Hyundai Outbrakes Lamborghini. Allegedly.

by Robert Farago

Published: April 25th, 2009

SEATTLE – Lamborghinis may be faster out of the gate, but it appears that Hyundai SUVs may have the edge when it comes to braking, at least in one instance. Motorist Kelly Davis snapped this picture of a traffic accident on Interstate 5 near Seattle Monday morning. The Hyundai Santa Fe hit the brakes in traffic, and the Lamborghini behind it wasn’t able to stop that quickly, sliding under the Hyundai. No one was hurt in the accident.

Yes, well, someone’s pride sure got dinged. [Thanks to Don1967 for the link]

Robert Farago

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4 of 28 comments

PeteMoran on Apr 26, 2009

No rear end deformation, no debris, no marks on the road..... Why isn't anyone wondering if the idiotic SUV owner reversed up and on top of the Lambo from dead stop? I've seen one accident like this at lights and it was because the SUV owner put the car into Park to wait at lights and then selected Reverse (thinking they'd selected Netural and could move once for Drive). Bam.

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Pch101 on Apr 26, 2009
Considering the generally tidy and robustly-built undercarriage, and the fact that the wheels appear to be on top of the Lambo, it is conceivable that the Santa Fe could have gotten off lightly. From the look of things, the Lambo made it past the B-pillar of the Hyundai. So it was probably going pretty fast. While it's possible that the Hyundai may have gotten lucky and managed to slide along the hood of the Lambo without doing much, I'd be more likely to think that the frame is bent and stuff beneath the car is broken. The underside of your car was not designed to be hit like that. No one's is. The thing that's awful about this is that the damage may be severe, but not costly enough to total it out, which is not good news for the Hyundai owner. Why isn’t anyone wondering if the idiotic SUV owner reversed up and on top of the Lambo from dead stop? Not likely. Interstate 5 is a multi-lane freeway, so this probably occurred in stop-and-go traffic. Unless the Hyundai cut it off, the Lambo was probably tailgating. Again, these things occur when cars rear end SUV's, because of the bumper height differences, which are increased when cars are diving under hard braking.

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JuniorMint on Apr 27, 2009

Hyundai driver: "You owe me a new bumper and a new gas tank! And...and dinner, at least, and probably a movie!"

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Jgh on Apr 27, 2009

I'd be miffed about the additional dents in the rear quarter panel caused by swinging the Lambo-door open. Not surprising - I saw a Chevy Beretta scoop up a Taurus once the same way. All you need is a slopey-front fascia to wedge under a lightly-sprung, braking vehicle in front.

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