Help - Accident damage

[bsaffin]

I hit a ladder Friday night at ~60mph - full on. Now I'm feeling some vibrations in the steering wheel, as well as general shakiness. Car seems to pull a bit to the right, and when braking will sometimes just grab and pull one way or the other.

In addition, the check-engine light came on. I did a code check and there are 3 codes all relating to the cat heat sensor. Looking underneath (just on the ground), I can see wires hanging down about the middle of the car.

So before the car goes into the garage for a damage estimate I'd like to have some idea of what could have happened by colliding with a ladder on I-680. I know at least there will be the wiring harness for the cat sensor - maybe the sensor itself if it got ripped out. Other things that come to mind:

Bent wheels
Wheel alignment
Bent/broken steering or suspension components

What steering or suspension stuff would be most vulnerable to this type of accident? What else should I be looking for? Is it possible for the brake rotors to have taken a hit (indirect) and been bent? How about the drive train? Anything else I should be worried about?

I'm worried that there could be lots of subtle damage that will be hard to have diagnosed and I could be left with a car that never feels right again.

...Bruce

[bsaffin]

Forgot to mention - car is a 1996 328ic.

Anyway, just got back from the shop where we had it up in the air. At first glance, there is at least 1 bent wheel, 2 tires with torn sidewalls, 2 cat sensors, heat shields, and the cross-members under the engine are pretty badly bent. Probably more to come.

Joy oh joy...

[Jeron]

No way you damaged the brake rotors or brakes unless they took a direct hit, which is unlikely. Everything else is fair game. Sorry to hear about it. Call you insurance company.