maximq7

Scary news - my Audi Q7 TDI was t-boned at an intersection last week while crossing an intersection.

Wife was driving to a pediatrician appointment with my 2 and 4 year old in their safety seats in the back row when a Nissan Altima plowed into the drivers side second row door edge closest towards the back causing the car to spin 270 degrees into the opposite lane on the far side of a 4 lane street. Wife and kids were understandably shaken up (my 4 year old told me that the "balloons" scared him i.e. side impact curtain airbags).

Luckily wife and kids were ok for the most part with the exception of wife's whiplash. My 2 year old was closest to where the Altima hit the Audi and I was glad to see that aside from some soreness in his left arm he appeared to be ok.

Am writing this to say I am glad that the engineers at Audi didn't cheat or cut corners on safety in designing and engineering their frame technology in the construction of the Q7. While the damage to the Q7 looks like it'll exceed $15k USD, it was a small price to pay for the safety of my family.

There's something to be said for the German engineering and the safety of driving a 5300 lb vehicle in the event of an accident. The Q7 safety features all did what they were supposed to when it mattered the most (airbags and seat belt tightening during the accident was confirmed by my wife and 4 year old). And the Q7's door impact beams completely prevented the Altima from intruding into the passenger compartment.

The damage to the Altima however, appeared much more severe. Their entire front end was completely crumpled from the accident. The damage to their vehicle was much more severe and was the first car that I saw when I arrived on scene.

Interestingly enough, I'm in the process of working with the only auto body shop that's a certified Audi Factory Authorized Collision Repair Program as well as Audi Aluminum Collision Repair Network certification in North Carolina, Scott's Auto Body. I had no idea that there was such a thing as an Audi Factory Authorized Collision Repair certification. Upon further inspection of the Audi website on certification details, apparently Audi has 2 kinds of repair certification. 1. Audi Factory Authorized Collision Repair and 2. Audi Aluminum Collision (A8/S8, R8, and TT/TTS.

So in case you ever find yourself in a similar predicament, and I hope you all drive safely and never do, don't just tow your car to any shop, look for the few with the certifications such that your factory warranty remains intact.

Safe driving everyone!

AudiQ7Lady

I am so glad your family is ok. Yes, this is an unbelievable vehicle and I am proud to own one like yourself. The Q7 is a rather *heavy* and extremely safe vehicle.

maximq7

Just to get an idea of how sturdy the Q7s are built. Keep in mind that the damage to the Q7 looks minimal - but the Altima that hit it was completely destroyed on the front end.

idale

Many VAG models are extremely safe to be in in a crash situation; I remember reports from my days on ClubB5 like people in rollover situations in their Passat walking away barely bruised. They definitely don't cut corners, which is really good; you always hope that you'll never need it, but you certainly don't want to be caught in a tin can in a wreck. Obviously weight plays a part, too, but things surely would've been worse for you guys in a less-well-made large SUV.

Glad the Q7 did its job to protect what's really important: your family. And hopefully the repairs go well and you guys can get back in your tank.

Bklyn_Quattro

Glad the family is safe. Build quality and safety were paramount when we made the move to Audi 12 years ago. Styling and drivability are the icing on the cake for us..

chickdr

I will be shocked if that is $15K. We were hit on the other side and it looked worse than your photos. Our total was $7,500 at a very fancy body shop. Make sure to get diminished value added!

rayaans

I know exactly what you mean about how sturdy the Q7 is. I was involved in a vehicle pile up with my Q7 on the motorway here in the UK, I had a 2010 model, Orca black which was written off after the incident. I admit to speeding, I think I was going at about 110 - 120mph when a car in front skidded and braked heavily. Obviously, I ploughed into the back of it but tbh there was not really much damage apart from the front crumpled.

I do miss the Q7, had a Garnet red one for a year which I traded for an M5. M5 was not exactly very good with reliability so decided to go for the 2013 RX450h F Sport which I am loving so far. SUV's definately have superior safety imho

Ballzo

No offense to you at all. I am so glad that your family is safe. This might be one of the main reasons to drive Audi's are the safety features

The fact that the Nissan looked to have more damage than your car does not mean much, you need to remember that most cars including Audi's are designed to crumple in a frontal impact crash. Whats important during that type of impact is the cabin maintaining its shape and its passengers. Hopefully they were OK as well!

maximq7

All right - got my estimate back from the body shop. Total damage is estimated at $19k USD.

A couple of reasons for that. The sheer number of airbags that deployed on the side of the impact are very expensive to replace along with all of the interior covers for them. In addition, when an Audi Q7 suffers a crash like the one experienced, there's an safety control unit that automatically shuts off all electronics to prevent an accidental fire from occurring. This entire unit must be replaced. This along with all the body work, paint matching, frame straightening and all panel replacements as well as window replacements ran up the total.

Now what's interesting is that my insurance company, Allstate, normally considers a vehicle a "loss" if the estimate exceeds ~35% of the current replacement cost. In my case, KBB for a 2010 Q7TDI with 29k on the odo is $45k. However, the body shop where the work is being done does not consider a car "totaled" unless the estimate trips a threshold calculation approaching 75% of the current replacement cost. So while the body shop can fix it, Allstate was very good about not throwing any red flags on it (by considering it a loss) since the body shop estimate systems did not throw any red flags exceeding the preset loss threshold (i.e. 75%). Once the body shop estimate system exceeds a certain number then their system apparently stops allowing the estimator to add any additional fix line items and sends a message to the insurance company systems that the car is totaled at that point and the insurance company just needs to cut a check for the customer.

Was surprised at how some auto insurance companies and the body shop estimation systems are integrated in this fashion.

By working with an auto body shop that works regularly with high-end vehicles i.e. Jaguars, Aston Martins, Audis, etc. the body shop thresholds for what is considered a "loss" normally by insurance company standards are very much considerably higher in my instance.

Makes me wonder how many Audi owners ended up in an accident and took their Audi to a regular shop and ended up having to get cut a check for a "totaled" vehicle and then taking the hit in the wallet to buy a new car, especially if you took a monster hit on the depreciation.

At any rate, on to pix of the much missed Q7 getting first aid!

maximq7

More photos of the Q7 getting medical aid. Also that back right wheel in the photo will need to be replaced.