What a Short Strange Trip it’s been!

Koi-Kid

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2018
Messages
21
Location
Pipe creek
When’s the last time you were out with your Escape on the first day of your trip and your only 221 miles from home and hear this horrific noise and you get a little vibration in the tow vehicle? You look at your side view mirror and see a car seeming to do a 360 deg turn around the back of your trailer.


Is that what’s bothering you Bunky??

A little over a week ago that’s what was bothering us and me saying WTH just happened?
We were on HY-81 / I-35 going through Waco TX at about 1:30 pm on the 4 lane highway & we were in the second to the right lane and moving at 65mph. That’s when this car got 90 degrees to our Escape and hit us Broadside at the axles! I got the Escape stopped quickly and was very worried about getting in a pile up of vehicles behind us & shutting down the interstate. You say, well why didn’t I pull off the interstate at that point? I could tell there was something very definitely wrong already!
Once it was safe to exit the vehicle it was easy to see the first issue of having no wheels or tires on the passenger side of the trailer anymore! The force had ripped the rims off the hubs through the lug nuts! Another WTH was said and checked the other driver was OK and he had already called 911. In a few minutes the policeman and fire Ems was there. Luckily no one was hurt, but our spirits were lowered several notches for the day. My concern and the fireman were to get the trailer off the interstate safely. The Fire dept called another engine out to help block the 2 lanes of traffic off as well as the side of the road. I got the spare tire off and dug my small floor jack out of the truck to jack it up. The Fire dept got their airbag out to jack it up as well & I politely said heck no, they were going to jack it at the stabilizer jack! I did let them put it there to follow me up just for safety reasons considering where we were located at.
Was able to get the spare on with the 3 remaining studs on the drum to get the trailer off the highway and into a parking lot at BYU stadium right off the exit about 300’ ahead. Once the police finished talking to us and the roll-off wrecker was there and we had picked up & secured everything inside the escape we were ready to load it on the wrecker for its 220-mile trip back to an RV repair shop close to us. Once we opened the door and saw all drawers out of the cabinets and their contents thrown all over the inside as well as the medicine chest contents and one overhead on the passenger side with its contents mixed with the rest all over the floor.
Have been working with his insurance company for the last several days (thank goodness he is or was insured!) It did minimal fiberglass damage to the trailer, mainly from the front wheel well area with a crack on the bottom side almost to the hot water tank. Did a little where the tires on the passenger side rubbed as they hit the wheel well.
Shop estimate is almost $10,000 to repair, seems both axial, wheels & tires took 85% of the damage, I was worried the frame would be bent but seems to have survived it well. Lost the black & gray valves and dump connection and the hot water cover door got bent up.


Where his front bumper hit the wheel & tire it melted a imprint of the wheel into his plastic bumper, point of impact with no doubt. Some pictures to follow.


We followed the wrecker to the repair site and put the trailer in the fenced repair shops facility after dark. So, this was maybe the most eventful camping trip we have ever taken and didn’t even get to camp!
 

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Damage Pic

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Glad y’all got through that with no one hurt. Whenever we head out to the northwest we have to go through Ft Worth. That is the most nerve wracking part of the trip. It seems that when taking 287 through there you exit one direction and immediately have to exit the opposite direction putting you in the wrong lane. Hope you get it repaired soon and can get back on the road to enjoy your trailer. Again, glad you and your family were unharmed.
 
Just glad to read that you (all) are OK.

Hoping the best for your trailer's quick recovery and that y'all will soon be on the road again (with less 'excitement' along the way).
 
Well, you have to admit that the driver didn't tailgate. He side-gated you! :eek:

Sorry to see your trip ruined and trailer harmed. Any idea what came over that driver?
 
High Five on your vehicle control. I'm sure that was one wild ride.

Glad you made it out the other side safely.
 
Yikes!

Good to hear that nobody was hurt.........amazing.

Wonder if the Caddy driver was distracted reading your rear bumper sign? ;D Guess he/she wasn't tailgating though!

