Tale of woe

A place for new members to introduce themselves and give some background information as to their experience with driving, likes, dislikes etc. It is advisable to post here first before posting to other forum's on the site.

Postby nelson » Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:22 pm


Hello all,

I'm new here and, in part at least, am licking my wounds. Bear with me especially because what's happened to me isn't necessarily my sole preserve.

I was very proud of my new Motability car - it was my third and around the 75th vehicle of which I've taken possession, until about a week ago. I'd fronted up a large advance payment to get a nice, well-equipped car. But I'm not going to tell you its make and model, for reasons that will become clear.

Driving the two miles into town on a wet night, I traversed a speed pad, i.e. a full width speed hump long enough to take a parked car, as opposed to a narrow, sleeping policeman type of thing.

I passed over this thing at 20mph as is my custom - it's a mild sort of speed bump and my biggish car floated over it without fuss or even discomfort to me.

I then hit some debris in the road with my nearside front wheel. I didn't see anything in the road and it must have been over a car's width from the kerb.

next, there was a massive bang from the nearside front of the car which jumped upwards. At this point, I lost most of my steering control and the car darted left - straight into the outside rear quarter of a parked small hatchback. I couldn't miss this car but could brake and was able (with difficulty), to nurse my car towards the right side of the road. Trying to locate it somewhere safer, I started my car and put it into first gear. Letting the clutch pedal up gave me no drive and the car couldn't be pushed out of the way as the front nearside wheel was jammed tightly against the wheel arch.

The police showed up next and started quizzing me and gave me a breath test - totally clear as I've been teetotal for nearly three decades. Then, after an hour, a recovery low loader appeared and the driver, with some difficulty, winched my car onto the flat bed part. Here's what I found and what was verified during the insurance estimate:-

Medium nearside front bodywork damage and the passenger door couldn't be opened.
A large hole in the nearside front wheel's well, between the tyre bead locations. The tyre had obviously deflated instantly.

The nearside track control arm was broken right across about 1/3 of the way in from the outer ball joint.
the nearside driveshaft had pulled out of its location in the differential housing, hence no drive in gear.

Now, at the scene were myself, two police officers, the recovery driver and two gents who helped me fit my front towing eye and then towed my car to a safer location. The small hatchback's owner was also there. I saw no sign of whatever it was I'd hit. The wheel/tyre damage indicated it was about the size and shape of a brick. Two other car owners (who are alleging I hit their cars (the police took the details) were also present.Yet nobody apparently saw the debris I'd encountered, despite its being big enough to inflict such massive damage.
The location has houses with stone garden walls and is a point where kids hang around at school leaving time.

I also have another theory. There have been no recalls of the car concerned. I have the idea that, given so massive impact in the 'bump' direction, the nearside strut was being held down by the action of the front anti-roll bar. There is about a two-inch distance between the centreline of the hub face and the centre line of the lower ball joint which therefore lies two inches inboard of it. So at the time of impact, it's likely that a massive instantaneous leverage was pushing downwards on the track control arm, effectively using the lower ball joint as a pivot point and trying to push the arm's inner locations out of place downwards. I've no experience as a suspension engineer but thinking of where the maximum shear load occurred puts it precisely at the break point.

Perhaps needless to say, I've invited the car's manufacturer to pick up the broken arm and subject it to careful metallurgical examination. I've also reported the incident to the DVSA.

The car has also been professionally examined by a respected world -wide vehicle inspectorate. This concern's conclusion is that the suspension arm received impact damage (but there are no marks upon it. They also cite 'adverse driving styles' as the cause of the incident. Whether this refers to my traversing the speed pad at 20mph is unclear. Suffice it to say that driving over it at 100mph might have led to the damage incurred. However, I have two questions:-

What happened to the piece of road debris and what was it doing there in the first place?
If my passing over the speed pad inflicted the damage, why are the offside tyre, wheel front wing, track control arm and driveshaft intact and showing no more evidence of use than the car's 730 miles could be expected to add?

At present, I am using a small hatchback that has been loaned to me by the repair centre. I've been told that my own car is 'possibly' going to be written off.

Sorry for the lengthy screed, all, thank you for your patience if you've read this far.
nelson
 
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Postby waremark » Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:39 am


I can contribute nothing except sympathy.
waremark
 
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Postby nelson » Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:02 am


Well waremark, that is certainly appreciated and I thank you for your response.

Talk about wrong car, wrong place, wrong circumstances. If it rained soup, I'd have a fork! The bit that give me chills is
that motorbike, moped and scooter riders use the same road. It doesn't bear thinking about.
nelson
 
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Postby martine » Mon Feb 22, 2016 11:05 am


Odd one but sometimes you just have to put it down to experience. At least no one was hurt - cars can be repaired.
Martin - Bristol IAM: IMI National Observer and Group Secretary, DSA: ADI, Fleet, RoSPA (Dip)
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Postby TripleS » Tue Feb 23, 2016 6:03 pm


I'm astounded at the amount of damage suffered by the car, although we don't know what sort of debris was hit.

Anyhow, my commiserations to the OP.
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Postby nelson » Tue Feb 23, 2016 7:47 pm


Thanks TripleS
Judging by the hole in the wheel well, between the tyre beads, the object was roughly the size and shape of a house brick.
I think the breaking of the bottom arm contributed to my losing steering control. The professional inspectorate that viewed the remains said the bottom arm had suffered impact damage - odd, as it was unmarked but for being cracked in two.
My theory is about leverage being applied instantaneously by the front anti roll bar pulling the impacted strut downwards...consider the distance between the hub face and the bottom ball joint 's centreline.
I heard this morning that the car is a write off.
nelson
 
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Postby nelson » Mon Feb 29, 2016 3:49 am


There's been something of a development.

