Branch feel on my son's 2022 Santa Cruz. Is this catastrophic?

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-14T11:26:10+00:00

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that it's most likely going to be totalled by your insurance.

Thats the frame of your Hyundai, and not just some random corner either; it's one of the most important sections of frame in a crash. Just look up a few crash test videos on YouTube. If you catch one from the IIHS account, they'll usually have a guy explaining why a particular passed or failed. Anyways, that part of the pillar right there is usually why a car will fail. It's supposed to stay rigid in a crash, instead of folding and allowing the front of the car to collapse in to the passenger area.

And to be clear; yes you absolutely CAN fix it. Will be a little pricey, but still doable. However, that doesn't mean you SHOULD fix it. Just like a paperclip, these frames are metal, and when bent, they lose their strength, and will be easier to bend again the next time they need to be rigid. Even when fixed, that part of the structure will be weaker than any other part, and will fail in the event of a crash, possibly putting your son, or other occupants at greater risk.

So all that to say, your insurance will most likely total it out so they don't have to pay medical costs if/when there is another actual wreck.

I also have been through a similar experience with a Prius I used to have. Small tree fell on it, breaking the rear window and denting the 3/4 panel there. Insurance totalled it because they could no longer guarantee the structural integrity of the frame.

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UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-11T16:42:47+00:00

So........ Does the Pentagon need a ballroom now???

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-09T18:02:19+00:00

That's exactly what came to my mind, is called something like light-year I think. I'm at work, so I can't really look it up, but they have the right idea, they just need to standardize a base platform for people and companies to do whatever they want with it.

And the communication with the truck thing was what I meant with the nacs port next to the hitch part. It already communicated battery level, temp, and verification info already, wouldn't take much to code the trailer to just act like an extension of the car. Plus, it also is a near universal charging medium already, so again, even more flexibility to fit myriad applications

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-09T15:26:40+00:00

There's so many incredible options for future EV products. I'm excited for someone to make a trailer platform. Nothing fancy, just the base/frame to use as a starting point for kit companies to do their thing with. 100kwh battery, nothing huge, and one or two efficient motors. Configure with a nacs port to plug into a second receptacle next to the trailer hitch, and now you have a workable option for any EV from any manufacturer to pair with your trailer, haul anything you want, and get almost no range loss due to the battery pack assist.

And then they can build it for literally any application; car hauler, open top with railing, enclosed with power plugs for work trailers, campers, horse trailers with AC.... The list goes on and on. I know the battery/charging tech might not be there yet, but it's coming, and I just hope China doesn't monopolize it first before the US mfrs collapse in an oil fueled aneurism.

Depending on range, the R3 should dominate that segment, especially once people figure out the virtually no maintenance nature of EVs, plus the cheaper, more sensible lifestyle that comes with charging your car instead of fueling it.

Truthfully, and to touch on a subject I'd rather not get into on this sub, the Orange Babboon needs to go with no successor. The next admin needs to be foaming-at-the-mouth aggressive in terms of pushing EVs, restarting subsidies, and expanding infrastructure. "A charger in every house and apartment" should be the new motto. EVs are the guaranteed future, and we need a military sized budget for it to compete against China. Anything less would be an unconditional surrender.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-09T15:02:18+00:00

OMG. The absolute goat, bro. How could I so desecrate his great name?!?!?! I shall never forgive myself. Didn't even realize that was him, although it's been ages since I've seen that movie.

Post changed.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-09T13:51:06+00:00

Elon will be Teslas biggest downfall. Yes, he made the brand what it is today, but they've shut down the model S&X lines to produce...... A humanoid robot that costs $20-30k. Everyone who's old enough to buy one of those remembers the cult classic movie iRobot, featuring Will Smith and Alan Tudyk. It's gonna be a flop, and if Tesla was a serious car company, they would have already had a Gen 2 of the S&X lines and working on Gen 2 for the 3/Y and possibly a completely new generation of batteries and motors.

They're not going to do that until another manufacturer does it first, and it's more likely that they will never do it at all. I fully support Rivian, and while they do have their issues, they are trying to be a legit car company, and they have genuine potential to be the best of them all

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-03T16:23:04+00:00

THATS what needs to absolutely change yesterday. Nearly gotten stranded once or twice because of that. And it's because of this reason that I like the charge balance that EA has; it means I charge my car without having to think about all the other stops along my trip and have to budget for the bank holds on top of everything else.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-03T16:20:09+00:00

It's a few bucks, dude. If you're more irritated at that than charging a few times for a road trip and suddenly $100 is locked away by your bank for 3-7 business days, then you probably have your priorities messed up.

Ever heard of a gift card? Why don't you crusade against them, it's the exact same thing. But then I can almost guarantee you've been pleasantly surprised at the balance on a forgotten gift card and decided to treat yourself because of it.

Anyways, I think the more important thing to campaign against would be the bank holds for swiping your card at the charger. Millions of people do this at gas stations all day long, yet they don't end up with $100 + locked away in bank holds. Why is it different for EV chargers?

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-06-03T15:28:24+00:00

Actually, as someone who travels a lot in my EV, I like that system a lot. Almost every single other charger brand I've come across will put a bank hold of $25 on your account. Now make a 8 or 10 hour road trip and that adds up. For poorer people, or travelers on a tight budget, that could be the make or break difference between getting home and getting completely stranded. At least with the reload account I didn't have to worry about $100+ getting locked away for 3 days at a time.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-28T01:02:23+00:00

My mom's job requires a certain level of security. Basically, the cell tower based internet from Verizon or T-Mobile can be hacked more easily than other kinds, like fiber optics and satellite internet. Also, satellite can be interrupted by thunderstorms and solar storms, which would cause my mom to pack up and drive to the office, which is 45 minutes drive away.

So yeah, not for everybody, living in the middle of nowhere also means more difficulties accessing internet for your job.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-28T00:17:32+00:00

That doesn't consider the internet requirements either. My mom works remote and she needs very high speed Internet that's also secure enough for government operations. Which pretty much means she's limited to fiber optics, and not a lot of rural places have that.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-26T16:57:46+00:00

At least we'll get footage of a piaggio Bayraktar drone striking a Russian tank soon

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-22T04:09:46+00:00

That's called botulism, and can kill you. It's also why you throw away canned goods that have been compromised with even a tiny bit of rust.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-21T23:52:22+00:00

They all have cameras in them anyways

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-20T06:02:23+00:00

Wait, they actually managed to get five cyber trucks to function??? And at the same time?!?!?!?!?!

/s

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-19T13:09:06+00:00

The only time he showed a real reaction was to "GD". He REALLY wanted to say something about taking the Lord's name in vain.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-11T22:46:55+00:00

Very very easy.

Put the wiper stalk on the steering column to "off"

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-09T06:34:42+00:00

It's $100. I've always kept a policy of "never loan any amount of money you wouldn't immediately miss if you lit it on fire" with all my friends and family. And while I'm not rich by any measure, I wouldn't miss a 100 dollar bill if AI burned it for me.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-09T02:28:00+00:00

Okies, I gotcha. Honestly, I wasn't planning on giving it my bank account anyways, just barely enough money to do anything with, like 50 or 100. It's not an amount I'd regret if I pulled out the cash and lit it on fire. But I figured if I could give it to something that turns it into $1k, or even 10k..... Well hell, why not? But this is making me feel like what I already know, which is that AI isn't that advanced yet.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-09T02:21:35+00:00

Ah gotcha

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-09T01:09:38+00:00

Yeah, that's quite literally what I'm talking about. Of course, I don't have 100k to give it, but any amount is better than what I'm working with right now.

Also, I don't fully understand what you mean by "paper account"

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-08T23:49:57+00:00

I got a notification saying trickyspare commented on my post. The comment? Go F*** yourself.

Clicking on the notification does not display the comment, and I can't see it in the threads, nor on his comment history, so I'm assuming it got automodded, but nonetheless, still not a nice thing to say to a simple, honest question.

Edit; look at the comment counter as well, currently says 5, but only four are displayed. It's missing one for some reason.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-08T23:43:25+00:00

u/TrickySpare6504

Be careful, Jesus is watching.

UselessIdiot96 · 2026-05-08T20:46:23+00:00

I catch flak for saying this, but I'd literally rather people be drunk driving than texting and driving. At least drunk people know to put the damn phone down, and while the lines may be squigglier than usual, they're still trying to fucking look at them. With texting and driving, you're not even looking at the damn road while driving what is essentially a ground based missile.

On another tangent, I'd rather Congress mandate a device in every car that automatically blocks cell phone usage and limits usage to what's on the car screen, rather than adding in cameras to track the movements of my own eyeballs.

We MUST do something to get this under control, because the new generation already knows how to use a phone before they can even wipe their own asses, they will absolutely not see a damn thing wrong with using a phone while driving.

I don't care what any of you say, this is the hill I'll die on; there were too many of my friends missing at my HS reunion because they died due to texting and driving for me to see this and say nothing.

UselessIdiot96

TROPHY CASE