ponypower05GT

Just wanted to tell all the fellow Mustang members out there about an experience I had last Friday night when my wife and I were going out to the movies and then what happened to me the next day by myself. It was dark out and I was driving the Mustang, going about 45 mph, the posted speed limit for the two lane road we were on. It is a fairly wooded area and there are no cars coming the other way down the road at the moment or any close behind me or in front on me. All of a sudden I see three deer running out into the road from my right and they come running full speed out into the road and are probably only like 50 feet in front of me. My wife is talking to her brother on her cell phone and I slam on the brakes and steer towards the right thinking to myself, "great I am about to slam into a deer and do some serious damage to the Mustang". The first two deer make it across the road but the third one bumps against the front left corner of the car. I hear a bump, feel a bump, so I know that we hit it. I immediately pull the car into the next turn in which fortunately is a fairly well lit parking lot where a business is in process of being built to inspect our damage. The car stopped ok, moved ok, seemed ok. My wife screamed when she saw what was going on (about the time I hit the third deer) and tells her brother, "I have to call you back, I think we just hit a deer". Well when I parked the car and got out to examine it, I couldn't find a thing wrong with it. No dents, no cracks, not even a scrape. No fluids pouring out underneath, maybe just a smudge of dirt around the area where we hit the deer- no blood either, just to let you know. I looked out at the road to see if I saw any deer in the road or any other cars swerving to miss anything in the road but everything looked normal. If we hadn't actually experienced it you would not know anything had actually happened. The car performed fine the rest of the night. I felt very fortunate. The next day I am running an errand in the morning without my wife and have another experience on the way home. I pull into my neighborhood and come to a stop sign. There had been a light dew on the ground that morning but the roads didn't seem all that wet. We're in Florida so definetely no ice! I cross a one lane road then there is a spot about two car lengths long for a break in the wooded area that separates the different traffic lanes, and I make my turn to the left to enter the roadway again. I have taken this particular turn at much faster speeds before, but on this particular morning as I made the turn to the left the rear end decides that it will continue moving forward while the front turns left and I do a spin in the roadway. I am not sure how many times I turned around, it wasn't much, maybe one full time around and then a half turn because I end up facing back towards the direction of any oncoming traffic. Thankfully there was none coming at this time. I kept it on the pavement the whole time and did not spin or skid off into the woods or a ditch on the otherside of the road. The only thing I can think of that happened is that the road was just a little bit wet, and the road is banked slightly downwards from where I was coming from making my left turn onto it, or angled with the high side on the left and low side on the right, but it is not much of an angle. I didn't turn very sharply, or give it a lot of gas any point during the turn. I am just thankful that I, and the car, are alright. I like to think that I am a pretty good driver, but I am sure that in both of these situations it was more machine than man that helped keep a disaster from happening. Good job by the brakes, anti-locks kicked in like they were suppose to, to keep from hitting the deer. I am sure that the traction control system helped my recover from the spin as well, but I would prefer not to get into them in the first place. So overall, no damage done, just don't know how much more of that kind of excitement I can take in the car. Too many more times like that and I am sure that there will be some body work that needs to be done.

MikeHawke

sounds like you were pretty lucky dude.

viking396

Wow, you got lucky! I took mine out for the first time last Tuesday and a gravel truck unloaded a golfball sized rock onto my hood leaving a 2 inch scratch. It's so ugly I expected the poor car to bleed.....

tncruiser

just proves don,t buck around with a pony
brianj (tncruiser)

ponypower05GT

It is like any dings or scratches you feel them yourself. I am definitely not looking to get it repainted or have body work done on purpose. Although I am still waiting to get my mirrors painted....

viking396

It's square on top of the hood a few inches left of the white stripe nearly on the crease where the bulge is. I don't want body work or touch-up either but I can't look at it, I just can't....[sm=smiley35.gif]

tncruiser

vkg396 a couple of good looking cars but o that snow has to go i used to live in detroit left about 5 years ago to GET OUT OF THE SNOW

brianj (tncruiser)

Orion_240

Be sure to watch it when making those left turns! Twice I've punched it to beat the oncoming traffic and that rear end went way up around to the right. Both times it was with the traction control on its default position (ON) but I guess I just gave it a little too much gas. Good thing counter-steering is instinctual to me!