On 2/19/2017 11:58 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 10:29:39 AM UTC-5, Jack wrote:
Proving someone died because their ABS system failed would be next to
impossible, at least in my truck it was intermittent. Rusted lines
would be easier to prove, but looking at a mangled wreck, one might
expect a brake line to be ripped apart. Also, when I was a kid, and
worked in a collision shop, never once do I remember anyone trying to
determine if a mechanical failure caused the wreck. This may have
changed, but I doubt it.
One could assume that with the advancement of accident reconstruction
capabilities it might not be that hard to determine if a rusted brake
line was the cause.
Yes, if anyone wants to undertake the task. Intermittent failure like
my GMC Truck ABS system would be impossible to figure out I'd think,
probably why the recall was to "clean the sensors" which works for a
brief time. Not even sure it works at all as they went off randomly,
not constantly.
Visual inspection of the brake lines, even if mangled, could show a
difference between "collision mangled" in some sections and "blown out rust
spots" in others. Lack of skid marks, brake fluid upstream from the
accident site, the vehicle's black box, etc. could all help in making the
determination.
I reckon if the FAA can determine the cause of planes falling out of the
sky, someone given enough time and resources could figure out the cause
of a car falling into a tree. My time spent in a collision shop (many,
many years ago) saw zero efforts made to figure out why someone got dead
in a wreck. Our shop had it in with the local police and all wrecks
were towed by us to our shop unless the owner insisted on someone else.
Dead ones never did... most people never did.
Any of the teams from the various CSI's would have it figured out in the
first 10 minutes. ;-)
For su-)
The daughter of a co-worker recently drove her boyfriend's pick-up into a
utility pole - by choice.
She was driving downhill towards a red light at a very busy intersection.
She applied the brake and the pedal went right to the floor. Being a fairly
young driver (18) and in her first real emergency situation, her first thought
wasn't to try the emergency brake, it was to *not* go through the red light.
She chose the pole instead, which did a real good job of stopping the truck.
Poor kid. She had to quit high school sports because of multiple concussions
and then suffered a serious one during the accident.
She's a real hero. Going through the red light could risk multiple
lives, she is one brave girl, good for her. I hope she was driving a
GMC vehicle and the brake lines rusted out, and she sues them for
millions, and they get fined more than VW did for fudging on MPG.
If it was a GM product, and it was rusted brake lines or ABS failure,
tell her I'd be happy to testify on the 100% brake failure on my last 3
GM purchases since 2001, as well as GM's failure to address or fix the
problems.
--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com