My close call today
Thanking my lucky stars right now.I was riding in a convertible earlier this afternoon that had a fibreglass hood held down with hood pins. The hood was a heavier weight fibreglass one, probably weighed about 25 lbs or so.
Anyway, I'm riding passenger seat - we've done a few third and fourth gear pulls. Then as we're heading back, driving in second gear, I see the hood suddenly flip up. Then everything after that is a blur. I think I may have even blacked out for a quick moment. Once I come to, I have windshield glass in my mouth, shards of glass flying into my eyes, and then I'm seeing stars when the hood clobbers me in the head as it flies over our car onto the road behind us.
So the car comes to a stop. I sit there dazed and confused blinking glass out of my eyes. There's glass everywhere. The windshield has collapsed but it's NOT safety glass. WTF? There's slivers and jagged shards of glass everywhere. It's all over my face and arms and legs. Some of it made it into my sandals so that when I stumble out of the car and walk around, blood is oozing out onto the ground.
Now I'm still shaken up (probably in shock still). I end up driving to the Foothills ER with my head still spinning, hoping that I won't pass out on the way there. I stopped by my gf's on the way - had plans for the afternoon that just went out the window. She ends up waiting with me in the ER for about 4 hours. When I get there, the adrenaline stops flowing and I'm finally starting to feel pain.
Lucky for me it wasn't too busy at the hosptial, yet it still took 4 hours for staff and equipment to become available. In the end, all that was done was a couple of X-Rays of my eyes (apparently windshield glass contains lead which can be seen on X-Rays), and a dye test to test for scratching of my cornea. Tests were good (somehow) and I was released. I didn't end up getting an X-Ray for my head, and didn't want to ask for one at the risk of waiting another 4 hours. My eyes are sore as hell right now and my head is still throbbing. I just pray that I don't have a bad concussion and that I actually wake up tomorrow morning.
So, if you guys are still reading, what ended up failing was the hood pin. It wasn't used properly. Anyway, the moral is: Think long and hard before installing any sort of aftermarket hood. Always use both the hood pins and latch together and make sure they're secure before you start driving. Even with both of those I will still think twice about riding in a car with an aftermarket hood.
I don't think I'll ever buy a convertible. Ever.
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Originally Posted by heavyfuel
