Greetings to all:

First, I hope I am posting at the right place - if not, I would be grateful if the administrator can set me straight or move this post to the right forum community.

Also, sorry about the typo in the heading to this post, if the typo is still there - I meant to say that the front bumper went over the "curb", not "pavement".

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A couple of days ago I was at an unfamiliar parking lot at night. I had my 2009 Accord parked with the nose facing inward.

As I was getting ready to pull out of my parking space, I noticed that there was quite a bit of traffic in the driving lane behind me. Looking straight ahead, I saw that the parking space opposite mine was empty and would lead to another lane that was relatively free.

I must have been spaced out because I decided to pull into the opposite parking space and obtain my exit that way, forgetting that there was a narrow sidewalk in front of me separating my space from the other parking space. The sidewalk was so narrow that it was impossible to see from where I was sitting.

As I pulled forward - and luckily I was going slowly (maybe 2-3 mph) - I heard and felt an impact and immediately stopped. My heart sank as I was sure that I hit my front bumper against the curb.

After I stepped out to inspect the damage, I saw that there was none to the external, visible areas of the front bumper. It appeared to have cleared the curb. I then took a flashlight and peeked under the bumper. It appears that I scraped small areas underneath the plastic bumper, as well as the black plastic housing underneath the engine block. There were no cracks or broken pieces as far as I could see or feel by touch.

The brunt of the impact, however, appeared to have been taken by two small crescent-shaped metal tabs or plates that are located several inches inches forward of the front towing hooks, respectively. These tabs run parallel to the car's length and I saw that the forward-facing edges of these two tabs have been scraped and part of their black paint worn off.

I had my local body shop take a look at the underside of the front bumper to get a more expert look at the potential damage. The owner of the shop was good enough to personally duck under the front bumper with a flashlight and told me that he saw nothing to worry about - all the scrapes appeared to be only cosmetic in nature.

While that is reassuring, I can't help but wonder about those two crescent-shaped metal tabs or plates mentioned above. If they are designed for exactly this type of situation - the front of the car going over the curb - I would say that's a very thoughtful feature. After all, these two tabs appeared to be of solid metal construction and were located - at least to my layman's eyes - forward of the oil pan and other vital parts of the engine block. Therefore, if the metal tabs are designed to stop or at least slow down the car when it goes over the curb, and to absorb some of the impact, they would serve a very useful protective function indeed.

My question to forum members are the following: (1) do you know what the metal tabs described above are for? (2) do these tabs attach to or form part of the steel frame of the car such that they are in the best position to absorb a modest impact without collateral damage to other parts of the car's body? (3) should I put some paint over the scraped portion of these tabs to avoid rusting?

BTW, my body shop's owner did not know what the tabs are for but he felt that the scrapes sustained by them are nothing to worry about.

Also, I park my Accord in my garage and I've checked during the last few days for any leaks of any type of oil on the garage floor when I pull the car out of the garage. So far there has been none so maybe that's another good sign.

If pictures are needed for people to know what I am talking about, I'll see what I can do, but I have to warn you (and maybe apologize) in advance that I am very low tech when it comes to the digital world or cyberspace.

Thanks in advance for any light that anyone can shed on any of my questions.

 

They appear to be part of the front sub-frame. The plastic splash guard has openings that line up with them. Can't really be sure what the engineer(s) intended it for.

 

Not sure from the description, but there are tie-down points under there. When shipping overseas on a container-ship, there's cables & hooks to grab & winch the car down to compress the springs. That prevents the cars from bouncing around on their own springs. You can get 100 extra cars on a ship by parking them within an inch of each other.

I'd go to a hardware store & get a rattle can of rust-oleum or some kind of paint like that. Have at it. You can't really see those from walking around the car, and that'll help prevent them from rusting.

 

Thanks JimBlake and redbull-1 for your advice.

If the tabs are part of the subframe and used to secure the cars to the point of immobility on a vessel, I would imagine that these tabs have very solid backstops and can perhaps take the 2-3 mph impact.

Certainly, I've not noticed anything unusual when I drive the car post-impact.

I will check out the rust-oleum as JimBlake suggested - need to go there for other items anyway.

Next time I go for an oil change at my dealership, I will ask the mechanic about the function of those tabs. If I learn anything useful I will report back.

 

I have done this once or twice. Nothing to worry about. There is a front subframe that is incredibly strong and resistant to these kind of impacts. The engineers design it to withstand exactly what happened.

As long as you didn't damage your oil pan or exhaust you are fine

 

Thanks, Silver6gen, for sharing your experience - very helpful.