If there is damage to control arms your steering wheel will be off, so you would know right away. Is it?

If it is not you do not need to check anything with the mechanic.

The real problem is with your differential. Nobody will be able to tell for sure. If there is damage to it you will know in a week or so when it falls into pieces.

It appears the you forward speed was 25km/hr. What was your estimated "lateral speed"?

The damage happens when you slam on your brakes and hit. In your case the wheels were turning at the impact point so the force was distributed evenly among many parts. Also you have aluminum wheels and aluminum is pliable. It acts as spring cushioning the impact.
So for these reasons I say that you do not have damage.

 

Adam: I'd say my lateral speed hitting the curve was around 10km/h or less. I hit the curb with my wheel and tire parallel to it, it's not pulling to either side, is the damage with differential common with this type of accidents? I'm not familiar with the mechanical terms especially wjat the differential does... Help?

 

Do not worry With 10 km hour there is no damage Just forget about it

 

haha okay, thanks for the input adam!

 

If you hit the curb hard enough to push your your knuckle in which means bending the control arms you can compress the inner and outer cv joints and once they are fully compressed the drive shaft will push right into the differential housing. You have to compress the driveshaft to do this which is a pretty hard hit and I don't think you would be wondering if this were going to be a problem.

In accidents like this it depends which way the mass of the car is moving in relation to the curb as this will dictate how much damage there will be. If you are coming at a curb at a 45 degree angle at speed it is obviously going to either take the wheel off of the car or try to bend it under it. If you brush the curb at a one or two degree angle then you will probably do nothing to the car. The more you increase the angle of intersection the more damage the car will likely receive. Judging by how you describe the hit it doesn't sound like your car has taken much of a hit.

I kid you not, I was driving behind someone who totally side-swiped a curb while driving at about 50 - 60 kph and then jumped up onto a curb then proceeded to almost take out a light standard only to jump back down onto the road to side-swipe the curb again. Pretty much nothing but brake lights and elbows but they didn't even break stride or stop to see if the car was damaged. If cars can live through things like this then I don't think you will have any problems.

In side hit accidents you really need to worry about wheel bearings, tie-rods, control arms, and it is a hard enough hit you can also bend the frame or impact the driveshaft and take out the transmission/diff.

 

He may have torn seal on the bearing at worst. It would show a year from now

 

thanks again corrado guy, as you mentioned that the less angle the wheel meets the curb, the less hit it'll be. I was thinking that after the impact. I've searched on other threads and found many horror stories with huge bills regarding accidents like this... most likely not gonna be my problem i'm hoping. I will take it to the mechanic just to be sure and will post results tomorrow.

 

My son recently did the same thing with our Honda. Had a damaged rim and bent tie rods. Cost to fix it which included two new tires and a new rim was $1K. You def knew something was wrong. The steering wheel was shaking violently when driving. If you are experiencing no symptoms I would let it go for now. On the other hand it for peace of mind have it checked out the next time you get your oil changed or similar.

 

mikeh: will do as told. thanks for the input!

 

Brave boy! Everybody does it one time or another. You didn't give him hard time.. Did you? What tires do you have on the Honda?
Ps Like father like son You did not join the Police because you are afraid Sometimes I am not pleased with my 15 year old going 160 and yet I think where did she get this from. She saw the picture of 911 that you posted and she wants it no doubt! We appreciate the picture as this is the first time when we heard the word Please Dad in 2 years.