I have a friend with whom I've worked on cars for well over 30 years. He has a friend who's a practicing MOT tester and he's seen the same failureas I experienced affect other vehicles.

After discussion, I looked more closely at the images of my car that were sent to me by the crash repair centre that generated the repair estimate that led to my car's being written off. Here, then, is the story of what really happened...

I drove over the speed pad at a perfectly normal and reasonable rate (20mp). After 30 yards, the car's nearside track control arm snapped like a carrot, with no warning at all. This left the bottom end of the nearside strut barely located.

As I braked, the wheel slowed but was obviously still rotating. The sill caught up with the trailing arc of the wheel and tyre and the body then tried to 'climb over' the wheel. This is what caused the nearside of the vehicle to 'buck sharply upwards.

As the bottom arm was broken, the wheel/tyre developed a lot of negative camber - this helped tug the driveshaft out of its inner location.

As the sill smashed into the wheel/tyre, the wheel was penetratedjust outboard of the centre of its well - the tyre bead area remained untouched. The tyre would have naturally deflated instantly.

At this moment, the car's body fell back down on to the tyre. There is 'crush' damage immediately above the wheel arch and the car flared its own front wheel arch.

This left me with two sources of drag as I went along. The tyre was utterly flat and being skinned off the rim, while the wheel was jammed tight into the wheelarch. What with this, and practically no location of the bottom of the strut, it's no great surprise that the car lurched left and that I had very little steering control, if any. No wonder I hit a parked car on my left - I had no choice in the matter.

The interesting bit lies in the photographs. Imagine the sill as a longitudinal box, with a closing plate at its forward end. Though it's very mangled, the leading end of the sill has a vertical, 'brick-shaped' protuberance now. This just happens to align exactly with the big hole in the wheel well - the vertical and horizontal centrelines match exactly, just like the size and shape of the hole itself.

Something else is making me unhappier still. The 'professional' inspectorate's report clearly says there is impact damage to the lower suspension arm. I was a professional photographer for over 30 years and I can use Photoshop. Making the images four times its original size, doubling its brightness and adding 25% to the contrast clearly shows there is no such damage. I know this for a fact because I personally examined the area with my bright LED torch after the crash. I also called the insurance/repair assessor and he verified the arm had not been impacted at ll, by anything. .

The 'professional' report also states that the damage was caused by 'adverse driving styles' (sic). Now, i generally only drive in one style at any one time. However, had I traversed the speed pad too fast, what saved the offside lower suspension arm from fracturing?

There was, therefore, no piece of debris in the road - it was the car's tripping over its own front wheel that gave the impression I'd hit something big and rock-hard.

The car has now been taken away, to a salvage firm. I've made Motability - and it's insurance company - aware that I accept no liability whatsoever for the incident. I've pointed out that no-one could have controlled the car under the circumstances. I've also advised the car's maker where it has gone and suggested they move fast and examine the components before they go for scrap.

I've prepared my own, fully illustrated report which I will present to the police at my interview under caution in about six hours' time.

Bearing in mind that the car was worth nearly £30,000 - and that it belonged to Motability, I will be suggesting a further course of action. I think Motability should sue the manufacturer for all the losses, including the damage to the other vehicle(s) involved. I'll be speaking to Motability's damage people and will also suggest that I want a substantial payment, for the hassle, the trauma and the Disability Living Allowance that has been taken from me (and is paying for a hire car at the moment.

One of the more frightening aspects is that the car's maiden run was a fifty-mile trip up the M6, in dreadful conditions - rain, gales, etc. Just suppose the suspension had let go at 60mph (tbest speed for the conditions)?

And here's something worth a laugh. The repair centre, which has been extremely professional and helpful about the whole thing said this. If they did repair the car, they would endeavour to get it back to me as soon as possible. It'll come as no surprise to learn that I said, Tthanks but no thanks". Lets put it this way. I imagine wild horses don't come cheap. They'd need a few to get me behind the wheel of that car and any one that shares any of its front suspension components.

The thing is, I always do my research thoroughly. The manufacturer developed the front suspension quite recently, at a cost of some 15 million dollars. It's a shame that they didn't spend a few dollars more to get it right.

Here's the twist in the tail. The exact same suspension is used on several of the manufacturer's other models, and one of them is a big saloon car that is an 'RS' equivalent (no, not AMG but you get the idea).

Now you know why I reported the matter to the DVSA. Recently,I've been informed that VOSA have been in touch re. the pictures and the car's remains.
nelson
 
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Postby Angus » Mon Feb 29, 2016 6:28 pm


After reading the latest post, I can just about believe that the car is beyond economic repair.

But name names - what manufacturer?
Angus
 
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Postby nelson » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:25 pm


Angus wrote:After reading the latest post, I can just about believe that the car is beyond economic repair.

But name names - what manufacturer?


All I'm saying is it was made by an American (and therefore probably highly litigious) outfit.

The good news is that the police accepted the dossier I produced and won't be pressing the due care charge
they were considering. I quote the officer when he saw the pictures, "Amazing!".
nelson
 
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Postby nelson » Mon Mar 07, 2016 12:11 am


Hello all,

In the search for truth and justice, I've built a blog web site with a fuller, illustrated rundown of my car's death.

Please copy and paste the following URL into your browser and take a look. You can see the pictures by clicking on
the link at the top of the page.

Please feel free to comment here but please forgive any typos, etc. I've put the URL in to try and make it a live link but
it hasn't worked for me yet.

http://blind999.wix.com/mysite-1

http://blind999.wix.com/mysite-1
nelson
 
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