K.G

Today is X-mas but it is the most sad day for me
I was driving my Z to home with my girl friend
it was not rainning but the road was still little wet
when I was shifting with VDC off
the car lost its control and it drifted
then I hit the street light pole
I know it's definitely my fault that I turned the VDC off
on the bad road condition
both driver and passenger's side airbag and curtain airbag came out
and me and my gf came out of the car with no injury
police came and my Z was towed
the police said that I was racing because the air bag
came out
here is the question
what is the minimum speed for the air bag to be worked out?
then finally he gave me a ticket that says
speeding relative to road condition???
the passenger side of My Z was crushed and
rear left wheel was almost out of fender because the car
bumped the sidewalk
nobody was injured but I am very very sad
I couldn't sleep last night
it is the baddest christmas present that I have never got
drive safe and I really hope this will not happen to all Z owners especially in this site

mofoz

iTrader: (1)

sorry to hear that man, glad to see your both ok. some cops can be such jerks. you already had an accident, and he needs to give you a ticket on christmas. you think you could catch a break. i know this saying is old, but its a good one. Cars can be replaced, but you and your gf cannot. be thankful for that.

tanakaZ

Sorry to hear your pain.
From what I've read, the airbags are supposed to deploy at 30 mph. I don't know if this is accurate since I read it here on this site.

I've learned my lesson with VDC and wet roads. I did the same while turning left. I know I wasn't speeding cause I was following two huge school busses. Luckily the VDC kicked in and regained control before it was too late. The stock tires REALLY suck in the winter.

daking350

Right the COP is the jerk for doing his job when this guy obviously had NO regard for his girlfriend's safety or others around him...There is only one reason to shut the VDC off and that is to drive like an *******...So you guys flame a cop for this kid getting a ticket for something that he did and a situation that he created on his own accord...And he must have been driving like a jerk cause it is pretty hard to break this car loose driving normal.I have lost it a few times in the rain cause I was driving like a jerk too with the VDC off...

k2we

I just don't know.. The car comes with all kinds of great features to help prevent this type of accident.. But.. you chose to turn them off.. I don't want to sound mean but I hope you learned your lesson.. You got away lucky as you were able to walk away from the accident.. You might not be so lucky next time.. I NEVER turn my VDC off.. It's not that important to go that little bit faster and then lose it.. I guess after 35+ years of driving sports cars, I've become a little more careful.. As for the ticket, you can plead not guilty and fight it in court.. I suggest you hire a lawyer.

Steve (k2we) Dobbs Ferry, NY 16,191 miles since Sept 17,2002

dchengmd

Sorry to say it, but I agree with k2we and daking above. If you choose to turn off a safety feature of your car and end up stacking it, you kinda deserve what you get. Also, even with VDC off, I'm pretty sure your driving style had a little something to do with the accident you got into. There have been enough stories on this board describing the same thing you described. Just be thankful nobody was hurt.

nwind21

yeah sorry about your car. I hope you can get that ticket cleared though... you already got punished enough IMO.

sounds like you shifted while doing a left curve or something. the sudden transfer of torque in the shift will cause your car to break free and this is especially the case of RWD.

always keep VDC/TCS on. when I track my Z... I never turn it off. It's what might save you from plowing into a wall or going agricultural.

remember it's not the wet conditions... and it's not the car... it's the driver that makes the mistake.

fatZo

sorry to hear your story. Hope you learned your lesson.

I was in a rural area this morning and witnessed a truck going off the road and ending up in a ditch. Not a good x-mas present! Make sure you use the safety features the car came with, they are meant to save your passenger and your life.

Fight that speeding ticket! Chances are the cop may not show up, in which case the charge against you will be dropped. You may also try to negotiate with the prosecutor for a lesser offence.

Check out this link for some pointers on how to fight your ticket.

Hasemi fan

And here I thought my X-mas sucked.

cincyspider

Anytime you have an accident with no other vehicles involved, you were, by default, going too fast for the road conditions.

Inova

damn man! my friend wrecked his 99 m coupe last night too.... that totally sucked cuz i was in the car when it happened. eh, **** happens...

K.G

I also think this was a good lesson for me and I really thankful that no body got injured
and I am going to dispute my ticket for sure
the road speed limit was 60kph and this happened
when I was shifting 1st to 2nd
it did not even exceed the speed limit
but I am still little confused what ticket means
speeding relative to road condition
thanks for your concerns and merry christmas

___DJK___

iTrader: (2)

I always here these "I fked up my Z" stories that begin with "I turned off VDC...". Im sorry but I have no sympathy for you especially considering the conditions of the roads you were driving on. Im glad no one was injured. Good luck with your court procedings.

