drrick89

So there I am minding my own business; driving down the highway to the nursing home around lunch time to see patients. Out of nowhere I see this bird flying low - about 1 - 2 feet off the ground - looking like he was trying to climb. The bird doesn't make it and fractions of a second later, I hear a fairly soft thud as it hits my car.

Now, I've never seen a bird flying this low on the highway in all my years of driving - not with that many other cars around making a bunch of noise. In fact, it may well have been sick or injured before it got to me.

So I put the bird out of my mind and start worrying about my car. I rise up as high as I can over my seat, but still don't see any damage to the hood. The engine sounds fine, so I drive about 10 more minutes down the highway to the nursing home. I park and survey the damage.

It definitely looks like the bird hit the grill - just left of center - about three slats down. There were a couple bird feathers stuck to that third slat, but no observable damage to the car. I removed the feathers, but didn't even see a scratch.

When I got home later that evening, I checked again. No damage that I could see. I worried that the part of the bird may have gotten into the engine compartment, but when I opened the hood, there was no way to even see the grill. So I got a flashlight and looked through the grill itself from several different angles. All I saw was a single small feather stuck just behind the grill.

So I got pretty darn lucky (or unlucky for getting hit in the first place)! I'm going to take the car to the dealership and have them check it out on the weekend. But, is there other damage I should be checking for or some other reason to bring the car in early?

NWS4Guy

You should be fine, the next object it would hit depends no if it hit above or below the license plate cross bar.

Below - it would hit the intercooler radiator

Above - it would hit the A/C condensor

It would have to perforate one (if it hit high) or both of these (if it hit low) to then encounter the engine radiator, then punch through that as well to enter the engine compartment.

drrick89

Thanks buddy! I just went out and looked again. The bird struck above that cross bar, but farther to the left (right when you're in front of the car) than I'd remembered. So it hit the A/C condensor, but didn't look like it did much - if any - damage to it - though I can't see behind that little feather that's still stuck there. I'll hose it down tomorrow and get the some of the other bug gunk off too. It's OK to spray the A/C condensor, right?

NWS4Guy

Perfectly fine it gets hit with tons of water when driving it the rain. Use focused pressure in the area of the strike to push anything which might be stuck in between the fins of the condenser (which is just a radiator of sorts for the A/C) and you shoul dbe fine. Some fins might have been bent, but you will be able to see that if they did. Sounds like the grill did it's job and took the brunt of the impact.

drrick89

Thanks again, NWS4Guy! I've never had anything but bugs hit the grill so you really helped to calm me down! But, yes - the grill did it's job when hit be a smallish bird!

What happens to stuff that hits the condensor, then falls? It looks like there's a bit of a sill down there that might collect stuff. Do I have to worry about bird gunk rotting down there - or is it open to the road?

zerinS4

Damn those low flying pelicans. Always causing trouble.

NWS4Guy

The aluminum looking splitter at the bottom center of the grill nearest the ground extends back under the car to a large diffuser. The diffuser is a flat plastic tray that covers the majority of the bottom of the car, but it's not one solid piece under the entire body, it's split into several pieces.

You are right that the bird carcass could have dropped into this space and might be stuck. If you are going to the dealer still have them check these underbody panels and make sure it's not there, that could become a smelly affair. If you don't go to the dealer you may be able to check yourself if it gets sunny to help out the flashlight - you would need to lay on the ground and shine under the bottom of the silver intercooling radiator to see what's there.

I doubt it's there, as there is only about an inch of space between the bottom of the intercooling radiator and the splitter/diffuser area, but small parts might be there. A hose can wash those out usually, or if you have ramps or a curb to pull the front of the car onto, the diffuser panels come off the car pretty easily with only a few points per panel that they secure to the car.

LeadToRome

heh, I remember that one, there's video somewhere.

I hit a red-tailed hawk and a pigeon almost simultaneously in the Allroad a couple years back, I was on the highway just going under an overpass and the pigeon appeared suddenly from the other side of the overpass with the hawk hot on its tail about ten-fifteen feet behind it. The pigeon didn't have time to do anything about it but the hawk tried to pull up but all it did was basically hang there for a second until I took it out at about 75 or so. No real damage but a hell of a mess. The hawk was beautiful but the whole thing happened in maybe two seconds - no time to do anything at all.

UmIsThisThingOn

I've always been of the mindset that it's better to hit the animal/bird than try to avoid it. Any attempt to miss usually ends up in disaster.

LeadToRome

Plus if you hit a deer it's no-fault to insurance but if you hit something else trying to avoid one, it's your fault and can raise your rates etc.