I have owned a Chevrolet Lumina '95 for quite awhile now. It's been in one minor accident where I hit a hedge, besides that the slate is clean. While backing it into my parking spot yesterday, I heard a loud crack and my steering wheel went limp. Surveying the damage, to my horror, the entire front end fell THROUGH the bumper of the car. I imagine it snapped the steering rod in half too, because that's dead as well. Should this have happened while I was driving, it would have killed me. It's a miracle it DIDN'T happen while I was driving.

I am posting in hopes of finding that something similar has happened to .... someone out there. My mechanic told me he has never seen anything like it before, especially with such a slim accident report. He concurred, that the frame literally "snapped".

Though the car is a good 12 years old, this strikes me as an obvious defect that could have hurt a lot of people in the past few years. The bluebook value of the car was only about 2 grand, so I'm not financially worried. If anyone has any useful or follow-up information .. please either reply or send a message to t-wolff@hotmail.com

Thanks a lot,
Tom Wolff

 

First off your lumina does not have a frame. I assume you are talking about the engine cradle. Did it break or did the bolts come loose from the unibody? Has the cradle been lowered for any other repair recently? Do you live in the rust belt? Do you have a ticked off ex-wife that owns a wrench?

Its odd that it dropped or broke in half. Have any pics?