Long-Term Road Tests

Last night I got into a little fender bender, or so I thought, with a Nissan Altima. I was clearly signaling and turning left down a side street and he was coming out of that side street and turning left onto the busy street I was leaving. I was almost completing the turn when he decided to go on ahead. I felt his car hit the rear driver side of mine. It jolted the Enclave a little.

Immediately I pulled over and got out. Fortunately, he did the same. I looked at the area of the Enclave where I thought he hit but since it was night and raining hard I couldn't get a good look. "Looks like there's no damage," he said quickly. "Not that we can see. It's dark. Can I get your information?" I said calmly. "Look, you're making me late for a dinner. There's no damage," he reiterated. "I didn't see you signal left," he added. "Oh, I signaled left." It was funny how he tried to make it my fault when he was the one who was clearly in a hurry somewhere.

But after much insisting on my part and many complaints about how I was making him late, I was finally able to get his driver license number, name, address and phone number.


This morning I checked the car again to see if there was damage and ran my hand over the sheet metal. Nothing. "Wow! This car is nigh invulnerable!" I thought. I had felt an impact and yet there was nothing to show for it. Later when I told Vehicle Testing Coordinator Mike Schmidt about the "accident" he theorized that maybe the Altima ended up hitting the Enclave's wheel instead. And when he went to inspect the car he did notice a gouge on the wheel cover. Thank goodness that was all. But we're holding onto the guy's information "just in case."

Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor