https://imgur.com/gallery/Ld281N2
Picture gallery above.
I bought my 2021 Toyota Corolla Hybrid brand new from the factory, it had never had any servicing beyond the routine oil changes and inspections. I was rear ended on a crowded interstate while approaching construction.
The EDR data shows I was only accelerated from 9 mph to 36 mph, so not a HUGE hit, but my steering wheel ejected from my dash! I was traveling at 36 mph, in traffic, with no steering wheel, no airbags, and a hollow metal pipe sticking out of the dash in front of me like a scene from this "Final Destination" movies.
I wrote to Toyota who sent an inspector to look at the car, and they said they couldn't find any evidence of a defect (see picture gallery for a direct quote). Well Scotty, I think my steering wheel laying in the back seat is plenty of evidence of a defect!
I need an experts advise, what happened here? Are steering wheels supposed to eject now-a-days?
Talk to a lawyer.
I am skeptical. A whole bunch of stuff would have had to fail. The clock spring, the dash clips. You then would have to have pulled the wheel at least a foot toward you while in the driver seat to dislodge the spline. And then the damage was in the rear. Were you driving in reverse at the time? If you loose control generally you hit something in front. Report it to the NHTSA.
I'm pretty sure that steering columns or shafts are designed to collapse in a collision. This is to prevent them from impaling you , or ramming you through the seat. I'm not sure about steering wheels though. Especially in a rear-ender.
I would have a chat with your insurance agent assigned to the case. See if he's heard of this before.
Sorry about the wreck. The person behind you misjudged the safe braking distance and you braked. That's drivers edu 101.
Like @yaser said above talk to a lawyer, also your insurance company will inspect it if they're going to be paying out anything to you, if you have a trusted independent mechanic who can check it out to see what happened. I haven't heard about something like this happening recently with the new Corolla so I wouldn't say it's a mass issue, but in your case it could have been a lemon and a defective unit which thankfully it didn't cause any physical damage to you or anyone.
