELLO: The institute is calling on automakers to improve their bumpers, raise them up a little bit. Toyota, Nissan, GM and Volkswagen all say, `Listen, this is not about safety.' Their bumpers do conform to safety standards, but they are assessing the results. Matt, back to you. LAUER: It just sounds ridiculous, Tom.
From: "mjc13 REMOVETHIS>" "mjc13 on 24 Nov 2007 04:30 mdwoman wrote: > Here are some minutes from a recent NBC Today program. This has > happened to me and I' m floored and Very Disappointed to learn that > the bumper of my 2003 Camry LE 4 Door is made of Very Thin Plastic and > caved in when someone rear ended my when my car was parked in a > parking garage and drove away w/ out leaving any note.... The part > cost is $245.25 at Toyota. > Labor and painting will increase the drive away costs substantially... > Does anyone have any alternative to recommend to defray these costs? > Hasn't someone come up with a Rubber Bumper that will simply bounce > back and not leave a $1,000 bill for the car owner?? > Can someone recommend an Auto Body Shop in the Wash, DC Metro area > that has reasonable rates? > Any suggestions are appreciated. > Has anyone ever bought an aftermarket part for their Camry and has a > good story to share? > Thanks. > (...) Back in the days of the 5MPH impact standard, some cars had very good bumper designs. My 1986 Honda Civic Si (which shared the bumper design with its carbureted siblings) had 5mph bumpers that consisted of a rubber bumper cover (called the "bumper", which resulted in people with destroyed bumpers only getting reimbursed for the cover, not the whole assembly), a steel plate, and little spring steel mounts that attached the plate to solid mounting points. This simple combination really did absorb 5mph impacts with no damage. When I finally got rear-ended at about 15mph, I only had to replace the spring steel mount on one side, and touch up the paint on the bumper. Anyone who tells you those old bumper standards were bad or didn't work is mistaken... BTW, if your "bumper" is dented but not broken it can probably be popped out without replacement.
From: johngdole on 25 Nov 2007 21:57 It keeps cost and weight down for the manufacturer when every pound counts. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety considers that bumpers are still poorly designed. I guess the 1981 Ford Escort is the best performer with the $86 repair bill ;) compared to Camry's $936, Altima's $945, and Accord's $3469 (!!) in full frontal crashes: http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr030107.html On Nov 23, 3:50 pm, mdwoman <mdwoma...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Here are some minutes from a recent NBC Today program. This has > happened to me and I' m floored and Very Disappointed to learn that > the bumper of my 2003 Camry LE 4 Door is made of Very Thin Plastic and > caved in when someone rear ended my when my car was parked in a > parking garage and drove away w/ out leaving any note.... The part > cost is $245.25 at Toyota. > Labor and painting will increase the drive away costs substantially... > Does anyone have any alternative to recommend to defray these costs? > Hasn't someone come up with a Rubber Bumper that will simply bounce > back and not leave a $1,000 bill for the car owner?? > Can someone recommend an Auto Body Shop in the Wash, DC Metro area > that has reasonable rates? > Any suggestions are appreciated. > Has anyone ever bought an aftermarket part for their Camry and has a > good story to share? > Thanks. > > Car bumpers not protecting cars; repair costs soar > > MATT LAUER, co-host: > > Has this happened to you? You bump into another car in the parking lot > or you're stopped at an intersection and someone bumps into you, and > the next thing you know that little fender bender is costing you > thousands of dollars. Well, you're hardly alone. Bumpers today > apparently aren't doing a very good job of protecting your car or your > savings account. NBC's Tom Costello's in an auto body shop in > Bethesda, Maryland, this morning with more on this story. > > TOM COSTELLO reporting: > > Matt, good morning to you. This is the problem. A lot of these bumpers > simply don't have a lot to them. Let me give you some examples very > quickly. This Honda Accord here, this is $2600 in damage. This > Volkswagen Beetle right here, $1600 in damage. And while this Lexus > looks like it absorbed the crunch pretty well, underneath the hood, > $6,000 in damage. The Insurance Institute has tested 17 different > models. Only two of the bumpers actually absorbed a bump. > > Go to just about any auto body shop and just about everybody is > looking for a bumper. > > Mr. ALEX SPECTOR (Professional Auto Body): Well, every car we fix > almost has at least one bumper that needs to be repaired. > > COSTELLO: All those bumper repairs cost $6 billion each year. > > Mr. ADRIAN LUND (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety): Bumpers are > supposed to bump and absorb the damage in everyday crashes. What we > see is that they don't do that. > > COSTELLO: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's new front > bumper crash tests were all run at just six miles per hour, parking > lot speeds. But the Toyota Camry and the Saturn Aura both suffered > about $1,000 damage, and they were among the best performers. The > Nissan Maxima's hood crunched on impact. Repair cost, $4500. The > Pontiac G6 slid underneath the bumper, nearly $4600 in damage, while > the VW Passat's damage underneath its own hood, also $4600. > > TEXT: > > Nissan Maxima $4535 > > Pontiac G6 $4588 > > VW Passat $4594 > > COSTELLO: When rear and corner bumper crashes were added, those same > cars had 8 to $9,000 in damage for a bumper. Call it parts and labor. > > Mr. SPECTOR: When we take a bumper off and start looking at a vehicle, > it's always almost like layers of an onion as we peel it back trying > to find how the damage traveled through the vehicle. > > COSTELLO: The trouble is, these days, bumpers are often nothing more > than a piece of hollow plastic. > > Mr. LUND: You see that most of the space underneath the bumper is just > air. There's a small bumper bar that doesn't even extend to the corner > to protect the head lamps. > > COSTELLO: It wasn't always this way. To prove it the institute also > tested a 1981 Ford Escort. Front impact damage, just $86. Twenty-six > years later bumpers just aren't what they used to be. > > Mr. LUND: Thousands of dollars in damage at just a fast walking speed. > > COSTELLO: The institute is calling on automakers to improve their > bumpers, raise them up a little bit. Toyota, Nissan, GM and Volkswagen > all say, `Listen, this is not about safety.' Their bumpers do conform > to safety standards, but they are assessing the results. Matt, back to > you. > > LAUER: It just sounds ridiculous, Tom.
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