What damage lies beneath?
What costs $500, looks like a quality item, and provides about as much protection as President Trump’s border wall? The answer, shown in the photo, is the rear bumper on my 1999 Toyota Tacoma. In a previous blog post, I wrote that the bumper came out second best when the truck was rear ended on Wheaton Way a few years ago, but at least it protected the underlying sheet metal. This time it didn’t even do that.
The accident happened a couple of weekends ago in my neighbor’s driveway. I was parked there cleaning up branches on our shared private road from one of the continuing wind storms we’ve had this month. I’m not sure how fast my neighbor was going when her Ford C-Max backed into my Toyota as I didn’t see the collision. An earwitness only, I did hear the dreadful bang that tells you damage has been done.
The vehicles hit at an angle causing the left side of the bumper to flex and driving it in far enough to damage the rear fender it is supposed to protect. So there’s going to be body and paint work. The bumper itself, only slightly dented, looks almost passable until you examine it closely. Then you can see it’s twisted and has to be replaced. Even if the body shop would agree to just repairing the fender, which they won’t, they wouldn’t be able to reinstall the old bumper. Luckily my neighbor has collision insurance.
When I asked my friend Doug what good a rear bumper is, he explained that the amount of damage in a collision has to do with the angle of the impact due to the way the support brackets are attached to the truck. Plus vehicle speed. Had the C-Max hit me straight on, the bumper might have been the only casualty.
Even without insurance I would get the truck fixed although the estimate at Trew Auto Body in Bremerton is well into four figures and the job will take four days. The work will happen next month.
I bought the Tacoma new at Heartland Toyota during Super Bowl weekend 1999, almost exactly 20 years ago. Super Bowls were played in late January back then. And while it is semi-retired now after being replaced by an eager new Subaru Crosstrek in 2016, the truck and I have been through a lot together: commuting to work, daily driving, yard waste runs, hauling building materials, and several trips to Cannon Beach, Oregon.
When it was about 10 years old, Heartland called it a “mature” Toyota in their email reminders that service was due.
I call it an old friend.
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