Driver paralysed by loose speaker

[Hunter]

Well this should serve as a warning to anyone who doesn't install their stereo properly!

Driver paralyzed by loose speaker in Kirkland crash

Story Published: Aug 1, 2007 at 7:18 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 1, 2007 at 2:00 PM PDT
By Associated Press
KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) - The State Patrol says a Redmond man was paralyzed in a rear-end collision when a loose speaker in his car went flying and broke his neck.

It happened Saturday when the 27-year-old Redmond man was stopped at a I-405 onramp in Kirkland. His 1973 Datsun 240-Z was rear-ended by a 1998 Ford F250 pickup truck.

The impact threw the large stereo speaker into the driver's neck. He's in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with quadriplegic paralysis.

The driver of the pickup truck was not injured.

The State Patrol says speakers should be mounted with brackets that can withstand sudden stops and impacts.

[kyro_02]

don't worry now that happen in another country.. vicroads will make it illegal to have audio in your car..

lol

[FPV GT]

It amazes me all the crap you see on parcel shelfs.
The actual name of that area suggest that it should be used as a parcel shelf. :

I have seen a number of cars with small to mid sized sub woofers placed in that area.
Imagine the damage that these could cause. SPLAT :

Regards
Paul

[Sorted]

Originally Posted by kyro_02

don't worry now that happen in another country.. vicroads will make it illegal to have audio in your car..

lol

Thats not Funny, it will prob come true..............

Stupid Rules !!!!!!!!!!!

[Ringo]

Shhhhhh Brumby will bring in a new rule....

I have read that in an accident at 50 kph a tissue box on the parcel shelf will hit with same force as someone throwing a brick at your head...

A mechanic I used to work with was in an accident in a coupe with a little tool box in the back seat. It smacked the side of his head and he had to get stitches in his scalp...very very lucky man.

[gozza]

Originally Posted by Ringo

Shhhhhh Brumby will bring in a new rule....

I have read that in an accident at 50 kph a tissue box on the parcel shelf will hit with same force as someone throwing a brick at your head...

A mechanic I used to work with was in an accident in a coupe with a little tool box in the back seat. It smacked the side of his head and he had to get stitches in his scalp...very very lucky man.

Pretty sure that tissue box myth has been debunked - Can't remember the exact details but Myth Busters did it

[james22]

I call my parcel shelf the "missile launcher". Cause in an accident thats what it does best lol

[Ives]

I know someone that got his head smashed-in by the sub box.

Originally Posted by kyro_02

don't worry now that happen in another country.. vicroads will make it illegal to have audio in your car..

lol

So, what is legal in VIC?

[holmsy]

hmm that makes me want to go and screw my back 2 speakers in now.
might make a custom parcel shelf while im at it.
thanks for tricking me into work :P

[trick_xd]

O.K. well first of all it has been illegal in Victoria to have loose speakers on/in your parcel shelf for more then 7 years now for this same reason .
There have been a few accidents in Australia over the last 10 years and things on the parcel shelf or back seat have been known to hit both driver and passenger

1 empty tissue box on the parcel shelf in a accident with another car going at 80 + km and above ... that tissue box has a weight of 1 solid house brick....

[BENT_8]

I remember back in the late eighties there was a court case where somone tried to sue Ford. From memory they had a computer in the boot of their Telstar and they had a frontal collision, the split fold seats let go and the computer killed one or two kids.

Very scary stuff!

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by BENT_8

I remember back in the late eighties there was a court case where somone tried to sue Ford. From memory they had a computer in the boot of their Telstar and they had a frontal collision, the split fold seats let go and the computer killed one or two kids.

Very scary stuff!

Heh, as much as I love my Falcon, that isn't the first time dodgy Ford engineering has been the subject of legal action.

Ford Pinto anyone?

Ford was aware of this design flaw but allegedly refused to pay what was characterized as the minimal expense of a redesign. Instead, it was argued, Ford decided it would be cheaper to pay off possible lawsuits for resulting deaths. Mother Jones magazine obtained the cost-benefit analysis that it said Ford had used to compare the cost of an $11 repair against the cost of paying off potential law suits, in what became known as the Ford Pinto Memo. The characterization of Ford's design decision as gross disregard for human lives in favor of profits led to major lawsuits, criminal charges, and a costly recall of all affected Pintos. While Ford was acquitted of criminal charges, it lost several million dollars and gained a reputation for manufacturing "the barbecue that seats four."[1]

As sick as that joke is, it raised a dark smile on me.

