| Conclusion |
The Golf Rallye G60 was built as the flagship
of Volkswagen, if this failure can happen to a car that was built to
such a high standard, then it follows it can happen to others too.
This failure was found because the trouble was
taken to look, under normal circumstances this car would have been
scrapped, the mechanics mantra would have put it down to impact
damage and the driver blamed.
The driver and his passenger were extremely lucky
to walk away from this accident with cuts and bruising, the
passenger in particular as he was sitting by the door that took the
full impact.
The intention of these pages is to give other
drivers an insight into the danger that a failed shaft can bring and
enable them to make an informed decision.
These pages will be updated as events unfold, I
have every intention of bringing this to a conclusion that benefits
drivers and their safety. Had this been a hang glider that had
crashed causing minor injury to the pilot a team would make a
thorough investigation of the event, the same should apply to cars!
This fracture is highly unlikely to be a one off
single event, all driveshafts under go the same torsional loads any
with a fault would ultimately fail in fatigue, there are
organizations looking into highway design to cut road deaths, cars
are fitted with airbags, ABS braking systems, side impact bars and
the like, but if your wheel comes off many count for nothing.
If you have an interest in safety please pass the
web address of this site to a friend or relative, who knows it may
save a life.
I would also like to put on record my gratitude to
the gentleman at the Vehicle Testing Agency for his help and rapid
response in reporting this failure to Volkswagen. I wish I could say
the same of Volkswagen's response.
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