Flimsy BEWARE

[The Monkey Man]

Wow, today a really small Pheasant ran out and hit me at under 60mph
Destroyed the front bumper section and it's parking sensor and popped the wing panel off. What a flimsy P.O.S !!

[Vendee]

Not disputing your "flimsy POS" position but a pheasant is quite a heavy bird which even at 50-60mph will do damage to most cars.

[The Monkey Man]

It was a really little female one and the type of impact all my past cars front plastics have coped with.
The plastic around the sensor area is really brittle junk like a cheap flower pot. Mentally it's not a new car to me anymore now it's going to have to go to the body shop so will be getting spanked far more.

[Deleted User 878]

A real shame..I feel for you and I would be pissed off too. I do agree that hitting anything that weights a couple of pounds would do quite a but of damage. I wouldn't want to hit a bag of sugar at 60mph.......
Hope you get it sorted and your happy with the result.

[The Monkey Man]

Updated...

Wow you guys really need to watch out with the dealers if you have repairs that need doing !Took the car to Marshall Cambridge (who the car was bought from) Guy came out who I instantly didn't like the look of and proceeded to take some half assed pictures and say I really should claim on the insurance as it would be "over a grand"
Obviously I went to some other genuine Ford dealerships for another opinion. The guys were much friendly and interested in the damage. Understood the requirement and came back with estimates around £300 with the obvious caveat should they find anything once the front end was removed.
So Marshall come back with an estimate of over £2600 and a list of parts you'd expect had I hit another car. I have instructed the other dealer to get on with the work and update me of what they find. Assuming they perform the work to the desired standard I will be having a little call to Marshalls management AND Ford Customer care regarding their estimate!

[Deleted User 878]

I totally agree...I would inform the CEO if their estimate is a real tip off, I have her email if you need it.

[Stoopo]

Yep - any bird at 60mph will cause damage. I remember my brother in law and his Fiesta ST. He didn’t have folding mirrors and they were knocked off twice by passing cars.

Then he was driving on Arran and a pheasant hit another mirror at 40mph and took it straight off. His 80 old mum said “aww do you think you killed it?”

His answer was “ I f- fing hope so the bar steward!”

[Sparks]

I worked in Airfield safety for many years and the amount of damage birds (even small ones) did to planes was quite significant.
Never underestimate the power of a collision with a bird.
The worse bird strike I had was while driving an Mk6 Fiesta, a Wood Pigeon went straight through the grill and made a right mess of the engine bay.

[Vendee]

Once in my youth I had a blackbird hit the handlebar mounted mirror of my 750 Honda as I was doing over 70. The force shook the handlebars clean out of my hands and the bars oscillated violently for a second before the gyroscopic force straightened them up again. I grabbed the bars once again and pulled over at the earliest opportunity to "clean up down below"

[Vendee]

I worked in Airfield safety for many years and the amount of damage birds (even small ones) did to planes was quite significant.
Never underestimate the power of a collision with a bird.
The worse bird strike I had was while driving an Mk6 Fiesta, a Wood Pigeon went straight through the grill and made a right mess of the engine bay.

I was an aircraft propulsion technician all my working life and spent many a happy day down the intake of a fast military jet picking out the remains of birds. The remains were usually sent off for type identification. The smell of hot, dead and shredded bird is something that you don't forget. The bits that make it through the engine leave a vomitesque mess in the exhuast.