Was almost rear-ended by distracted lady in accordion highway movement.

HWY401 EB traffic flow was changing from 100+ kmh to almost 0 kmh.
While going around 100kmh in the leftmost lane I've noticed yet another jam ahead and started breaking. Immediately I've heard tire squeaking sound behind. I almost released my brake pedal and slowly moved as far as it was allowed by a distance to the car in front of me.
Next moment I felt an impact and saw in my mirrors a car doing some kind of donuts

When we both stopped, I was still in the leftmost lane, and other car was on the left shoulder facing opposite direction! I still cannot quite figure out its trajectory. She obviously did hit the concrete divider by her right fender. Bumper wasted, radiator leaked.

I went out and after making sure the lady is OK (even her airbag have not deployed) I went back to assess my damage. To my surprise, at first moment I wasn't able to see any evidences of the impact on my bumper


After more study I've found some burnt plastic on the edge of my trailer hitch.


I checked underneath and found no damage as well.

Only half-day later, having a closer look at a pic I've taken there, I found these two marks left by my hitch:


So I guess the hitch was the only part being touched.
Seems like having a hitch altogether with being moving forward at the moment of impact both save me from getting a new bumper (or a new car if I just stopped as I could).

Two quick conclusions:
1. Hitch adds some protection.
2. Don't stop as fast as you can, if space allows give the following car enough space to break.

 

Nice! Mine isn't as great as yours, but my hitch has saved me from some damage as well.


A guy knocked on out door one night and asked if I knew who the owner of the white Mitsu was. My heart dropped, 'oh god... why?' Guy replied that He needed to talk to the owner because he (the Mitsu owner) had damaged his (random guy's) car. I'm thinking to myself, 'WTF, I didn't hit this guys car.' So I told him I knew the owner but he was not around, and I'd be glad to take a look at it and get the info.

So we walk out there, and the guy starts showing me his cracked headlight, and a pretty decent scratch in his paint. First thing I pointed out was "Dude, the paint transfer looks black, and this car is white." (I'd already scanned and concluded my paint was fine. The frigging guy replies with "Yeah, I was trying to park and I hit his trailer hitch, he owes me for the repairs." I almost fell out. Dude was dead serious. He thought that because I had a bumper protector on my car, I should pay. I just told him I'd pass along the info. Car gets parked in the garage now anyways, at that time I had just been waiting for the landlord to get the rest of her belongings out.

Like this, but mine is black:

 

Does anyone have specs on OEM hitch for 2014 outlander, like Max weights and can it have weight distribution on it ?

 

What trailer hitch is this?
anyone know the make or part number?


Thanks

 

You can find them on Electronics, Cars, Fashion, Collectibles, Coupons and More | eBay

This is one of them, it is called a Tow Bar Swan Neck Towball
The question is > can we fit it on the North American model without removing the spare wheel or any other modifications ?

 

That is good news if I can keep the spare wheel.
I have attached the picture with the Euro spec Hitch and from the pic it seems it is attached with 10 screws. 6 are underneath just like the NA version, but there are an extra 4 on the side. Are those extra 4 slots available on our cars ?

 

No extra bolts on Euro hitch, it is bolted together unlike ours which is welded.

 

Oh, you mean upper "ears"?

 

Yeap. Those 2 "ears" on each side. I've been looking on eBay on different NA hitch brands and those ears don't seem to be present.
Also I would be curious to see what is the rating of the Euro hitch, they don't have the V6 available there so the towing rating for the car is lower.
But that hitch does look very slick...

 

Opposite. They have a torquier diesel.

2000kg towing capacity (unlike our 1800kg AFAIR).