Reason # 43982 NOT to go to a car wash...

S

stilez

New member
...you might DIE!





http://www.carwash.com/news.asp?mode=4&N_ID=59975





Cliffs: Customer waited behind his Cadillac CTS for the employee to finish toweling it down after pulled out of the wash bay. New Jeep Gr. Cherokee pulls out (employee driving) of wash bay, claims mechanical failure, and hits the customer and another employee between the Jeep and Caddy. Customer dies later that day...cars were in really rough shape (had to be going at least 20 mph through parking lot). Car hit soo hard that when in park, it pushed forward hitting another car which pushed forward and hit ANOTHER.





Now, I live only a few minutes from this Car Wash. This place is HORRENDOUS! Unfortunately, on three separate occasions (1 myself, 2 by Liz) we brought Liz's Pathfinder to this place in the dead of winter. It was before I got confident with QEW (little over a year ago) on an extremely dirty car. These guys treated the truck like a piece of jailbait. After the wash, they jumped in, FLOORED it (read: spinning tires) through the small lot weaving in and out of a couple vehicles being dried ON ALL 3 OCCASIONS. They jumped out and walked away (I didn't opt for the deluxe swirl installation). I don't know what we were thinking for going back (hoping for the best?), but for the past couple of months we have heard rants from friends about the same incidents. They treat your vehicle like crap in every sense of the word.





To me, this was bound to happen and surprised it wasn't sooner. Car Care Online wrote up this total BS story today:



http://www.carwash.com/news.asp?mode=4&N_ID=60026



Absolutely ludicrous. There was no mechanical failure, the Jeep was brand new. Anybody in this area whose been to the wash can vouch for their piss-poor treatment of your vehicle. Truth be told, maybe I'm just a bit anal, but I don't know how they are still in business. Maybe it's their cheap prices?





Anyways, I spread this like wildfire to all friends/family when I found out. I pray that this place goes out of business...We don't need any more people dying when they go to wash their car. :nono :nono
 
:angry



I never take my cars to places that the employees actually have to drive my car. I feel bad for the customer and his family.



Pat
 
1) Prayers to the injured employee and the family of the deceased.

2) Having worked at such a similar place, despite swirl-inducing and other horrific events that take place on a daily basis, this story does not surprise me.

3) Many towel guys at least at my former employer are ex-criminals/current criminals/etc and most did not have legal drivers’ licenses. SUPPOSEDLY policy forbid a non-licensed employee to drive any vehicle (not the practice though).

4) Many of my bone-head former co-workers liked to stomp the gas going out of the bays, but an incident where one bone-head rammed an Escalade EXT into the back of a Toyota Camry put an end to this practice. It took that scale of an incident for the owner and manager to cut it out for good.
 
I read the article on carwash as well. Nice to know what probably did happen. It's just funny reading their articles sometimes, this time it was just bs.
 
Yeah, I've noticed how PCW&D sucks up to the tunnel wash owners like they can do no wrong. I remember them complaining how they feel Nissan is maligning them in the press release about their self healing paint because Nissan mentioned the problem with swirls and scratches from car washes. Nissan is exactly right in their assertion that tunnel washes are among the top causes of scratches and swirls.



This incident with a customer being hit isn't the first one in recent years either. I beleive a similar accident happened in Florida. It isn't just limited to car washes though, stuff like that happens at the lube goon places and dealerships.
 
:doh Not unintended acceleration again! Some of you are old enough to remember the Audi 5000 unintended acceleration debacle, which almost put Audi out of business in the US market. This was completely debunked by Car & Driver as pedal misapplication, a finding also concluded by DOT/IIHS many years later (thank this for the brake/shift interlocks on most current auto trans. cars).



As WSU commuter alluded to, nothing worse than combining people who can't drive on their own (yanked license or no car) with a job that allows them into vehicles that they don't own. Years ago I had a job at a place where it was really frowned upon to be reckless, and half the employees took the bus to work or had their tickets yanked...and thought they were Mario Andretti when they got in the work vehicles (which weren't driven on public roads, but plenty of other vehicles and people).
 
Setec Astronomy said:
:doh Not unintended acceleration again! Some of you are old enough to remember the Audi 5000 unintended acceleration debacle, which almost put Audi out of business in the US market. This was completely debunked by Car & Driver as pedal misapplication, a finding also concluded by DOT/IIHS many years later (thank this for the brake/shift interlocks on most current auto trans. cars).
Click to expand...



Doug Newman, the Carwash Association spokesman, has conveniently mis-stated, mis-quoted and mis-applied the facts. The Jeep recall ONLY applies to the Grand Cherokee (ZJ) models from 1993-1998, and it was in response to a few reports of vehicles rolling backward when thought to be stabilized in "Park." It had nothing to do with forward movement or acceleration of any kind.



How such a problem has "plagued (the carwarsh) industry for many years" is beyond comprehension.
 
ZJ JIM 96 said:
How such a problem has "plagued (the carwarsh) industry for many years" is beyond comprehension.
Click to expand...



Like I said, I have noticed they really stick up for the tunnel wash people, making excuses for them pretty regularly. Us detail guys are lucky to get 5 pages a month. :nixweiss
 
Different recall ZJ JIM 96



It's been said that the transfer case hump moves the cherokee gas pedal slightly further left than most cars and some people mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake. But many studies have disproven this theory, but you still hear about it.



Very sad.





Just got this...



Clarifying the Association's Position Regarding Comments about Tragic Accident at Splash Car Wash



Many of you are aware of the tragic accident last Sunday at Splash Car Wash in Hamden, Conn., and have read the article that appeared in Professional Carwashing & Detailing magazine's e-News and on its Web site. The article included a quote from myself and was taken out of context. I would like to set the record straight regarding the International Carwash Association's position on this matter.



On behalf of the Board of Directors of the International Carwash Association, I first want to extend our heartfelt sympathies to all those affected by this tragic accident - our thoughts and prayers go out to you.



For more than a decade, the International Carwash Association has been aware of "sudden acceleration" problems by Jeep Cherokees and Jeep Grand Cherokees in car washes. We have spent countless hours analyzing evidence, talking with DaimlerChrysler officials, interviewing car wash operators and employees, and meeting with experts on the topic of "sudden acceleration." We have on numerous occasions advised the professional car wash industry on the precautionary steps to take to avoid accidents caused by these vehicles. Unfortunately, however, the accidents like the one that occurred last Sunday continue.



Yesterday, I was asked to comment on the suggestion that the "sudden acceleration" accidents were caused by something other than "pedal misapplication" and I said that there was no evidence to suggest that it was anything other than operator error. I was not commenting specifically on the accident at Splash Car Wash last Sunday. Rather, I was commenting on the results of our earlier assessments of previous accidents.



We've received calls asking for the International Carwash Association to take action in response to this tragedy, but please know that the investigation into the accident at Splash Car Wash continues - I spoke with an investigator from the Hamden, Conn. police department on Tuesday. We will await the results of their investigation into the cause of this accident, which will form the basis for action to be taken by the International Carwash Association.



I want to assure the professional car wash industry that the Board of Directors of the International Carwash Association will indeed take action, but only after we get the facts and determine the proper course of action based upon those facts.



Mark O. Thorsby

Executive Director

International Carwash Association
 
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