My uncle just bought a VIPER and flipped it! Pics inside!

03600

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My uncle has been bugging the hell out of me to help him find a red Viper. We end up finding him a nice 04 with only 3K miles on it. Perfect shape and not a scratch or mark on it! He brought it by Friday afternoon to show it off to me. 24 hours later I'm having dinner with my wife and my cell phone keeps ringing. Pissed off, I finally pull it out of my pocket and it's his boss/friend telling me that I needed to rush to the hospital and my uncle just flipped his new Viper. He's going to be fine, but his passenger / brother in law got ejected (for some reason he didn't put his seatbelt on and he's got broken bones all over including his pelvis. Also, there's tire marks all over his jacket as if the car ran over him after he got thrown out). Really odd accident!

Need help here for anyone with thoughts on what could have happened. My uncle told me he just pulled out of his neighborhood and knew the car was cold so he wasn't getting on it at all. Plus, he lives right where it happened and knows there's a stop sign just up the road. So, speed really didn't have much to do with this. He says he just went into second, barely rolling along at about 30-40 mph and he hears a LOUD bang or pop! His first instinct was that he got rearended somehow, said that's what it felt like. The next thing he knows, the steering is gone and the car veers off the road, across a driveway and then BAM, he's upside down, stuck in the mud!

Imagine being in the dark, buried in mud, upside down with your new VIPER on top of you and you can hear the motor running and the tires still spinning. He pulled out his cell phone and started calling people telling them he was under the car! The people on the scene thought the ejected guy was the driver and the car was empty! He heard them outside and started yelling....HELP ME, I'M UNDER THE CAR! I can't say enough about the factory roll bars that are behind the headrests in these vipers. It stayed in place and kept his head from being smeared flat. (Sounds brutal, I know...but it's true)

ANYONE have thoughts on what the loud bang/pop could have been? Do these VIPERS have driveshafts known to break? The way the car ended up facing and upside down, it's almost like it catapulted and the rear flipped up and over somehow. ANY HELP / THOUGHTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

I know there's a few guys in this forum that are Viper owners/ fans that might be able to shed some light on possible known malfunctions with these cars and their suspension / driveshafts breaking???? The loud bang / pop my uncle describes just makes it sound like something broke or let go in the car.
As the pics show, there's no burnout marks on the road and the car ended up only 25 feet from the road.....so it's pretty much impossible that he was going very fast at all.

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BlueSS

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That's crazy man! Is your uncle the kind of guy who might tell a lie because he's embarassed about losing control while punching it? Hope the passenger ends up alright.
 
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jshen

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The photos are not complete enough. You need to show from the driveway in the direction of travel.

1. There are no skidmarks on the street. Traction or lack of it does not appear an issue unless the street was wet.
2. There "appears" to be slight yaw marks in the grass, indicative of the start of a slide.
3. The driveway "may" have been a factor in the slide and overturning of the car as it appears to be a good bit higher than the grass. Notice there marks in the grass..appear to be deep at the edge of driveway and don't appear to be tire marks on the driveway but impact marks- all indicative of the car becoming airborn.
4. The fact of the front and back being relatively intact indicates a roll was primary damage causer..but I would need far more photos.
 

tb2001

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No tread marks on the road suggest he really didn't punch it I guess IMO? Sorry to hear the bad news.
 

wvmystichrome

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Hope your uncle and his passenger get better soon. How is his passenger. You said he had bones broken all over. How about an update.
 

CantDrv55

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CoBrAbOy04 said:
No tread marks on the road suggest he really didn't punch it I guess IMO? Sorry to hear the bad news.
When I was 19 and got on it in my 1st fast car, I left no marks, but the way the car just hauled ass I almost lost control. You don't have to leave skid marks to lose control.
 

03600

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jshen said:
The photos are not complete enough. You need to show from the driveway in the direction of travel.

1. There are no skidmarks on the street. Traction or lack of it does not appear an issue unless the street was wet.
2. There "appears" to be slight yaw marks in the grass, indicative of the start of a slide.
3. The driveway "may" have been a factor in the slide and overturning of the car as it appears to be a good bit higher than the grass. Notice there marks in the grass..appear to be deep at the edge of driveway and don't appear to be tire marks on the driveway but impact marks- all indicative of the car becoming airborn.
4. The fact of the front and back being relatively intact indicates a roll was primary damage causer..but I would need far more photos.

check above, posted the pic you asked about showing the other side of the driveway. the car was "front facing back towards the road, as if the rear flipped up and over. Very odd, I know. The roads were dry and as you mentioned, no skidmarks on the road at all. He's a pretty smart guy that has had his share of high HP cars. I know anyone can wreck, but he lives in those houses you can see just down the road....and there's a stop sign just 200 feet up the road that the knows is there....so I don't see him really flying up the road, knowing he's got to be hitting the brakes soon for the stop sign. Plus we are pretty close and talk a lot....I don't see him BS'ing me about what happened.
 

jasonc32amg

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Sounds like your brother in law may own your uncle's house when he gets out of the hopsital...
 

