Warchant

Backstory is about 2 weeks some jackass hit my parked car (and another parked car) and fled the scene, but only after I got his license plate thankfully. He's now denying responsibility claiming that I hit him.

I am amassing as much evidence to the contrary that I can, and am hoping information can be extracted from the car computer that shows when the car was running and when it was not. I left a message with my local dealer's service department, but this is the type of thing I could see them having no answer for.

Anyone have any info?

Mike728

I hope you filed a report when it happened. If so, both you and the other car he hit would be in the report. He would have a hard time explaining that you both hit him and left the scene.

jj14

So sorry to hear that - hate when idiots like this refuse to own up to their fault. I assume you filed a police complaint? If so, they should be able to inspect that person's vehicle and look for corresponding damage on that car (or look for repair records if they had the car repaired already)

Not sure if that information (about whether car was running/parked at that time) is stored - but just out of curiosity, how will that help? Is that person claiming that it was you that caused the accident?

Warchant

The at-fault driver is indeed claiming that I was the one at fault, thus my desire to establish that my car was parked and not running. I have other evidence of the same, but its a "more the merrier" approach.

I did immediately call the police and was on the phone with dispatch as he was leaving - I read his license plate number from his car directly to the dispatcher. I have a police report that shows him leaving the scene, he struck 2 different parked vehicles, I have a neighbor that came out that can corroborate both of the victim cars being parked....yet this jackass is still attempting to deny liability.

I have pics of my damaged car, his damaged car (his address was listed on the report and I wanted pics before he tried to cover up or repair any damage). There is zero question that he is 100% at fault but is still trying to play games.

bclexus

That's the kind of guy you want to teach a lesson that he'll never forget...and have nightmares about it for a long, long time. I hope you're able to nail the scumbag.

Im2bz2p345

What a jack@ss. So sorry to hear this happened to you Warchant. I swear, some people are just f'ed up.

Hopefully you can have the bumper replaced from a certified Lexus repair facility. That crack is not very minor. They will need to good job to match up paint since your car is a beautiful color.

Anyway, all the best to you! I would be interested to hear what the dealership says. I am really not sure if the car's "computer" aka the Event Data Recorder (EDR) has the information you're seeking though. Usually EDR's are only triggered if there is a deployment of the airbag. If you're speaking of the EDR, here is a good article on it: http://jalopnik.com/5966628/everythi...-your-next-car

Also mentioned here: "These EDR systems do not record audio (voices) or video, direction of travel, location, date, time, who is in the car, phone operation, or any history regarding where you've been or how fast you have driven (except for the few seconds prior to a crash, as noted below)."

Hope this helps and good luck!

~ Im2bz2p345

Davenlei

iTrader: (1)

We had a similar situation where the at fault driver claimed my wife hit her. Their insurance company of course took their clients statement as fact. I did not want to deal with it and just called an attorney.
They took care of everything and the other party was found 100% at fault based on the location of the damage on the vehicles and the detailed story we were able to provide that matched the damage. The other party had a vague story that had inconsistencies to the damage. The other party also claimed they had a witness but that witness disappeared when it came time to make a statement on record. Guess he did not want to get into legal trouble by lying.

You need to write down everything that happened such as:

Time of incident
What you saw and heard.
What you did
Weather condition at time of incident
Traffic level on street where the incident occurred
Position of all involved cars (before and after accident) and direction/speed the other guys car left
Witness names and contact info
Any statement details made to you from others that night and who made the statement
Details about what was discussed in the call to police
Neighbors car info and contact info that was damaged

Identifying as many valid details and facts in your story is incredibly important. You may be required to recite your story a year after the accident and if you have your notes to refresh your memory, it helps your case immensely.

If the guy left the scene and did not leave any information and you were only able to get the license plate to identify him, that would be hit and run. He would be found at fault and would also potentially face criminal prosecution. At least that is how it is in California.

I bet with the location of vehicles, location of the damage on the cars and your call to police on the hit and run as it was happening, it would be hard for the other guy to prove you did it. He would have to cobble a story together to try to match to the damage on all the cars and why he did not stay after the accident.

I have a few questions:
1) How/where were you parked? The damage is on the passenger rear on your car which would not line up to being parallel parked on the side of the road if you were parked facing the correct direction.
2) What and where was the damage on the neighbors car that was hit also?
3) Where was the neighbors car parked in relation to yours?
4) What location on the car was damaged on the vehicle that hit and ran?

Warchant

Its really quite infuriating. He already got a pass on driving drunk (I'm 99.9% sure he was drunk) and despite having hit two PARKED CARS he's trying to weasel out of responsibility.

Appreciate the kind words! I called a few luxury car dealers around me and all suggested a place I already knew of from a few BMW friends repairs...place called Cavallo in SE Pennsylvania that does some incredible work. Should look good when done but I still intended on pursuing a diminished value claim.

Bad news for me on the EDR, that sounds like the system I was thinking of. Car was off and no airbag deployment so I doubt that will provide anything helpful - although in all reality I shouldn't really much need it.


