[Malafax_dand]

On my way to work this morning at about 70 MPH, middle of rush hour traffic, the hood (bonnet) suddenly flew up and banged aginst the Windshield. Complete loss of visibility. I was able to bring the vehicle to a complete stop safely and without any drama, other than of course the hood which was acting as a very effective air brake.

Is there not a Hood warning alarm like in the P38a?
Horrible experience. I just purchased the vehicle about ohhh...6 days ago!!!
I am now without my new Rover and at least I still have another car to drive.
I am extremely sad right now but I guess it could have been far far worse.
Our frirst child is expected to arrive any day, hour, minute, second now.

This is how I was going down the highway trying to change lanes and pull over safely;

 

[Ace 95]

****, glad to hear you are okay...thats crazy! i would be pissed!!!!! :twisted:

 

[Malafax_dand]

The purchase was through a private seller, so I can not really go back and claim anything.

The autobody shop says that because the hood is aluminum, the entire hood will need to be repalced. Additionally, the brackets are trashed and the body panel that the brackets attach to is a little bent. Other than that, there is no other damage.

Even through the damage is minimal, I bet this is going to be a 5K USD repair job.

 

[Landrovered]

Storey,

Sorry to hear about your near heart attack. I had that happen once on a Jeep I was driving. I nearly crapped my shorts.

Glad to hear you have joined the ranks of the L322s. Looking forward to the potential for non T4 EAS support one day. If anyone can do it you can.

Cheers

 

[RoverNole]

The purchase was through a private seller, so I can not really go back and claim anything.

The autobody shop says that because the hood is aluminum, the entire hood will need to be repalced. Additionally, the brackets are trashed and the body panel that the brackets attach to is a little bent. Other than that, there is no other damage.

Even through the damage is minimal, I bet this is going to be a 5K USD repair job.

Is it still under factory warranty?? If so, you should be able to take it to a dealership.

 

[umbertob]

Wow. That must have made it into your Top Ten "5 scariest seconds of my life", for sure. The hood is only a piece of aluminum and can be replaced (I wonder if the previous owner knew there was a problem with the latch? That would be borderline criminal), but I am glad to hear you are OK and kudos for keeping your cool, a lesser driver may have panicked and made it more interesting for himself and other drivers on that road. :thumb:

Congrats on the upcoming baby and best wishes to you and your wife! My newborn twin girls are 5 weeks old today... Get ready for some sleepless nights, you'll forget about your flying hood in no time, trust me. :lol: It's all good though, your life is about to change for the better.

 

[Malafax_dand]

It just occured to me in a sudden moment of panic, What if the Insurance company does not approve the claim????

Is a vehicle failure the type of thing that the insurance company covers? An accident is one thing, but a mechanical failure might be condsidered one of those sorry but that is your own problem kind of things. Does anyone have any experience with these types of insurance claims??

Thanks

 

[umbertob]

The comprehensive portion of your insurance will take care of any damage not directly caused by a collision. Stuff such as what happened to you today, a rock falling on your car, etc. You are covered, no worries.

 

[Malafax_dand]

The insurance is covering the damages.
The adjusted estimate is 3850.00 USD. Wow!!
The body shop insists that the damage to the hood, those corners that were bent, cannot be reliably bent back into place (aluminum). So they are going with a complete new hood. If anyone wondered how much it costs to purchase a new hood, paint, remove and refit, well now you have your answer. The hood itself was approximately 1400.00 USD, the remaining cost is paint, labor and misc parts.

The possibility of the fault being caused by me....
I will admit that I cannot be 100% sure that I closed the hood securely the day before the accident. I was unde the hood cleaning things up and repalcing the air filter. This is certainly not my first rodeo. I have worked under the hood on my previous Rover literally hundreds of times. What is the possibility that I did not close the hood on this rover properly? It is possible but unlikely. To put it another way, I am not going to worry about it ever happening again, and no one else should be concerened that their hood may open unexpectidly. I am however going to always put my hand on ever hood on every car I get into, just to double check.

My best guess, I must have latched one of the strikers real good, but maybe the other hood striker was not fully engaged. The high wind speed on the highway sucked it open. Possibly the hood lifted up at an angle and popped the other striker latch open. At that point the safety latch should have caught the hood. But through an unfortuanate set of events, the safety latch failed to catch the hood. The result was the hood flying open.

 

[kmagnuss]

That's what you get for leaving old faithful in the garage. :dance:

Congrats on your soon-to-be new addition. :thumb:

 

[stu454]

Congrats on the baby! My son just turned 5 months.

On my D2 you cannot lock the truck and set the factory alarm if the hood is not closed all of the way.

L322's may be different, but it's a thought.

 

[woldd90]

Glad everything turned out well... I will continually double check my hood, when ever I am under it.