GTSpartan

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This has all the makings of someone who just bought a viper and has no idea the power they make stock. Although, something could have really broken, it just looks like he simply lost control. Also, road looks like it's a bit damp, which vipers hate.

From what I see here, I gotta believe driver error caused this one. Brand new, unfamiliar car, and what appears damp roads = accident.
 
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Sounds like your uncle was driving the car like an asshole and his 30-40mph story was total BS. That or the other possibility was that he ran over an RFID or Peter Pan was sleeping under the car and blew his pixie dust all over the place after getting startled. Don't be so naive dude. Flipping a car over isn't that easy based on what you described. Tell your uncle to go to driving school before flooring a Viper. Hopefully everyone heals quickly.
 

tristateZ28Lt1

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GTSpartan said:
This has all the makings of someone who just bought a viper and has no idea the power they make stock. Although, something could have really broken, it just looks like he simply lost control. Also, road looks like it's a bit damp, which vipers hate.

From what I see here, I gotta believe driver error caused this one. Brand new, unfamiliar car, and what appears damp roads = accident.
Kinda off topic, but, I think that's what would happen to me if I'd drive your car...800rwhp and almost 900rwtq...DAYUM! Got any vids or pics? :bowdown:
 

Doc2003Cobra

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03600 said:
My uncle has been bugging the hell out of me to help him find a red Viper. We end up finding him a nice 04 with only 3K miles on it. Perfect shape and not a scratch or mark on it! He brought it by Friday afternoon to show it off to me. 24 hours later I'm having dinner with my wife and my cell phone keeps ringing. Pissed off, I finally pull it out of my pocket and it's his boss/friend telling me that I needed to rush to the hospital and my uncle just flipped his new Viper. He's going to be fine, but his passenger / brother in law got ejected (for some reason he didn't put his seatbelt on and he's got broken bones all over including his pelvis. Also, there's tire marks all over his jacket as if the car ran over him after he got thrown out). Really odd accident!

Need help here for anyone with thoughts on what could have happened. My uncle told me he just pulled out of his neighborhood and knew the car was cold so he wasn't getting on it at all. Plus, he lives right where it happened and knows there's a stop sign just up the road. So, speed really didn't have much to do with this. He says he just went into second, barely rolling along at about 30-40 mph and he hears a LOUD bang or pop! His first instinct was that he got rearended somehow, said that's what it felt like. The next thing he knows, the steering is gone and the car veers off the road, across a driveway and then BAM, he's upside down, stuck in the mud!

Imagine being in the dark, buried in mud, upside down with your new VIPER on top of you and you can hear the motor running and the tires still spinning. He pulled out his cell phone and started calling people telling them he was under the car! The people on the scene thought the ejected guy was the driver and the car was empty! He heard them outside and started yelling....HELP ME, I'M UNDER THE CAR! I can't say enough about the factory roll bars that are behind the headrests in these vipers. It stayed in place and kept his head from being smeared flat. (Sounds brutal, I know...but it's true)

ANYONE have thoughts on what the loud bang/pop could have been? Do these VIPERS have driveshafts known to break? The way the car ended up facing and upside down, it's almost like it catapulted and the rear flipped up and over somehow. ANY HELP / THOUGHTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED!

I know there's a few guys in this forum that are Viper owners/ fans that might be able to shed some light on possible known malfunctions with these cars and their suspension / driveshafts breaking???? The loud bang / pop my uncle describes just makes it sound like something broke or let go in the car.
As the pics show, there's no burnout marks on the road and the car ended up only 25 feet from the road.....so it's pretty much impossible that he was going very fast at all.

Wow, what a dumbass, oh no, I'm sure he wasn't going fast either :shrug:
 

weareweird69

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my .02 is. Its possible that its true. Id check the car for the steering problem, because if something broke in the steering, then its going to still be broken. If the car runs, start it up and move the steering wheel, do the wheels turn?

The driveway, like jshen said, is higher than the grass, and probably factored in the car starting to roll, and the pine tree he mowed over didnt help things any. It doesnt take much to roll a car over when its sideways in soft dirt like that, i've seen numerous wrecks, where stupid crap like this happened, and everyone has said the above, too fast, lost control, and it was just a freak accident where either something broke, or they werent going that fast and completely annihalated a car.

My bud had a lifted ranger, yeah i know, lifted. but he rolled his ranger over, he wasnt even sideways, he swerved to miss a car, he was going probably 45-55mph rolled the truck over, and slid probably 20 feet on its roof. But, what im getting at here, is his speed, and how far he slid from the time he went up and over till when he stopped. Friction is an amazing thing.

Im guessing there was a police report, find out what THEY think happened, and check out the car for the steering issue, or anything broken. Thats what id do.

And good luck to your uncle and his passenger, I hope them the best.
 

NasteeNate

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Yeah I think your uncle is telling the truth because if you got on it with a 500hp from like 20-40mph roll, there would be SOME kind of tire mark or tread pattern on the ground...it looked like it just rolled and flipped! Thank Goodness everyone is alive!
 

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