Another M-B spring failure ... talk about freak accident!

[BTB 500]

In the news today

THE youth team of German Bundesliga football club Werder Bremen were saved from certain death by their co-trainer after a freak autobahn accident knocked out their coach driver at 70 mph.

A spring flew off from a passing Mercedes car through the windshield of the coach and smashed into the forehead of the driver, knocking him unconscious.

With blood pouring down his face and the runaway coach headed for the central reservation crash barrier, team co-trainer Markus Werle, 39, grabbed the steering wheel and jammed his foot on to the brakes. It came to a jarring halt half-a-mile later on the A7 motorway leading into Bremen.

Lucky save for the football team - Germany in Focus News - German Herald English Online Newspaper about Germany

Sounds pretty bizarre? Presumably it was a suspension spring, but how did it (or part of it) come right off

 

[Sp!ke]

The police are hunting the driver of the mercedes...

Surprising if he didnt have to stop after losing a spring.

 

[prprandall51]

This story almost defies belief. How could a part of the spring escape the confines of the wheel arch / wheel & tyre? If a piece of spring did escape, how did achieve such a lofty trajectory (the coach driver's head being some 6 feet from the road surface)?

It's almost impossible to imagine enough potential energy being stored in the spring for this to happen.

Maybe the spring was on a roof rack and fell off?

 

[BQF]

sheared off and bounced underneath the car, then flew up when it hit the rear bumper?? I could see that happening. Kind of.

 

[moonloops]

You may find springs bounce quite well !!!

 

[finisterre]

maybe ran over a spring in the road?
I did once compress a spring, tie it and drop it in a fire.

Bdoinnngg about fifty feet upwards.

 

[BTB 500]

And how did they know the spring came off a Mercedes, unless maybe it was a bit with a part number stamped on it??

 

[camerafodder]

And how did they know the spring came off a Mercedes, unless maybe it was a bit with a part number stamped on it??

That's easy, it was broken!

 

[BTB 500]

Maybe the rust on it gave the game away too!

 

[Davo]

Who's he think he is, Felipe Massa?

 

[Diesel Benz]

Not that rare for the W/S210 front springs I would assume.

 

[AlanD]

LOL .. was just thinking of Massa too!! Slightly less bodywork in the way on the back of an F1 car mind ...

 

[Sonny Burnett]

Not that rare for the W/S210 front springs I would assume.

mine broke... trust me it dident fly off and try to kill a bus the car just droped... the spring dident even leave the perch.. just collapsed on it self..

maybe it was a E55 and he was gunning it..???

 

[Shude]

It's almost impossible to imagine enough potential energy being stored in the spring for this to happen.

It's being pushed down by about a third of a ton! A dealership mechanic told me a spring got loose in the workshop and went through the ceiling - manufacturing defect in the spring compressor or something.

 

[manalishi]

The spring didn't have to be travelling fast to do the damage - the coach was.

And if the car didn't need to stop, my guess is that the spring was some existing debris that was thrown up by the passing car.

 

[Diesel Benz]

mine broke... trust me it dident fly off and try to kill a bus the car just droped... the spring dident even leave the perch.. just collapsed on it self..

maybe it was a E55 and he was gunning it..???

I cannot remember other MB models that have the design similar to that of the W210 front, the shocks would keep the spring on other models (where springs fail too). It is still easy to believe what you explain about the spring unlikely flying off. Shude's post explains how this could happen. Better not drive close to workshops in the future.

 

[prprandall51]

It's being pushed down by about a third of a ton! A dealership mechanic told me a spring got loose in the workshop and went through the ceiling - manufacturing defect in the spring compressor or something.

Agreed - but I assume we are not talking about an entire spring here? Surely it can only be a part of a spring. Therefore, it could only have stored a small proportion of the total potential energy in the spring. And any potential energy would have been discharged almost instantaneously when it left (or part of it left) the suspension arms behind - long before it hit the road or the coach.

 

[BTB 500]

I'm still curious how they knew it had come from an M-B, since it presumably wasn't an entire spring and it's highly unlikely anyone was paying enough attention before it happened to know what sort of car had previously gone by.

 

[Rory]

Considering how often springs break these days, it's amazing there aren't more accidents as a result - on some cars the pierce they tyre, which wouldn't be funny at speed.

 

[e320cdiowner]

I remember when working for a college years ago as a IT Technician. one day I was in the vechicle workshop , a student was trying to compress a spring using compressors which looks like a pair of long blots with two hooks( with the nuts welded on each side . the hook suddenly gave way the spring shot up and hit the concrete ceiling . A piece of the ceiling broke . It narraowly escape the student head by about a inch.How lucky he is to be alive. the management of the college quikly replaced it with a latter model with addtional safety features on it.