Tale of woe
Posted: 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.
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.