[Software Guy]

My son and i were headed downtown, the roads were clear at our house and a half mile before the accident site.

I was doing under 20 when we hit the 1/4" of snow and then realized it was sheer ice. I did all of the usual things but the nannies kicked in and took over. We slid about 400 feet total, hit another patch of ice and then I just watched the telephone pole get bigger and crash.

No airbag deployment, no auto crash response from OnStar. I hit the SOS button and the local pizza joint called 911 and gave us a warm place to wait and put a cone out in the road on the ice. Poor kid who put the cone out nearly fell himself.

No injuries, just the one car involved. I had an appointment for the snows on Tuesday but that would not have made a difference on the black ice. The cops had trouble getting to us and my wife worked a mile away had trouble in her Prius trying to get to us.

There were about 10 accidents in under an hour Friday morning.

Of course the car had to aim for the pole and not go in between the 2 poles.....

My son who is learning to drive even said it felt odd when the car started to go slideways.

I'm waiting on a rental and the estimate next week.

[BlackbeastSS2]

Glad your okay. Car can be fixed or replaced.

But r u driving in your summer tires with snow on the ground? Looks like your eagles are still on. I would not drive in that weather with my car and never with summer tires in that temp. Can’t believe that the air bags didn’t deploy. If u where injured that would be trouble for GM because of air bags not deploying.

Wonder if it’s consider a total lose.

[chozn4service]

Originally Posted by Software Guy

My son and i were headed downtown, the roads were clear at our house and a half mile before the accident site.



I was doing under 20 when we hit the 1/4" of snow and then realized it was sheer ice. I did all of the usual things but the nannies kicked in and took over. We slid about 400 feet total, hit another patch of ice and then I just watched the telephone pole get bigger and crash.



No airbag deployment, no auto crash response from OnStar. I hit the SOS button and the local pizza joint called 911 and gave us a warm place to wait and put a cone out in the road on the ice. Poor kid who put the cone out nearly fell himself.



No injuries, just the one car involved. I had an appointment for the snows on Tuesday but that would not have made a difference on the black ice. The cops had trouble getting to us and my wife worked a mile away had trouble in her Prius trying to get to us.



There were about 10 accidents in under an hour Friday morning.



Of course the car had to aim for the pole and not go in between the 2 poles.....



My son who is learning to drive even said it felt odd when the car started to go slideways.



I'm waiting on a rental and the estimate next week.

Seems like these threads are inundated with glad you’re okay throughout so I’ll get it out of the way, GLAD YOU AND YOUR SON are okay as the car can be fixed or replaced but you two can not be.

You couldn’t have hit the pole more square and I’m surprised there was no bag deployment! Same happened to me in my 1978 Crown Vic squad car trying to avoid a kid. I opted to take avoidance and in doing so I hit ice and hit a utility pole that should have sheared off but didn’t, and my car ate that pole all the way to the firewall, and no airbag deployment.

Sadly I don’t even drive mine in temps under 35 degrees with these summer tires as the tire compound have no grip and get hard. On ice, it’s hold on for the ride.
I don’t get the lack of OnStar as well. I’ve seen the video of Ken Thwaits at the track in his Z/28 hit the guard rail and immediately got the OnStar call checking his status. Once they learned he was on a race track the call was terminated but they checked.
I would say that needs to be checked into.


Again glad you’re okay.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Soleil]

Ouch, that sucks. But as long you and your son are ok. This is the only thing which counts.

[JamesNoBrakes]

That sucks man, sorry.

Winter tires make a huge difference on ice. Everything here is ice. Was in Fairbanks a couple days ago, most cars there don’t use studs due to the temp and the fact that winter tires give to traction on ice. Black ice is frost deposited on the road, we get that and worse. Worse is when it’s raining and it changes to freezing rain while you are driving. Of course, there’s a lot more to winter driving than tires, but you need a solid base to do so. I took my c5 out a few times to the supermarket on the corner during winter before, but it was literally like half a mile at slow speed through the neighborhood and I wouldn’t consider it with an auto, feathering the clutch was imperative. It would have been ok with winter tires, but you just don’t push it in these conditions. Get a proper setup or buy a beater, no reason you can’t drive in the winter, just gotta do all the things necessary to make it work.

[NYJets12]

Glad your both alright. As for the air bag not going off here's my guess. On my former car a gran am. I had a air bag not go off to, this is what the garage told me.
If front of the engine someplace there's a button if the button doesn't get hit the air bag doesn't go off. My gran am had it in front of the radiator towards the right side. Don't know where it is on the camaro. As for onstar: they don't respond unless the air bag goes off.

[Chutzpah]

That's a bummer, good luck...

[Chazzz]

Glad you guys are ok...After living in Florida 20 plus years and now back up north I hate winter with a passion and these cars just aren't made for it... winter tires and snow and ice mode or not it's best to just buy a beater.

[Software Guy]

Originally Posted by Chazzz

Glad you guys are ok...After living in Florida 20 plus years and now back up north I hate winter with a passion and these cars just aren't made for it... winter tires and snow and ice mode or not it's best to just buy a beater.

This is my winter beater!

[LuvMI]

You and your son survived multiple patches of black ice, a telephone pole AND walked away without life threatening injuries, access to shelter, warmth and food... I call that a x-mas miracle in November! Insurance will take care of the rest.

[wjones14]

That definitely stinks. Just bad timing with your tire appointment.

This is old but still the best demonstration of winter vs all season vs summer tires on ice:

[Soleil]

We have a rule for winter tires. From O-O in your case from O-E. That mean from October to Easter you should put winter tires on. Of course not in FL but in areas where it could be cold or snowing. But against blitz ice or black ice you have no chance. It’s there within a second.

[cooden]

Where in Upstate, NY are you? I’m in Rochester & I have to be honest—I’m shocked that you would even drive the Camaro year round considering the winter weather that gets thrown at us. Glad you guys are ok, but you should get something else for the winter—I wouldn’t trust these cars with snow tires.

[jdasnt3]

Originally Posted by cooden

Where in Upstate, NY are you? I’m in Rochester & I have to be honest—I’m shocked that you would even drive the Camaro year round considering the winter weather that gets thrown at us. Glad you guys are ok, but you should get something else for the winter—I wouldn’t trust these cars with snow tires.

I did drive my 04 GTO and 08 G8GT year round in North Central PA including doing some work in Buffalo snow storms. The right tires and a little bit of weight in the trunk always helps. Overall the balance of the car and the fact that I prefer RWD in most winter driving would make me still drive a Camaro (with winter tires) if I lived there. But I am grateful to live in FL now.