Breakaway car

[deereone]

Saw this on the local news last night: LINK

[dodge_guy]

In this case even with breakaway brakes, the system would've not operated after it pulled all the wires out. Unless it's a system that operates when the power goes away? This is why it is important to have redundant backups ie cables back to the frame.

[Dutch_12078]

Corkey05 wrote:

Dutch_12078 wrote:
Wow! That was sure an unpleasant surprise I'm sure. I noticed in the shot of the front bumper/base plate, that the Roadmaster base plate apparently does not have the safety cables back to the frame that Blue Ox supplies with their base plates. I think that would have led to much less drama in this situation, since the car would not have completely broken away.

Not a Roadmaster, .. looks like a Demco.

I stand corrected. Apparently Demco doesn't supply the supplemental safety cables either.

[willald]

WyoTraveler wrote:
All the RVers that have questions of why they need a braking system and why a break away cable now have a good photo of why. This is only the photo. Wait until the law suites start. Why no braking system? Why no brake away cable?

Law suits from who? The loose car here (fortunately) did not hit anyone or anything, except some bushes. The MH owner was very, very fortunate in that regard.

Oh, I guess the gas station might sue him, to make him pay for the bushes that his car tore up. 🙂

This incident definitely shows why a break-away system is extremely important. Its pretty clear here that such was either was not used or did not work properly.

HOWEVER, this incident does NOT make a case one way or the other for a supplemental braking system. The two (break-away vs supplemental brake) are not necessarily one and the same, you can get a simple break-away system without a supplemental brake (for example, the Ready-Stop device from ReadyBrake).

Its just really, really fortunate in this case, that the car went the way it did, and did not really hit anything or hurt anyone! 'Tis definitely one of every MH owner's worst nightmares, to look over at the reaar view monitor and not see a car back there..

[rjstractor]

Everyone seems to be assuming that there was no brake system or breakaway cable. Well, if the portion of the car that the breakaway cable is attached to completely breaks off, a breakaway system does no good. It looks as though the whole front subframe of the car came loose, not just the baseplate. As for the talk of lawsuits, no one was hurt and some bushes got run over. Once the guys car is fixed, who is going to sue whom for what? Some flattened bushes?

[Popsie]

WyoTraveler wrote:
All the RVers that have questions of why they need a braking system and why a break away cable now have a good photo of why. This is only the photo. Wait until the law suites start. Why no braking system? Why no brake away cable?

That's why you need insurance - including an umbrella liability policy.

[WyoTraveler]

All the RVers that have questions of why they need a braking system and why a break away cable now have a good photo of why. This is only the photo. Wait until the law suites start. Why no braking system? Why no brake away cable?

[j-d]

I'm not going to try and blow the images up and study them like a forensic, but here's what it seems like to me:
I don't think just the baseplate pulled off.
Looks more like part of the unibody subframe separated.
If the baseplate worked loose it could have "worried" the subframe welds.
Also looks like the Chevy is repairable.
If so... Would I want to tow it again, using the repaired welds...?
Maybe not, but a repair might be better than the original welds.

[Bobbo]

Bumper was found about 2 miles back up the road. Can you say no breakaway brakes?

[UsualSuspect]

I am guessing there was no breakaway cable since it went so far. Thankfully no one was hit by it.

[Corkey05]

Dutch_12078 wrote:
Wow! That was sure an unpleasant surprise I'm sure. I noticed in the shot of the front bumper/base plate, that the Roadmaster base plate apparently does not have the safety cables back to the frame that Blue Ox supplies with their base plates. I think that would have led to much less drama in this situation, since the car would not have completely broken away.

Not a Roadmaster, .. looks like a Demco.

[ronfisherman]

The towbar in the video looks to me to be a Demco.

[punomatic]

"It's so easy to tow. Why, I can't even tell it's back there!" :S

[Dutch_12078]

Wow! That was sure an unpleasant surprise I'm sure. I noticed in the shot of the front bumper/base plate, that the Roadmaster base plate apparently does not have the safety cables back to the frame that Blue Ox supplies with their base plates. I think that would have led to much less drama in this situation, since the car would not have completely broken away.