£1000+ damage done in a car wash

Kilty_2

jcb208 wrote: »

No way would I put a week old car through a car wash.

I wouldn't either but plenty of dealers will put your brand new car through one after they PDI it.

Doesn't help the OP does it? No excuse for faulty machinery wrecking said car.

shandypants5

marlot wrote: »

The machine should be designed to sense if a car is in slightly the wrong position.

If it was so badly maintained that the emergency buttons weren't working, then sensors to detect the sides of the car could well have been faulty too.

Automated machinery "should" be designed to fail safe.
So if anything wasnt working or you just parked incorrectly, then the machine should have just stopped.

Emergency stop buttons should be wired with a double wire circuit and a proper emergency stop contactor that does self checks on itself and WILL NOT allow the machine to work unless the circuitry is good.

For 2 Estop buttons to fail in the normally closed position and allow the machine to run, is highly unlikely and should be impossible.
Its much more likely that the wiring had been cheated out at some point at some point because the car wash wouldnt work. (I work with industrial machinery and see safety circuits "cheated out" all the time. Very dangerous.)

Also, you say there was a "knob" that turned off the power to everything including the doors.

If this was the mains isolator for the whole machine then how would anyone who ever turned off the car wash be able to leave the room?
Can you describe the "knob" in more detail ?
was it a lever you pulled down or a rotary type switch that you turned?
What colour was it ?

Any room that contains people and has automated doors HAS to have one fire exit at least or it shouldnt have been allowed to be open to the public.

If the incident happend just as you describe then you have a good case and should claim MASSIVE compensation for personal trauma as you were in real danger of losing your life.

On the other hand if you just lost controll of your car and crashed into the stationary car wash, then panicked and reversed into the rear roller door. Then your case is not so strong.

Wig

AppleCore wrote: »

What do you mean something's not right about the story? Which bit do you mean exactly?

I'm quite upset that my reasoning/thinking has been questioned when I have explained in detail exactly what happened to me, I don't get why a comment like that has been made - it's not very nice and not particularly helpful.

Welcome to the internet.

BTW there's nothing to stop you from posting your pictures. You can if you like blank out the numberplate


Write a letter to your local council Health & Safety inspectorate.

And you should persue your injuries, just because people here are cynical, don't pay any attention to them, get yourself onto a no win no fee solicitors, go to the doctors and report your problems (so there is a record).

The only thing companies understand is money & liability. You used an unsafe piece of equipment in good faith and you should be compensated FULLY for your losses and injuries.

AppleCore

Thanks for all your feedback and help.

The 2 emergency stop buttons that we tried had no signage. One was positioned near the front shutter and one near the centre on the side wall. Neither stopped the machinery but I presume that one was to stop the shutter and the other maybe was just to stop the brushes but nothing to actually stop the machine moving forward. I'm just guessing really as I still can't believe they wouldn't work. The knob that worked in the end was labeled 'mains isolator' and was located up high on some kind of metal fuse box type thing. It was high up and I presume it would have been used by maintenance people. It didnt say anything like 'in an emergency ....' so I don't think it was meant for customers use. It obviously isolated all power including the doors so we couldn't get out but there was no way I was going to risk switching it back on. The door chain pulleys were rusted up and none of us could get the shutter open, hence escaping through the hole my car had made as it was forced through the back shutter.

As for taking my car through a car wash - it was a lesson learned. I folded down the aerial thinking it was the only likely damage I'd get. I just wanted to save a but of money with a cheap car wash but I never expected to have the terrifying experience I did.

I can't emphasise enough how frightening it was, I thought the car was going to be crushed at both ends, imagine the machine squeezing the front and shunting it hard enough at the back it actually buckles the heavy metal shutter. I'm still shaking now.

Happychappy

I hope this doesnt sound cynical, but I think the McLaren team are looking at entering this car wash into the Australian F1 for tomorrow, the acceleration forces enough to throw people makes this a real winner, and no way Ferrari can produce anything like this and failing that the story could always go forward for a Booker prize award for fiction, just need a bit adding to set the scene, when the shutter creaked downwards, all light was cut out and we were alone..... trapped in this casket, everything was dark and it was eerily quiet, suddenly without warning, the machine awoke with flashing red LED eyes and advanced towards us with a menacing growl, soap suds billowing from every orifice...........anyone do better ?

muckybutt

Gawd there are some idiots on here !

I used to operate an IMO type car wash - the ones that pull you through. Those types of car wash have sensors everywhere and wont let the wash nevermind the motors work if even one sees something it does'nt like.

Sounds to me very much like the safety circuitry had been over ridden, the knob you hit by the shutter does sound like that was for the shutter door, the one in the middle of the room I would have thought would have been for the machine and should stop everything dead in its tracks. The switch you did turn off was the mains isolator for the machine so lucky you could get to it ok.

In my eye this should be reported to the Health and Safety executive as a Dangerous Occurence as it could potenetially have killed someone, trouble is now is if the garage gets someone in the repair it any evidence of faulty em stop circuits will vanish.

We had an incident once where this chap in a Scimitar came in, he got on the rollers and it started to pullhim through, half way through he decided he'd had enough or he panicked and he drove out of the wash at full speed. He damaged the rollers, 2 sets of brushes, the drying fan, the exit doors etc. Damaged his car as there was door glass everywhere and he must have clouted his roof on the fan, but alas he never stopped or contacted us, good job really or he'd have been slapped with the £10,000 repairbill for our wash.

vikingaero

Kilty wrote: »

I wouldn't either but plenty of dealers will put your brand new car through one after they PDI it.

Doesn't help the OP does it? No excuse for faulty machinery wrecking said car.

Pop around the rear of many main dealers and you'll be surprised at how many have roller car wash machines. Your pre-delivered car will be put through it.

ankspon

AppleCore wrote: »

What do you mean something's not right about the story? Which bit do you mean exactly? The car wash smashed into my car, shunted it into the shutter and caused a lot of damage. My car is quite wide but not enormous so I must have had it positoned wrongly for it to smash into the car. I presume if my car was perfectly straight this wouldn't have happened. I have to admit I haven't been in a car wash for about 10 years but presumed it wouldn't even start unless my car was positioned correctly - surely something was very wrong here? Shouldn't all modern car washes have sensors to prevent accidents like this?

I'm quite upset that my reasoning/thinking has been questioned when I have explained in detail exactly what happened to me, I don't get why a comment like that has been made - it's not very nice and not particularly helpful.

Unfortunately this kind of reply is becoming common here,instead of giving advice they like to berate the op,the mods here should take action as it is happening too often.There should have been a safety device fitted and if your car was positioned wrong it should not have even started,good luck.

vikingaero

davidhwdn wrote: »

Unfortunately this kind of reply is becoming common here,instead of giving advice they like to berate the op,the mods here should take action as it is happening too often.There should have been a safety device fitted and if your car was positioned wrong it should not have even started,good luck.

Safety devices fail. My dad had the drying mechanism of a car wash gouge a channel down the roof of his car.

Kilty_2

vikingaero wrote: »

Pop around the rear of many main dealers and you'll be surprised at how many have roller car wash machines. Your pre-delivered car will be put through it.

I know - that's what I said

I know that my new car wasn't put through one though, because I watched them use a jet wash to wash it :cool: