by 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.