My mother called me last week and said she totaled her Hyundai Sonata. She said she was driving in a parking garage at about 5 mph when she was suddenly and briefly blinded by sunlight reflecting off an office building. She hit a low rail with her front tire (she might have meant wheel) and cracked the axle. I didn’t want to dispute her story, because I wasn’t there to see it, but I wonder if this could actually happen. It seems to me that if you could crack an axle going 5 mph, any time you hit a deep pothole your front end would fall apart. So my question is, is it possible to hit an obstacle with a front wheel when driving very slowly just wrong so that it cracks an axle? Follow up question: if not, should I confront dear old mom about it?
Probably not the axle but the CV joint. I once took an exit ramp off the freeway a little fast and I’m sure that’s what caused a pre-mature failure of my left CV case/joint.
depends what “crack” means. Broke in half, somewhat bend or broke…? Anything can happen even at 5mph when hitting an object, the angle of impact and force. I doubt that this would total a car.
Give mom a break. If not she might stop washing your underwear 
Talk about having no real answer to a post. 1. don’t know year of vehicle 2. 5 MPH-maybe, maybe not 3. totaled by insurance company ? 4. Can’t see damage
The only thing you can do is get more facts and possibly determine the current driving ability of your mother.
At 5 mph ??? Not unless she drove it OFF the garage or the car was already so beat to a pulp, this accident finished it off. I think Mom is lying her maternal tushy off.
Is Mom getting a bit less flexible? Pays a bit too little attention to her driving? Bumps into things and drags the car down solid objects? Does Mom’s driving scare the daylights out of you when you ride with her? Might be time to have “The Talk” about giving up the keys!
Cracked the axle housing in the transaxle? That could total an older Sonata. The 5 mph is pure fiction though.