Off-Duty Orange County Firefighter Dies After His Toyota Tacoma Veers Off the 241 Toll Road
A 21-year-old off-duty U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service firefighter died in a crash on the 241 toll road north of the 133 in Irvine, a news article in The Orange County Register reports. The off-duty firefighter, identified as Patrick Michael Henning of Rancho Santa Margarita, was found in his 1996 Toyota Tacoma that had reportedly rolled off the shoulder of the freeway.
Henning had died of injuries sustained during the crash when his truck rolled over several times, California Highway Patrol officials told the Register. Officials are not clear what caused the driver to lose control of the truck or what caused it to flip several times. But officials say that it apparently was a single-vehicle crash and no others were involved. CHP officials are looking for witnesses who may have seen the crash occur.
This is one of those crashes that we see occur every day which could have been caused by any number of factors. It likely could have been a mechanical defect in the vehicle. This vehicle model falls within those models which were part of a federal recall. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, Toyota recalled 90,000 1996 Tacoma trucks because of a mechanical defect, which under certain driving conditions, caused the front suspension support to crack leading to failure of the support and causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
There are bound to be unanswered questions in these types of accidents. The victim’s family would be well-advised to maintain possession of the vehicle in an unaltered condition until they can retain an auto defect law firm. The vehicle is the main piece of evidence in any auto defect case and preserving it is absolutely important if the cause of the crash is to be determined.
Hiring a reputed auto defect law firm will usually help families of crash victims facilitate a more thorough and independent investigation rather than leaving it to local agencies, that often do not have the time and resources to go into the details of the crash or pinpoint the cause.
Comments
I LOVE YOU PAT!. YOU WILL BE MISSED SO MUCH!! YOU WERE SUCH A GREAT GUY! RELAX IN PARADISE BROTHER
:(
Posted by: DREW GUENTHER | March 6, 2008 10:38 AM
Rest in peace brother
Posted by: Anonymous | July 22, 2008 3:12 PM
I was driving from Tucson to Queen Creek on highway 79. I set my cruise control to 65 and enjoyed the ride. I came around a bend in the road, and there was a pickup pulling a trailer a few hundred yards ahead going much slower than 65. I tapped on the break to disengage the cruise control, and slowed down to ~ 50 before I could pass due to oncoming traffic.. Once the road was clear, I accelerated by pushing the resume feature of the cruise control. The truck accelerated, and I was waiting to feel the overdrive gear kick in but it did not. the truck kept accelerating past 90 MPH. I looked down to the gas pedal to see if it was blocked or obstructed and it was not but I could feel gas pedal was flat against the floor. I first tapped on the break but the truck kept speeding up. I turned off the cruise control, but the truck kept speeding up. at close to 100 MPH I put the truck in neutral and tried to get the truck off to the side of the road, but it felt as though the brakes were not working. I got the truck stopped by placing both feet on the brake. The engine was running at ~6000 RPM so I looked at things I thought might be obvious such as an obstruction of the gas pedal, but the pedal was clear and un obstructed. I looked under the truck to look for anything leaking or broken and everything looked fine.. I turned off the engine, let the truck sit a minute, then started it again. I drove Iris home, and went straight to the Toyota dealer. The dealer told me they couldn't find anything wrong but said the floor mat was obstructing the gas pedal.
I can assure you that the gas pedal is the FIRST thing I checked when I realized the cruise control wasn't disengaging the engine. I checked it again once I got the truck to stop. If I had seen the pedal was obstructed, I wouldn't be filling out the complaint form and chalked it up to checking the floor mat before driving. This was the scariest situation I have ever had behind the wheel. "
I have done A LOT or surfing on this, and there are 6 deaths, as well as several injuries and totaled vehicles attributed to this. It has been REPORTED to the NTSB 138 times.. There have been crashes on trucks WITH floor mats as well as trucks WITHOUT floor mats. Toyota claims it's all about the floor mats.
Toyota pulled me into the service Director's office and told me that they have a lot of experienced mechanics who are trained to look for problems such as this. I put my Air Force hat on and told the Director " Sir, I fixed fighter aircraft for 23 years and I had an engine run license on F-4, F-15, and F-16 Aircraft. I was the "lucky" guy who got to start an aircraft and check it out for problems after major maintenance such as engine change and the like. One thing I learned is not to panic when things go south when running an aircraft, so the problem can be evaluated. I used these evaluation skills when my car started to auto accelerate. The FIRST thing I did was look at the accelerator pedal to see if it was obstructed. I also engaged and disengaged the cruise control as well as checked for any indication lights and turned the cruise control off. Keep in mind as this point I was going 100 miles an hour and my wife was about to have a heart attack."
I got a response " well Sir, cars of today are more advanced as you know.." I cut him off and said " So I can't evaluate an obstructed gas pedal!!??"
I said very politely "Thank you Gentlemen" and walked out. I then reported the entire incident to the NTSB. They CALLED ME SATURDAY MORNING AT 4AM!!
Scott Yon (from the NTSB) told me he just closed an investigation on this exact situation due to lack of evidence. He told me he was glad that I had the time and the "intestinal fortitude" to ride this out and to gather as much information as I did.. I told him that is was very easy for me to understand how someone would panic in this situation and not know what to do which would most likely end in a bad accident considering the throttle was stuck full open. I assured him that the floor mats had NOTHING to do with my incident.
The internet if filled with people who had similar experiences and many involved crashes with injuries. Does Toyota take ANY responsibility?? No. One truck only had 400 miles on it and was a total loss.
I can't help but wonder how many people didn't have enough response time when this happened to them and they slammed into the car in front of them or worse a head-on. The driver reports that the truck started to accelerate on its own and the officer would have that "Yea right" look on his/her face. A hefty ticket for loss of control and insurance rates climb, all because of a defect Toyota does not claim to be valid.
The NTSB told me that there is a good chance they will re-open their investigation. He explained how recalls work and that if Toyota had to do a recall, this could cost them millions of dollars.
One other point about this- Toyota Highlander has the EXACT SAME THROTTLE CONTROL and have had complaints for the same thing.
My advice is if you have a Toyota Tacoma or a Highlander and the vehicle starts to auto accelerate. Turn off the key!!! You will loose power steering and power brakes, but you will stop. Better yet don't use the cruise control!
Posted by: John Owens | July 12, 2009 8:10 PM