Great job on keeping the TV/trailer straight and controlled. You get the Joie Chitwood award! :thumb:

I have never seen rims "ripped off / wheel center like soft cheese" like that .........that's a bit disconcerting :eek: (FD for 3 years many moons ago - responded to numerous accidents with trailers)
 
Sorry this happend to you but thank God everyone involved walked away without injury.
Based on your description of the accident and the speeds involved I'm really surprised there wasn't more damage to your E21 - That says a lot about the construction of Escape trailers.
Hope the repairs go well and you're able to get back on the road soon!
Jim
 
Well, that's one for the books. :eek:

Glad that no one was injured and that insurance will cover the situation.

Interesting that the wheels seemed to act as a crush zone and dissipated a lot of the impact.

Ron
 
To verify..................

Caddy hit the driver's side of the trailer?

And the passenger side trailer wheels were torn off?


YIKES again...............
 
So glad you are safe n sound. Hope your escape gets repaired quickly n your back out on the road again seeing wonderful things. Good to see I’m not the only using that sign. I put it on when we got our 21 back in 2018
 
Last edited:
Yikes is right, I thought that I had answered some of the questions asked and some more info but neither showed up?
 
Caddy hit the driver's side of the trailer?

And the passenger side trailer wheels were torn off?


YIKES again...............

Looks like the Caddy hit the passenger side of the Escape.

How the heck did he end up T-boning you at 65mph on a limited-access highway? Did he come in from a sharp merge or something?

Very lucky he hit the trailer and not your car.

Amazing you were able to hold it steady and the trailer didn't go sideways—WD hitch maybe helped?

Good luck getting the Escape repaired; hope shop knows how to deal with fiberglass.
 
That's correct, and we were both happy it was the trailer and not the Toyota!


I do believe the WD hitch assembly really helped me keep control of the trailer!


I need to log back on to the Police Dept page & see if they finally got the accident report completed. What I kinda heard was some one cut him off or something where he got sideways? I was busy trying to get the trailer jacked up to get a tire on the passenger side to get it off the hi way!



The owner of the shop where it is at has a Escape 5.0 himself and advertises that he does fiberglass work himself. I was talking with him Friday about the very thing.
 
Looks like the Caddy hit the passenger side of the Escape..................


I'm betting it was the driver's side the Caddy hit..... :cool:

All the trailer shell / water heater door damage appears to be on the DS, except for what appears to be a tire rub on the PS from when the tires came off.....

Front of Caddy "pressed" on the DS trailer wheels (and held them in place) resultant sideways trailer force tore the PS rims off the trailer.

I could be wrong though.............has happened before!
 
I'm betting it was the driver's side the Caddy hit..... :cool:

All the trailer shell / water heater door damage appears to be on the DS, except for what appears to be a tire rub on the PS from when the tires came off.....

Front of Caddy "pressed" on the DS trailer wheels (and held them in place) resultant sideways trailer force tore the PS rims off the trailer.

I could be wrong though.............has happened before!

Yeah, you must be right—what else could have damaged the driver side? And Koi-Kid says the saw the car 90º to the trailer from his mirror (I think).

So the force of the DS impact drove the axles through the PS rims? Amazing the trailer stayed upright.
 
????

That's correct, and we were both happy it was the trailer and not the Toyota!.................

Which is correct?

Driver's side got hit, or passenger side.

Inquiring minds want to know! ;D

Glad nobody was hurt..............



And getting a repair place that has an Escape owner - wow!

Go buy a lottery ticket!:thumb:
 
Which is correct?

Driver's side got hit, or passenger side.

Inquiring minds want to know! ;D

Glad nobody was hurt..............



And getting a repair place that has an Escape owner - wow!

Go buy a lottery ticket!:thumb:

The second photo in post two shows driver's side once put on two truck. It's pretty obvious the car hit those wheels, look at the angle of the wheels. Thank goodness the trailer stayed upright and there was not a lot of damage. Trailer likely could have been written off had it been worse.
 
The second photo in post two shows driver's side once put on two truck. It's pretty obvious the car hit those wheels, look at the angle of the wheels......................


My assumption as well, but we know how those can work out.....
 

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