Compliment deserved...

Compliment deserved... Photos Added

2013 Passat TDI SE...

Last night my younger son was heading home on a rural road. Conditions were not the best. Patchy fog, wet roads, and dark. In any case a fair size tree dropped immediately in front of him.

Front crumple zones performed as engineered. One fender pushed back to the right door and the entire front of the car pushed back to the engine. Air bag deployed.

My son walked away with no injuries other than minor burns from the air bag. The car as far as I can tell will be totaled. I did a quick appraisal of just the obvious damage and came up with over $15k.

So kudos! Passat has its faults but the car did exactly as designed and my son walked away unhurt. Thank you VW!

Glad your son is OK; cars can be replaced but kids can't

Glad your son is OK. Airbags ~ totaled. It will be interesting what value the insurance adjuster comes up with.

Mother earth, sacrificing a tree, doing her part to get a dirty TDI off to road. (sorry to bring dieselgate into this thread).

The safety of the Passat was a selling point for me. Open both doors on one side, and put your hands around the B-pillar. It is big. Not many cars are built like that.

I, too would be interested to see an update when the insurance company settles....

nord: bad news/good news. Thanks for posting. The trauma for your son must have been huge, glad he's okay.
Sorry about your car. I know how well you care for them.

Glad your son is fine. That is unusual, all the back roads around here I travel on and I've never had a tree drop that close. Had to back up and find alternate routes after the fact but never so close. Glad he's ok. Kudos to VW.

nord---good news/bad news, at least the good news far outweighs the bad.

Guys (friends)... Thank you all for your kind words. So far hassle free. Insurance company will have an appraiser out either late today or Monday. My son was instructed to immediately get a rental car and that they would foot the bill.

I'm curious how the Dieselgate thing will enter into the mix myself. I'll update as things progress.

Update... Photos attached and side airbag deployed.

Additional thought: Glad the much-maligned airbag worked properly.

What a mess...

wow---with (what appears to be) the angle of the impact, it looks like your son may be very lucky he was not traveling in the other direction.

added: good to hear that insurance seems to be treating him well

this is one of the top reasons I bought the NMS as my wife cannot judge distances very well, she totaled her Civic by hitting the back of a stopped box truck as she thought it was moving- so I bought the biggest safest car that gets great MPG.

Nord,

Thank goodness your son walked away!

Glad he's okay Nord. Based on recent experience with my wife, I recommend you tell him to get to a doctor to get checked out. Lots of soft-tissue damage gets worse for several days following a collision, and can be pretty debilitating and last a long time. Even if he feels fine now, he may have a lot of back or shoulder pain in the future - best to get checked out early, as prescription anti-inflammatory drugs and other treatments can actually prevent a lot of damage that occurs after the actual collision. I know young guys bounce back pretty fast, but it's better to err on the side of safety and preventing long-term pain.

Gentlemen,

I can't tell you how much your concern is appreciated. I can't give much of an actual update but I can share the following:

Insurance carrier is Liberty Mutual. LM proactively has contacted Andy and told him that should he have even a suspicion of a medical problem that there is a case open and encouraged that he take advantage. LM has also informed him that he would be compensated for lost time at work.

Adjuster contacted Andy today and asked rather than told. He was under the impression of a plain SE. Things changed when he discovered it was a TDI with some unusual bells and whistles. He asked about airbag deployment and sort of laughed when told that both the steering wheel and side curtain bag went off. We'll see how this translates tomorrow. In my experience airbag deployment is generally the kiss of death.

Liberty has shared that they will possibly seek compensation from the county as they've been doing extensive tree trimming. Amazingly the tree in question and all traces have disappeared. I suppose none of our business as long as things are taken care of.

I'll know more tomorrow I guess. Stay tuned. And once again... Thank you all for your concern.

Very happy no injuries. I am pained when I read of people, mainly young, who die because they are too "cool" to wear their seat belts.

Officially totaled the NMS today. My son is driving a Chrysler 200 and is unimpressed. Best thing about the car is the steering wheel according to him. Initial number being batted around was $16k.

Liberty offered $17.1 for the totaled SE. I told my son to mention the sales tax he'll have to pay on $17k because he has nothing to trade.

They SHOULD include sales tax in their settlement offer for the totaled vehicle. I've never had to ask for sales tax on any of the three totaled cars I've dealt with - it's just standard procedure to add on top of the estimated replacement cost (at least for USAA and PEMCO; perhaps not for Liberty Mutual).

nord,

So sorry to hear of your situation. I'm glad your son wasn't hurt. Cars can be replaced, people cannot.

Roni,

Don't be sorry about the "situation" but know your thoughts are appreciated. My son walked away unhurt, the car surpassed expectations, and the world will continue merrily along. The worst part is that a SE MT offers slim pickings.

nord: Your post (#17) stated the initial number was $16k, now it's $17.1k, right? Was there discussion already about sales tax?

How many miles on your son's car?

I've never had to negotiate a totaled car, so no experience here. Depending on mileage, though, $17.1k sounds very reasonable, for a 3-year-old car, even more so because of the VW TDI issues and the current devaluation of all of our TDIs.

Totally random opinion, w/o doing any research...Good luck!

Number is with sales tax. Car had about 25k miles.