Police seize car after wheel strikes boy

[RG]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001028,00.html

Originally Posted by News.com.au

May 13, 2009 06:46am


POLICE have seized a car for mechanical examination after a wheel fell off and struck a 10-year-old boy standing at a Sydney bus stop.

The boy remains in a critical condition at The Children's Hospital at Westmead with head, ankle and abdominal injuries after the accident, which happened just before 4pm (AEST) yesterday.

The boy was standing at the stop on Lane Cove Road at North Ryde when a wheel came loose from a white Nissan Skyline sedan travelling south, police said.

Police spoke to the driver of the car, a 33-year-old Yagoona man, at the scene and he was taken to hospital for mandatory tests.

The car was seized for mechanical examination, police said.

Lane Cove Rd was closed for four hours in the wake of the accident.

Police are asking for anyone who saw what happened to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Poor kid. I can see large ramifications if it turns out the Skyline was running wheels with the wrong offset / wheel spacers / wrong centre hole size etc.

[gcg2503]

Hope the kid recovers but it doesn't sound very promising when they say critical condition.

:(

Every parents worst nightmare

[Scott]

Jeebus that would do some damage, hope the little bloke is ok soon. Not sure about where blame would fall if it was found that the wrong wheels were on the car, NSW still have annual RWC Inspections don't they?

I hope for all concerned that is was just a freak event.

[Powdered Toast Man]

This actually happened to a uni mate of mine years ago. He didn't tighten his wheel nuts and his front wheel came off while driving and ended up travelling down the footpath. He was very lucky there was nobody walking or standing in it's way for it to hit.

[Trek]

I for one wouldn't doubt something was definitely wrong in relation to the wheel. It's unfortunate that this occurred, the kid certainly is unlucky to have had this happen to him. Hope the idiot driving the s*****e learns from this experience (even though he probably won't...).

[BIGJB]

Lets not turn this tragic event into a jap crapper bashing session,
there could be heaps of reasons this may have happened.
Wheels been put on with a rattle gun at low pressure and not checked by hand
or the exact opposite and over tightened causing the studs to fracture are
the 1st 2 that spring to mind.

I hope the poor kid is ok but. Would have been scary as for the little fella.

[flappist]

I remember about a year ago there was a bloke driving an F6 on the logan bypass who felt his steering go a bit strange. It turned out that the RHS front suspension had a woopsie and if he had hit a big bump the wheel would have fallen off.
This F6 had been always maintained by an FPV dealer, had original rims, fairly new tyres and bilstein shocks fitted by the abovementiond FPV dealer.

All covered by roadside assist and warranty but not one hour earlier the car was playing on the toowoomba range were a wheel loss could have been spectacular.

Wait until the whole story is known, newspapers tend to spin doctor....

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Trek

Hope the idiot driving the s*****e learns from this experience (even though he probably won't...).

We don't know if he had anything to do with it yet, all we know is that a wheel came off and put a kid in hospital. The fact that the Police are investigating the car is very normal in a case like this.

[Jason[98.EL]]

Originally Posted by 99GHIA

Lets not turn this tragic event into a jap crapper bashing session,
there could be heaps of reasons this may have happened.
Wheels been put on with a rattle gun at low pressure and not checked by hand
or the exact opposite and over tightened causing the studs to fracture are
the 1st 2 that spring to mind.

I hope the poor kid is ok but. Would have been scary as for the little fella.

couldnt agree more with your post

i hope the young lad comes through my thoughts are with his family

Jason

[Pinch]

I hope the little one pulls through.

I have lost a wheel of my boat trailer (17in Commodore SS wheel) when I hit a lump of concrete I could not swerve to miss (bad idea to do with a boat on a multi lane road). It snapped the wheel studs. Fortunately it struck the front of a soft roader and not a pedestrian. My insurance covered, had to pay the excess as couldn't nominate the owner of the concrete.

Scary.

[DJR David]

I rememeber when I was a kd this nearly happened to me and my Dad. We were waiting for a bus and a brown HQ ute lost a wheel which came flying towards us but missed thank God. Odd thing is that it was at the same spot as the news story, but 25 years later.

Scary stuff, as you cant move as you have no way of knowing which way it will bounce

[AUIIForte]

Originally Posted by Powdered Toast Man

This actually happened to a uni mate of mine years ago. He didn't tighten his wheel nuts and his front wheel came off while driving and ended up travelling down the footpath. He was very lucky there was nobody walking or standing in it's way for it to hit.

Boy, it's even luckier that he could maintain control of his car and not cause a huge car wreck.

What speed was this at?

[X F 6 2 5 0]

poor kid this reminds me on the original drum diff that was in my car when i first bolted the 18's on (pre AU offset and everything) the rears kept coming loose didnt matter how tight they were or anything the theads looked fine none were snapped and the nuts were brand new but then i changed to disc *** end and then they were fine never had a problem after changing diffs lol

[ten[A]cio[U]s]

Originally Posted by RG

[url]
Poor kid. I can see large ramifications if it turns out the Skyline was running wheels with the wrong offset / wheel spacers / wrong centre hole size etc.

