Image via WTVC
A freak accident involving a brake caliper, of all things, flying through a car’s windshield has left a 20-year-old passenger dead in Georgia. Never, in all our years on God’s green earth have we seen such a thing and we hope to never see such an accident again.
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Details about the accident are scarce in the WTVC story, but here’s what we do know. The deceased woman, Autumn McClure of Tennessee, died on August 14 when a brake caliper from a vehicle in front of the Hyundai she was riding in came loose and flew through the windshield.
While modern windshields are safety glass, if there’s an object that’s dense enough it will go through the layers, which is what the caliper did. Sadly, that’s not surprising to us.
This happened in Ringgold, Georgia but we don’t know if it was on a surface street or highway. It would be interesting to know that, how fast the vehicles were going, etc. We’re also curious what kind of car lost its brake caliper.
While we’ve seen loose brake calipers in the past, usually the big concern there is a loss of braking power. Never have we seen one come flying out of the chassis and hit another car or anything. They usually just flop around loose and that’s it.
That leads to our next question: who was the last person to touch the car’s brakes? Was it a shop or the owner or a friend/family member? Will this result in a lawsuit against that person/business? This could be an interesting case to watch if it ends up going to court.
The obvious lesson here is you need to properly torque all car parts to factory spec. Failure to do so can cause all kinds of problems, apparently including having pieces of your ride go flying into other vehicles.
Image via WTVC