[Nappa]

i've seen some stupid people with some dangerous object on their parcel shelf, the melways would do some damage i suspect, i once saw an old couple with thier jack russel on the parcel shelf, i mean how stupid can you be, i feel for the dog, poor little guy would have gone straight through the windscreen

[nikos]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Heh, as much as I love my Falcon, that isn't the first time dodgy Ford engineering has been the subject of legal action.

Ford Pinto anyone?



As sick as that joke is, it raised a dark smile on me.

Ford argued that they shouldn't have to fix the fire problem, because (ford actually said this) "most of those victims were already dead from the impact"!

BTW a tissue box will do nothing to you, empty or full. Yes, at 80km/h it has the wait of a brick, but not a moving one!

[Nostalgia]

I have seen so many cars with actual home hi-fi speakers on the parcel shelf. Hopefully im safe with my factory system in my EA. THUMPA

[Kryton]

the truly sad thing about this is that guy will now get a few million dollars for his own stupidity.
only in America.

[Elks]

Originally Posted by Ives

So, what is legal in VIC?

Breathing, but not too deeply.

Back to the subject, My BA ute has the jack & tool kit loose behind the drivers seat as standard fare. That's why I don't roll it over. :

[Squalo]

My wife's father was killed in a head-on, not from the impact, but from the bag full of his kids schoolbooks and sportsgear that flew from the rear of his RAV4 and struck him in the back of the head. I have the bag; the dried blood is still visible.

Needless to say my Outback has a cargo barrier installed and only soft things go on the rear floor; anything else goes in the back.

[red_october]

Hang on, the article says rear-ended...If I'm not mistaken if you're rear-ended, you get thrown backwards ie it throws your head back, so how did the speaker get thrown forwards?

[Feathers]

Your head snaps forward, then backward (whiplash), but any object not bolted/screwed down will go only forward as far as the next solid object (such as your head).

[seXE]

lol my back speakers are only screwed in in two holes. eep. but anyway, my seats go above my head. anything that comes from the back is bound to hit them first.

[Bucket]

I bet he's full sick now uleh...

[Rev28K]

This case seems a little weird. The 240Z’s had standard high backed seats, that come up to about halfway up the head of a shorty and cover the neck of an average height guy .

They don’t have a parcel shelf as such, just a large hatch area and there is a small step (347mm) on the floor from the passenger compartment to the rear hatch area. There is space between the back of the seat and the “step” to put a bit of crap.

[hanky]

Reminds me of when I was working in car audio, I had many arguments with customers because I was discouraging them from getting 18mm MDF parcel shelves put in their hatchbacks. To top it off they didn't want them screwed down so they could easily get to the boot. Imagine that flying towards your head! :

[outback_ute]

I know a guy who was badly injured in a crash by stuff flying out of the boot of the station wagon he was driving, and it was not stacked high or anything. Believe it or not he now refuses to drive them!

[Aulpgute]

Just had my work send me on an advanced driving course (in my sh..ty VE but that's another thread topic on it's own) and the instructor spoke on this topic a lot. Apparently years ago the Alfa Romeo CEO died in a fairly survivable crash thanks to his briefcase hitting him in the head. There was also the story of a metal Parker pen missiling from the parcel shelf and killing the driver in yet another very survivable crash.

[BJ TE50]

Originally Posted by red_october

Hang on, the article says rear-ended...If I'm not mistaken if you're rear-ended, you get thrown backwards ie it throws your head back, so how did the speaker get thrown forwards?

Thats what i was thinking. If you get rear ended you accelerate forward with your car and anything unsecured pretty much stays still. Maybe he had a speaker sitting on his dashboard in front of him??

[[Tonko]]

Originally Posted by Ringo

I have read that in an accident at 50 kph a tissue box on the parcel shelf will hit with same force as someone throwing a brick at your head...

A good mate of mine had a box of cheezels hit him in the back of the head, he got 8 stitches because of it.
He only buys them in a bag now...

[Interceptor]

an ex sales rep i know used to have a falcon wagon as a work hack, his boss didnt believe in cargo barriers till he came in one day with a smashed windscreen, the brass pump fitting that had been sitting on the crap in the back now sitting on the dash...... that the wagon made it back on the back of a flatbed with the front totalled from hitting a roo didnt matter, apparently his boss freaked out a lil when he saw what the pump fitting had done

[redxm]

I had a prang in a panelvan once. wasnt my usual car. The bloke that usually drove it had his briefcase behind the seat on the ledge that was there. needless to say I wore the briefcase in the back of the head
Wife used to have a gemeni with house speakers on the parcel shelf. After a fender bender she understood why i dont like loose crap in the car