Car Modifications lead to the death of two you people.

[brucemillar]

This is very sad indeed.
Modifications to car 'led to the deaths of two young people' - BBC News

 

[merc85]

How can vents cut into the Bonnet of a vehicle increase fumes inside?

 

[st13phil]

Very sad indeed, but it wasn't so much the modifications that cause the problem, more that one in particular was poorly executed (the leaking exhaust gasket).

It does speak to the fact that if you don't know what you're doing, then you shouldn't fiddle with cars, though.

 

[Flyinspanner]

I imagine that the leaking exhaust fumes fed up through bonnet vents and into the cabin air intakes below the screen?

Sounds like car was stationary. Car running with very high CO2, sadly gassed them.

 

[st13phil]

How can vents cut into the Bonnet of a vehicle increase fumes inside?

Presumably, the fumes were routed out of the top of the bonnet vents by way of convection, and then were drawn in through the heater air intake on the scuttle below the windscreen?

 

[markjay]

...It does speak to the fact that if you don't know what you're doing, then you shouldn't fiddle with cars, though.

Yes. Same as for anything else, really... including DIY changing of brake discs and pads, DIY suspension repairs or modifications, etc etc.

 

[merc85]

Presumably, the fumes were routed out of the top of the bonnet vents by way of convection, and then were drawn in through the heater air intake on the scuttle below the windscreen?

How did Sierra Cosworths for one, get around this issue?

 

[merc85]

Very sad indeed, but it wasn't so much the modifications that cause the problem, more that one in particular was poorly executed (the leaking exhaust gasket).

It does speak to the fact that if you don't know what you're doing, then you shouldn't fiddle with cars, though.

More likely or even poor maintenance

 

[whitenemesis]

How did Sierra Cosworths for one, get around this issue?

They didn't have a leaking exhaust as standard?

Check out the video here, Police demonstrate what happened

Modifications to car 'led to the deaths of two young people' - BBC News

 

[Yugguy]

Reading on jalopnik they'd ripped out the cat.

Ford Fiesta ST Mods Gone Wrong Blamed For Two Mysterious Deaths

 

[AndyRan]

Reading the article and watching the video clearly started it was the poor gasket and leaking exhaust that led to the sad death

To be fair even if the CAT was still in place, the leak was off the turbo down pipe and leaked before where a CAT would have been. The CO2 would be high regardless.

I would suggest that the leak was due to poor fitment / no new gasket when the De-Cat was fitted - So not really a modification that caused the event but poor workmanship

 

[brucemillar]

It serves as a salutary reminder to us all, just how dangerous cars can be if not treated with the greatest of respect. I mean no disrespect to the young couple who have sadly lost their lives as I have no idea what (if any) involvement that they had in the cars modification.

I suspect that we all, at times get a bit blasé when working on our cars. In this instance they were dealing with an invisible killer that (I suspect) would have given them no warning or inclination of any issue.

I worked at a small company in Brighouse, Yorkshire, where one of the employees was constantly complaining of headaches and sickness, at one point to the obvious frustration of her management. After several GP visits and careful diary work, she insisted that the problem lay in her place of work. That was proved correct when at her insistence the Gas Heating System was inspected and found to have a badly fitted and blocked flue, that was saturating the office in poisonous fumes. The timer for the heating mirrored her shift patterns.


Stay Safe.

 

[hotrodder]

No one's gonna be accidentally gassed by CO2 and not notice* unless they were already out cold. It was carbon monoxide (CO) [/pedantic]

Doesn't make it any less sad but having just taken my daily cynical pill i reckon more had been done to that car than just a decat, leaking exhaust and holes in the bonnet... the thing was spitting flames on the overrun in the vid, not something many (most?) cars will do unless given a 'pops and bangs' remap or, for turbos, an antilag system
With a working cat CO emissions of modern car should be less than 0.2% (MOT limit). A chunk less, my s124 recorded 0.000% last MOT. The pre cat test allowed 3.5% but modern FI stuff should be way better than that without a cat, that limit is more about carbs

* that horrible sensation / desperate desire to breathe when you hold your breath for too long or someone is trying to suffocate you is due to CO2 levels in the blood increasing. Some of the shielding gases used for welding like argon are very dangerous in enclosed spaces because, being denser than air, they can displace it and kill with zero warning i.e. breathe argon and there's no O2 to CO2 exchange in the lungs = no build up of CO2 = no warning signs except maybe some very brief lightheadedness/confusion before you pass out and are dead in minutes unless rescued pretty much immediately
CO is more dangerous 'cause it's toxic and does several other things including binding with haemoglobin in the blood which stops it binding with O2 i.e can kill at much lower concentrations... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning