[wheeling]

I was rear ended last Friday by a crazy woman in a Volvo. My rear bumper was broken and deformed. and the Volvo's bumper did as designed, I could hardly notice the damage. It happened as a traffic light just turned green, the car in front of me didn't move yet and the woman behind me already started to accelerate. Her speed should be less than 5 mph and I'm stationary. At such speed, this kind of damage is not acceptable.

When I read the Murano collision testing data, I just thought it was not very good at low speed, now I realized how bad it is. The bumper is plastic and very soft. Our Murano has no defense. The price to replace the bumper? $800.00. Although her insurance is paying, I'm stuck with a Dodge for a few days.

 

[murano123]

Wheeling,

Sorry to hear about the accident. I was in a situation like this when I accelarated when the lady ahead was not moving at all after the green. I just hit her ford explorer on the tow hitch and there was absolutely no damage to the explorer. My accord got a minor dent though.

I sometimes feel tow hitches (not those hidden ones) but the protruding ones) may provide better protection to the rear than the bumper itself in minor rear end accidents.

I am not sure installing one on the Murano would help. But I am planning to install guards on both the front and the rear.

 

[Doombringer]

Yes, unfortunately, to the dismay of many MO owners.. recent crash tests show that the MO performs poorly in 5-mph crashes.

The danger comes not in safety but in actual damage. As you can see, the bumper is not sufficient enough to provide ample protection for the vehicle. It dents, and costs a lot to replace.

 

[rtking]

It's true, Wheeling... Murano's take damage...

Trust me... after two major incidents, I know. (None were my fault, though!)

I added a tow-hitch to my Murano because the rear-end accident pushed me into an Acura MDX with a tow hitch. The Acura still had $5000 in damage, but it would have been much worse without the tow hitch. That convinced me to add a tow hitch to my Murano. I'm certain that if I had the tow hitch, I would have suffered less damage.

I can also tell you that the Murano WILL deform in an accident. It does exactly as it was designed to do. In my T-Boning accident, the Murano deformed and the rear suspension shattered with the resulting damage topping $23,000. But the passenger compartment didn't have any intrusion, the side-curtain airbags deployed as designed and I walked away from a very serious accident without a scratch. (I did have sore muscles though.)

After that incident, I've already decided that I WILL get another Murano. Sure... minor accidents may cause it some damage, but it's major accident performance is very impressive and I felt very safe it in. I definitely want another one!

Bob K.

 

[GMTURBO43]

Bring back the chrome bumpers.

 

[hfelknor]

Do Y'all know what stucco is?

My buddy picked up his 2003 Maxima about the same time I got my Murano.

He parked it in the driveway when he brought it home from the dealer.
Later his wife came home in her car and asked him if he wanted her to pull his car into the garage. He said OK. She had pulled his older Max in many times.
She missed.
Says that she was going VERY slowly.
Did $900 worth of damage to the MAX. All bumper and skin.

There is NO mark on the Stucco!
Guess she was going VERY slowly.

My bud is not a happy camper.
And what really ticked him off.................
When he got it back from the body shop he called me and asked if I would look at the workmanship and give an opinion.
All around the headlights where the bumper skin is, the skin seems to end there. And the edge is not clean. It is all rough. I told him that to me it was not acceptable.
So he called the dealer and set up a time to take it back.
They called him the next day and told him "They are all like that".
Riiiggghhhhhttttt.
Well we went down to the dealer.
And you know what?
They ARE all like that!
Every Maxima on the lot had rough edges around the headlight nacelle.

I don't know what Ed is going to do.
He is just sick.


Apparently the new management has found a way to save a few bucks.
But one would think a BUMPER would be able to survive a BUMP.
Some of these things are happening at well less than 5 MPH.
Disgraceful.


Hope they get your MO back to you quickly!

Even I am thinking of putting something back there, even tho I think it destroys the looks of the vehicle. There is no more "sculpture in motion" once you start putting black pipe on the car, IMO.

Homer

 

[Eric L.]

It seems that all the new cars have terrible bumpers. Back in the 90's, the 95-96 Maxima had terrible bumper ratings. Then in 97 the Maxima got a reskin and Nissan beefed up the bumpers. The result: a score that rose from "poor" to "good" in the government bumper tests. Nissan can build a good bumper, they just don't have much incentive to do so, since they probably did some research and figured out that not too many people buy a car based on how well its bumpers perform.

 

[Snowride]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the Murano in the same class as a truck? If so, then they are not obligated to put on 5 mph bumpers and therefor suffer more damage than any car would in a slow fender bender. All car are regulated to include 5mph bumpers and therefor the manufacturer has no chioce. With the vast number of high $ SUV's around, I think it's time to update the regs.

 

[Snopes]

The issue in these 5mph tests is money, and that's all. How bad the damage looks isn't really relevant if there is no functional structural damage. I hate that the 'bumpers' are so flimsy, but, in the world of body work $800 isn't that bad at all. A replacement rear door skin + labor for my '96 Maxima SE was $1100. An aftermarket headlight and turnlight assembly for my '90 Pathfinder assembly was at around $400. Many of the high end/lux _cars_ I've seen tested racked up thousands in damages in 5mph tests even though they didn't look all that bad. A tow hitch is a nice idea, but what structures does it attach to, and therefore transfer energey to when hit? Important consideration.

George

 

[rtking]

Tow hitch attaches to the rear frame member

I had the Hidden Hitch and it was a pretty beefy unit. It's true that it'll transfer energy into the frame... but hitting the car square on the bumper will do the same.

The main reason (at least for me) for getting the hitch was to prevent other cars from "submarining" under the car and tearing-up the muffler and potentially the rear suspension. I prefer to stop a rear-end collision by having the frame do its job rather than risk a car going under me and potentially rolling me.

Bob K.

 

[SugarRushMurano]

maybe i watch too much of startrelk...(M) but..

a force field mod is what our defenseless murano need. Now i wish i know where to get this....Cheers, happy holidays ppl

 

[wheeling]

Rear Ended Again!

Guess What? I was rear ended again. This time not for my MO, which is still in the body shop waiting for a new bumper. I was driving a rented Dodge Durango on a stop and go highway traffic, and a guy in a Honda Civic rear ended at about 15 mph. The Durango sustained minimal damage, much smaller than the MO. Actually, only the paint was scratched, no deformation of the bumper or anything. On the other hand, the front of the Civic is destroyed. Looks like the Dodge is a lot stronger than th MO. Its bumper really works. Even though the Civic is not Volvo, and a lot lower. I think the MO needs some defense.

However, I still love my MO!

 

[Gecko2k2]

How the hell do you keep getting rear ended? By the way, was it a 2004 Durango or one of the old ones?

 

[hc307]

Interesting thread.

My MO SE was rear ended by a 92 Honda Prelude last August. I had stopped because the car in front of me was waiting to make a left. I took my foot of the gas to tighten the gap between my car and the car in front of me. The Prelude was behind me and thought traffic had clear and accelerated into me. The Prelude hit me going about maybe 5 mph.

I got out expecting the worst but to my surprise there were only scratches on the bumper (the dark silver part). The shape of the bumper was unchanged. From 20 feet away, you couldn't really even tell I had had an accident. The Prelude had it's bumper AND hood completely deformed and was leaking radiator fluid. (He had his car towed because he wasn't sure it was drivable.)

I later had it fixed for $343 (covered by the other guy's insurance).

Fortunately (if that's the right word) for me, it seem the the 92 prelude bumper is even more poorly designed than the murano's!

 

[Sgt_Beavis]

Dam Wheeling, you're doing your best to get that whiplash lawsuit ain't ya

I was thinking about putting the brush guards on my MO but they look horrible. Knock on wood that I've never been in an accident. Now if I can just keep from getting speeding tickets

 

[----------j----]

Yea that Durango might have a tougher bumper. But is weigh's more than the M-O. I have driven the Durango. I have three friends that own Durango's. That's why I own a M-O. If someone hit's me and my bumper falls off then I'll get a new one. Im sure you do not want to get rear-ended by a Pathfinder Armada.

 

[wheeling]

I took my MO back, they did a excellent job. The total cost is $1220, for a less than 5mph accident. Maybe the Volvo is indeed the safest car.

As for the rental, the company took it back and going to contact the other guy's insurance. Don't know whether they will also report to my insurance co. or not.