Bumped front bumper on wall. Now bummed

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hi:

Well, I’m an idiot. While parking my new 2012 Subaru Outback in my parking space I bumped the concrete wall head on in the front of my space with my bumper. My foot was on the brake, but I’m not sure how fast I was going. This is my first new car that I bought after getting my first real job and so I’m a bit worried about my new pride and joy. I can’t see any scratches or dents on the front bumper. I drove it 100 miles afterwards with the radio up and the AC on full blast (so I couldn’t hear anything) and it seemed fine.

My questions are: could I have caused any damage to anything under the hood, the frame, tires, bearings, or brake systems, etc? Should I take it into the dealer to get it checked out – if so, what should I have them look at?

Thanks!

2

You’re good to go. If you didn’t cause damage to the bumper where it didn’t scrape the paint, then you used it for what it was intended for. A BUMPER!

Tester

3

The first damage that could have possibly been done from this would be cosmetic, so if you don’t see anything wrong, nothing is wrong. No worries.

4

I would be more concerned about the wall…

5

My first thought was, did the air bags blow up? If not, probably not an issue as others have said.

6

If you tapped the wall and can’t see any scratches in the bumper COVER, then I’d also say no harm, no foul.

That being said, a guy I work with was rear-ended in front of work. He came in saying he had no damage but the other car was a steaming heap. I told him to go look again. The plastic bumper covers often pop right back out and hide the true nature of the damage. Sure enough, he had major structural damage but there was barely a scuff mark on the white bumper cover.

7

Not an issue. The feds have required front bumpers to withstand a 5 mph impact without damage since 1972. Beyond that, cars are designed to sacrifice the bumper first, so if you have no visable damage to the bumper the force did not transfer to anything else.

I understand the anxiety of your first bump with your first new car. 40 years from now you, like me, wil have become accustomed to accepting life’s little mishaps without undue anxiety.

Happy motoring.