I agree! If its aftermarket they will make a LOT of noise about this. I hate the idea of a spacer, after seeing one on my mates r32, they are bloody dangerous!

I hope the poor kid is ok..

[azaxr8]

This happened to my dad in my car about 2 weeks ago. Driving at 80km/h and the back LH wheel fell off. a week before we tightened all the wheels as you usually do so no way it could come off. Untill i found out someone was playing a prank on me....... Pretty bad considering this could of happened to a pedestrian near my dad. at 80km/h i would of hate to see the damage if it did hit someone. My car was ok thou only a few hiccups to panel/paint

[LTDHO]

What I don't understand it that when a wheel comes loose, the drive knows about it.
How can anyone drive with a loose wheel?

[merlin]

Could happen suddenly. I know on one of my previous XR's an un-named workshop forgot to tighten the rear wheel nuts and I drove it like that for about 45 mins till I noticed a strange mechanical sound from the rear of the car (at 100km/h). I got out and checked and all the wheel nuts where finger tight.....

[Powdered Toast Man]

Originally Posted by AUIIForte

Boy, it's even luckier that he could maintain control of his car and not cause a huge car wreck.

What speed was this at?

It was in a 60 zone so knowing him he was probably doing about 90 :

It was a front left so he was able to keep it under control riding on the brake disk and rear section of the front guard.

The closest thing his wheel came to hitting was a Mercedes parked on the nature strip.

[XR6_661]

Originally Posted by merlin

Could happen suddenly. I know on one of my previous XR's an un-named workshop forgot to tighten the rear wheel nuts and I drove it like that for about 45 mins till I noticed a strange mechanical sound from the rear of the car (at 100km/h). I got out and checked and all the wheel nuts where finger tight.....

Same thing happened to me. Except it was the local Ford service centre.

Hope the young lad pulls through. And for the driver of the vehicle, let's hope it was all legal!

[Cookie-XR8]

all i can see is court case, just hope the little fella is all good

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by merlin

Could happen suddenly. I know on one of my previous XR's an un-named workshop forgot to tighten the rear wheel nuts and I drove it like that for about 45 mins till I noticed a strange mechanical sound from the rear of the car (at 100km/h). I got out and checked and all the wheel nuts where finger tight.....

Same here, but good old ford service!! I lost a bolt so i was unimpressed.

[Macca23]

Somone may have tried to steal the wheels. Might of been at a tyre place/merchanic etc and not had the nuts done up correctly as stated. Poor kid, A rolling wheel to the body would not be the best feeling

[wodahs]

Originally Posted by flappist

I remember about a year ago there was a bloke driving an F6 on the logan bypass who felt his steering go a bit strange. It turned out that the RHS front suspension had a woopsie and if he had hit a big bump the wheel would have fallen off.
This F6 had been always maintained by an FPV dealer, had original rims, fairly new tyres and bilstein shocks fitted by the abovementiond FPV dealer.

All covered by roadside assist and warranty but not one hour earlier the car was playing on the toowoomba range were a wheel loss could have been spectacular.

Wait until the whole story is known, newspapers tend to spin doctor....

i agree with you flappist
any number of things could have attributed to the situation i was driving a land cruiser that had a woopsie on a state road do this lost 3 wheel nuts and broke 3 studs and lost the front drivers side ending up on the disk the ute did turn over and lucky no one was hurt could have been heeps worse and even had the standard toyota rim on it at the time (even had a new tyre)

still feel sorry for the boy and hope he recovers fully

[Scott]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

What I don't understand it that when a wheel comes loose, the drive knows about it.
How can anyone drive with a loose wheel?

Ask Paul Dumbrell

[ILLaViTaR]

My back left one fell off at 110k's whole car swung basically.

It made shocking noise for around 3hrs of driving. I was at work I told them the situation and they said they "were too busy for me to go home and tighten it up".

[Feathers]

Can happen to anyone. Nissan, Ford, Holden, Daewoo... Modified or not.
Parts can be faulty, people make mistakes, or take shortcuts.
Until the police conclude their investigation, then really the only concern should be for the kid.

[svo supporter]

These people jumping to conclusions like the bloke was speeding or something along those lines. Geez.

It could have been a simple thing like some lowlife trying to knock his wheels off. It might have only had a couple of wheel nuts holding it in place and while he was cruising along, those studs might have snapped causing the problem.

Yes, I do feel sorry for the little tacker that was hurt, along with the driver. I don't know about anyone else, but if something like that happened to me, I'd be a mess.

Hope all turns out well in the long run, for both driver and 10 year old

[snappy]

I just cant get over how much that would hurt , even if it hit you a 60k's it would be like getting hit with a wrecking ball

[Dave_Obsession]

any updates on the condition of the kid?

[SB076]

Originally Posted by Feathers

Can happen to anyone. Nissan, Ford, Holden, Daewoo... Modified or not.
Parts can be faulty, people make mistakes, or take shortcuts.
Until the police conclude their investigation, then really the only concern should be for the kid.

Correct, I also feel for the driver - he/she would be gutted