A Downey woman recovered from her injuries Thursday after a metal rod shot up from underneath her car and pierced through the driver’s seat while she was driving on the 57 Freeway near Brea.

Jessica Preciado said physical pain was bearable. But the trauma and shock of the freak accident will likely have a lasting impact.

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“I was driving on the third lane on the freeway, and I heard a loud pop sound,” Preciado recalled. “I felt a lot of pressure, and I felt a lot of pain, immense pain.”

She was heading north on the 57 Freeway near Tonner Canyon Road in Break after dropping off her 15-year-old son at school.

The metal rod that pierced through her car also punctured her left glute.

“I just thought, 'What just happene

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