ZBaby

isn't that hard to understand... driving too fast for road conditions means if it's raining, foggy, snowing, windy.. what ever.. if you can't stay on the road even if you are under the posted speed limit, you are at fault. The posted limited means in ideal conditions; you are obligated to slow down as necessary under any adverse conditions, including wet roads. IMO that is a hard ticket for you to beat... it was wet, you were accelerating to hard, you ran off the road, which is tough to argue when you get to court. Sometimes we all screw up, sometimes we get away with it, sometimes we get caught one way or another.

zurn

Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first, and the lesson afterward.

Seems a little harsh, doesn’t it. The guy smashes his car and gets a ticket. Gf’s not going to let him forget that for a while. Points on the license. Higher insurance. Pretty sucky Christmas if you ask me.

Ok, he shouldn’t have had the VDC off, but would it have made that much of a difference? Low speed, going around a corner and shifting from 1st to 2nd? Maybe. Maybe not. Sounds to me like the road may have been lightly iced, in which case any momentum at all would have sent the rear end swinging.

No VDC and maybe punching it a little going around a corner didn’t help of course.

Cop was just doing his job. Can’t put “bad luck” down on the accident report.

Seems like I heard of someone else doing this over a month ago just after getting his transmission fixed, before it got cold. Don’t know what happened there either.

And for a lot of people, this is probably their first RWD car, especially one with this much torque. Easy, easy to make a mistake: out with the gf, new car, iffy roads, try to zip it around a corner – and ziinggg…. Aw $hit…

Too bad K.G. Sorry your car got smashed. But no body got hurt. It will cost something in money and pride, but time will take care of that.

We’ve all done dumber things, and had worse luck, if that makes you feel any better.

BKAuto1

I'm sorry but it offends me that you assume because he had VDC off he was driving like an ***. I do not drive a Z but I've driven cars that were more of a handfull. I will not use computer aids with any of them. Ever. I would rather be the person driving, not the car...

westpak

iTrader: (19)

People, if you insist on taking the car out of its/your comfort zone please attend some track events and learn how to drive the car and learn its and your limits, you cannot make abrupt changes which apply sudden torque while shifting weight, when you shift specially from first you send the weight to the front and then if you smash the accelerator you are applying max torque and do not have the traction to handle it.

I do not have VDC so I can't turn it off, this stories are getting old. Glad the gf is OK, cars can be repaired or replaced.

zeroday

gotta agree with daking.

i got flamed *like crazy* about 6 months ago when i started a thread saying that too many z's are being wrecked and people need to be more careful for the sake of your health and all our insurance rates. since then i see an average of one wrecked z every week on here. always starts with, "so i was on a back road with vdc off..." i just honestly am out of sympathy. it's usually due to irresponsible behavior. glad no one was hurt but people need to learn how to drive the z properly before driving like mario andretti. i belong to an acura board with a similar number of people on it and these frequent wrecks just don't happen over there with anywhere CLOSE to the frequency as on this board.

anyway, flame me all you want, but this situation is really making me angry.

bk_r0x

Zeroday, to be fair, unless you were on an NSX board Acura's got no RWD cars. They have less accidents because driving aggressively in FWD is less likely to put the car out of the driver's control than it is in RWD. In addition, most people have quite a bit (at least moreso than RWD) of experience driving FWD, so less mistakes are made.

I don't feel sorry for this guy; he had the VDC off in bad weather (why would you have a Z on the roads in late December in Canada, anyways??), and he has obviously not been through the proper training routines regarding racing/aggresively driving fast cars.

jtree007

Good Call Westpark... one the only comements that actually is worth reading....

K.G Sorry to hear about the accident... and having it on Christmas is just a second shot in the heart I am sure. remember what happened and learn from it that is the best outcome that can come from any accident or close call. ignore the personal attacks... I am not saying that you don't deserve them but then again we don't know if you absolutely do. That is a judgment call for thoes that know you better to make.

For everyone that said that it is hard to lose control of the car with VDC on or when driving normaly..... This is not always the case, the tires lose alot of the ability to grip the road the colder the road gets and as the RE040's wear the compund gets worse and worse and the cold just compunds that....

VDC is not something there to save you... It is mearly to help correct small problems... Thoes that preach about its absolute affectiveness probably have not even driven the car hard enough to the point that all it lost if the car is pushed any harder. VDC is there to correct small problems mostly in panic situations....


With all that said...

Everyone in Cold climates be very careful on the stock tires....
Everyone with well used stock tires be very careful... and
Everyone that lives in cold climates and is on well used stock tires be extreamly careful.

Again, K.G Sorry to hear about the car... Be happy that all walked away and no one was seriously hurt. I hope that all goes well with the ticket, that you get your car fixed without any problems.. and that you learn from the accident and also go to a few performance driving schools so you can prevent this from happening again and know how to save the car when you lose control when possible