I have a good summary/journal of all the events made at the time it happened. I also made sure to take pictures at the time (1:30 am) despite the darkness so that I had exact pictures of everything. I took more pictures in the morning without moving my car as well.

1) Parked on the side of the road facing the wrong direction (not legal but its how everyone parks around here)
2) Neighbors car (2nd "victim" car) was parked about 50 yards down the road on the opposite side of the street -- that car was sideswiped by the drunk jerk (his sideview mirror cover fell off when he scraped down this vehicle)
3) Opposite side the street, 50 or so yards down the road
4) Impact from my car damaged his car on rear passenger corner (he was backing up). Impact from second car was down the driver's side.

The drunk guy was driving a Nissan Altima and had driven to the end of my short dead end road. When he got to the end he decided to back out down the street instead of turning around. He hit the passenger side rear of my car with the passenger side rear of his car, which I heard and came running out. Just as I came out my neighbor from across the street came out and asked if someone just hit me. I said "yeah, that jackass right there" and pointed at the Altima just as it was sideswiping the second victim vehicle.

At that point the Altima driver pulled over to park and turned his lights off. I called 911 and after connecting and giving my location ran down to the now parked Altima. As I ran towards him, he started backing up but stopped when I got up to his window. Made sure to get a good look at his face and then went behind the car and read the plate number to dispatch after which the Altima took off.

The police report does state that it was a hit and run and the Altima driver has already implicitly admitted to his insurance company that he was aware there was a collision that he left the scene of, he merely disputes fault. As of yet, 2 weeks later, it doesn't seem any legal action is being pursued against him for the hit and run. I fully intend on writing a letter to the DA outlining the hit and run, his admission of knowledge of a collision, and my willingness to testify.

Trogdor796

One thing I'm a bit confused on, you say this happened at 1:30am yet the pictures of the altima(vehicle that drove off/did the hit and run) appear to be daytime shots? I just kind of skimmed through things as I'm on break at work, so I probably missed something.

Anyways, hope he gets what's coming to him, screw people like that. And hopefully your GS can be fixed up to just like new. Be sure to let us know what happens!

Warchant

I was unfortunately unable to get any shots of car at the time of the accident since my phone was being used to call dispatch. When the cops arrived (around 4 am) they gave me a driver information exchange report that had the runner's name and address on it. That afternoon around 5 or 6 I went over to the runner's house and took the pictures of his Altima that are posted above. For anyone curious his car was street parked on a public road so I didn't break any laws by taking the pictures.

I'm pretty confident in the quality of work from the shop I'll take it to, but at the end of the day its never the same as original. What really hurts me is I just got the car in October after driving a 17 year old ES300 for 10 years and being in zero accidents.

mjeds

true but they do record when the car was last turned off and then turned on again. one could extrapolate how long the car was "parked" with this information.

the question is, how far back does this data go.

personally I have Skylink installed, it keeps an indefinite history of when the car was turned on, turned off, exceeded a preset speed, left a geo-fence, etc. via it's online or mobile app.
This is not the enform app, this is a different GPS tracking system called Skylink. I checked Enform, and it does not maintain a history, only last known location.

Im2bz2p345

Not true - where did you get this information from?

The EDR only starts to record when there is sudden change in speed (acceleration/deceleration). After that, it only "saves" the data if the airbag is deployed. Otherwise when you power off your vehicle, the data will be erased.

Also, here is a direct quote to back up what I am saying:
http://www.crashdataservices.net/FAQ.html#C5

Additionally, if you want further details, here is a whole article from a magazine that focuses on how EDR's operate:
http://www.prtassoc.com/pdf/PRT_Public_Risk_EDR.pdf

Hope this helps,

~ Im2bz2p345

mjeds

the EDR only records specific data, it is an "Event" recorder, however the ECU always records key cycles and any Lexus tech can see those using their Techstream 2.0 or Techstream Lite system.

I worked as a Chrysler tech for many years, since about 2003 the Chrysler DRBIII, Starscan, and the current wiTech could all pull key cycle data from the ECU.

I currently have a GM Tech2 I bought when I had my Camaro that can do the same.

I have no doubt the Lexus Techstream OBDII programming and diagnostic tool has the ability to do the same.

the only thing I don't know is how far back the Lexus ECU keeps the data GM and Chrysler both keep the last twenty key cycle events, they do this so they can know if someone has used a tuner on the vehicle. GM especially tracks key cycle data for this purpose as to deny any engine warranty claims if they suspect someone used a OBD tuner that resulted in engine failure.

Im2bz2p345

Ahhh, okay. I'm glad you clarified because i thought you were referring to the EDR.

As far as the ECU, I only know about diagnosis trouble codes it stores.. I don't think it records "time," which is what the OP is wanting.

What you're stating about tuning though, I agree with.

~ Im2bz2p345

mjeds

yeah I don't know what the Lexus ECU records. I know on the newer 2012 forward GM and Chrysler the ECU does record time and date of hey cycles and timing between start and stop as it picks up that data from the vehicle GPS for vehicle tracking.


my Lexus does record start and stop via the skylink gps tracker and I can save that history as it keeps a rolling 60 day history in the app: