2007 Chevrolet Silverado: Damaged Already

They do require you guys to actually be able to drive before you grab for the keys, right?

mrjones944, Im sure the person who was driving at the time knew how to drive. The driver just misjudged. Im sure it has happened to all of us or will happen to all of us.

Go back through the old road tests and see how many cars have been banged up or wrecked. Edmunds isn't really know for careful drivers.

The driver must have been distracted by the chromed beast nestled in the truck's bed. What is that in there anyway?

I hate it when immobile objects just jump out like that.

what's the surprise here? everyone's seen the dart board effect around the Camry's ignition switch....
Edmunds can be counted on 2 things:
1/ never cracking open an owner's manual
2/ pranging test cars
;)
p.s. I love this site!

All automotive magazine/website testers don't read the manual. That's just the way it is, so keep a general mistrust of articles when they mention small details and electronics.
 
As for the collision, I'm sure Edmunds.com works their employees very hard, and the editors get quite tired near the end of the day. Sometimes we all drive tired even though we shouldn't, but we want to get somewhere anyways.

Lemontj, I was mostly talking about the combined history with the articles I have read. If we all drove like edmunds drivers our cars would look like they have been to Iraq and back....if they make it back at all.

Wow talk about disappointing. It annoys me whenever I see brand new vehicles already damaged.
 
Speaking of which, a lot of long term cars have been damaged over the past few months, like the Commander, Fit, GT and 330i. Before this blog started I remember a Tacoma, Mustang and S40 that were also damaged. Granted, many of these were collisions, but it does seem Edmunds needs to take a bit more care of its cars, as shown in the Camry example. I have a 2006 Camry and have never taken stabs in the dark while putting the key in. Hopefully we're not going to hear about any more damaged cars for a while.

I too really hate to see new cars damaged (my friends and family have to remind me that these are inanimate objects). But I feel the need to hit a few of you, namely mrjones944, firstwagon and desmolicious, with some inconvenient truths:
1) Yes, a few of the minor accidents were our fault (we are in fact human). But if you check your facts you'll see that nearly all of the accidents were not the fault of Edmunds' drivers but the result of some of the innumerable careless / dangerous / out to lunch drivers that sadly populate our roadways.  In fact I remember being hit while sitting still in line at a red light by some dimbulb in a Ford F-150: http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/.ee94b1c  The Commander was totaled when some other reckless idiot blasted out of a parking lot across many lanes of moving traffic, forcing several vehicles to swerve out of his way and causing our driver to take evasive action to avoid hitting those cars.  The Fit was injured by a typical "it's all about me" impatient L.A. driver who continued on his merry way after not yielding the right of way and swiping the Fit's bumper. Those are just a few examples, I could go on...
2) We drive in and around L. A. which is an oftentimes scary endeavor tantamount to driving through an ongoing Roller Derby game. Except instead of wearing roller skates these people are usually in pickups or SUVs. See comment above for a few examples.  The chance of being involved in an accident here is exponentially greater than most other major cities in the country, where the drivers are more familiar with what red means, how to use a turn signal, how to look before changing lanes, etc.
BTW, I'm guessing the payload in the bed is a Triumph Scrambler-style motorcyle.

First off, I always like to see my name in bold, thank you....
Ach, a Triumph Scrambler? What a sad memorial to a great bike in the past. Let's see, 40 years have passed and yet the "new" Scrambler is bigger, heavier and slower than the old one.. Eesh. And don't get me started on the pogo stick suspension, lousy single disc front brake etc etc..
Good thing Triumph also makes rockin' bikes like the Daytona 675. Now I bet if that was in the bed the truck would be scratch free! ;)

We have 30+ staffers involved in editorial, and many need to cycle through our test cars for a variety of reasons, so editors aren't always at fault when there's damage to sheet metal. But since we're team players and recognize that everyone has the occasional bad day, we try not to play the blame game in a public forum.
 
We don't have to tell you about every incident or accident, but we think it's important to confess these mishaps, especially if there's something to learn from the experience.
 
In this case, a photo assistant learned that the Silverado he was moving during a shoot is much more difficult to manage than his Ford Mustang.

In other words, driving a truck or other large vehicle is different than driving a Miata. :-D
 
I like trucks, and think people should have the right to own and operate whatever vehicle they need and can afford. But sometimes I think that there needs to be special licensing for different classes of vehicles (and the corresponding testing) just as there are for things like motorcycles. At the very least it would force drivers to become familar with the driving dynamics of their vehicles *before* getting out on the open roads with the rest of us. ;-)

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!....
Ahem.
So basically the excuse is that the driver was not used to the vehicle. Really weak. What if he/she rear ended someone because they didn't realise that it takes another 20 feet to stop from 60mph than their personal Mustang?

Funny desmolicious. At first I thought you were going to disagree with me. Military motorcycle courses required to ride bikes on base put riders through courses (riding the bikes of course), practicing operating their vehicles and learning their dynamics. So do CDLs, last I heard. If the same was true for large vehicles, the driver of the large truck / SUV would realize that it "takes another 20 feet to stop from 60mph than their personal Mustang" from the practice course. They'd also realize that it doesn't corner as well, accelerates more slowly, and most likely has larger blind spots (requiring more vigilance to make sure they don't cut the Miata driver off during lane changes), among other things.
 
Thanks for making my point for me! :-)

People keep buying these pickups...few of those buyers can drive them. A crew cab mid-size truck would suit most needs, but the full sizers outsell them 10 to 1.
Who in their right mind will make a habit of towing more than a 4 tons in a 1/2 truck anyways? For anything over 7500lbs, I want a diesel motor, trailer brakes, and distributing hitch. I rarely see those installed on any half ton truck.