Volkswagen Cleared by Coroner in Melissa Ryan "Unintended Deceleration" Case

[PassatB6]

Volkswagen warned of systemic problem with Polo, Golf models, but waited 10 months to act


Another day, another Fairfax article bashing on VW and linking back to the accident and the coroners report. Still think there isn't an agenda and they aren't using Ms Ryans death inappropriately?

SMH are aware they have egg on their face after the coroner found VW had no case to answer. Now they are trying to justify their original campaign by simply making stuff up. The coroner found no problem with the Golf in Ms Ryan's case, yet the SMH have to keep battering away pretending there was, somewhere, at some time, a "systemic" problem. Interesting they keep using the same term. Again, the whole article is suggestion and innuendo with the fact that a few owners had vehicle complaints as "proof" of a problem. Poor journalism yet again.

[mfl]

SMH are aware they have egg on their face after the coroner found VW had no case to answer. Now they are trying to justify their original campaign by simply making stuff up. The coroner found no problem with the Golf in Ms Ryan's case, yet the SMH have to keep battering away pretending there was, somewhere, at some time, a "systemic" problem. Interesting they keep using the same term. Again, the whole article is suggestion and innuendo with the fact that a few owners had vehicle complaints as "proof" of a problem. Poor journalism yet again.

SMH article is certainly very poor as it is trying to relate 2 different issues under the one headline. I think the fact that VW has issued 2 recall notices on DSGs might just indicate more than just a few owners have had problems with their cars. The fact that the coroners also suggested that the solution was to ban any use of phones in cars makes his finding questionable. ...Vic Coroner clears Volkswagen of fault in car crash - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) .......The truck driver ran over the top of the GTI because he couldn't stop in time. As an aside on 2 instances I had my GTI lose power while driving, eventually traced to faulty coils, by trial and error, because no error codes ever came up.

[nat225]

Brisbane on highways with 100-110km/h limits, I find 8/10 cars tailgate within 1-2 cars length, even at non peak hours and I am already at the maximum speed limit. If anything happens, there is no way on earth the tailgating car can stop or avoid any troubles.

Suburban streets with 50-60km/h limits, I still find drivers tailgating within 1 car length at least once a week. If there is suddenly a child or a dog crosses the road, there is now way the tailgating car can stop in time without hitting me from behind..

Simple physics, yet so many of these drivers don't bother maintaining distance with common sense for the sake of getting to their destinations 1-5 minutes earlier (or sadly hospitals if bad things happen due to unable to stop safely).

[wai]

Brisbane on highways with 100-110km/h limits, I find 8/10 cars tailgate within 1-2 cars length, even at non peak hours and I am already at the maximum speed limit. If anything happens, there is no way on earth the tailgating car can stop or avoid any troubles.

Suburban streets with 50-60km/h limits, I still find drivers tailgating within 1 car length at least once a week. If there is suddenly a child or a dog crosses the road, there is now way the tailgating car can stop in time without hitting me from behind..

Simple physics, yet so many of these drivers don't bother maintaining distance with common sense for the sake of getting to their destinations 1-5 minutes earlier (or sadly hospitals if bad things happen due to unable to stop safely).

Tailgating is plain stupid, no matter what the speed. In the context of the Ryan case, it was not tailgating, but a huge difference in speed (closing speed) caused by factors that were reported between the truck and her car, that was the most significant factor.

Until all drivers realise what it is they are doing, we will continue to have such incidents. If drivers want to race, then go to a race track. If drivers want to talk on the phone, then pull over or let it go to voicemail. Don't do this on public roads.

Licencing and training need to be reviewed. It must be the only activity of its type where completely unskilled individuals who, in many cases, have little or no understanding of the road rules, have no qualification in training, are then able to train and supervise learners enabling them to then be licenced.

I mean you can have just gone off your Ps and then you can supervise a learner. There is no minimum amount of training required with a qualified instructor. There is also no periodic re-testing. Your eyesight is tested every time you renew your licence, but nothing else is. At least you can be confident you can see the accident you are about to have or cause.

The general standard of driving is appalling across all age groups. Drivers have difficulty remembering the road rules immediately after passing their driving test. Many spend their entire lives avoiding parallel parking because they can't or don't like reversing. They will not park on a hill because they cannot do a hill start (even with all the aids available). They won't drive in heavy traffic because they have a panic attack with all those cars and trucks around them. They won't drive on highways or motorways because they never drove on them when they were learners.

Then in the Sunday Telegraph, the piece on overheight (yes, the article kept using overweight throughout it) vehicles revealed that many truck drivers have trouble understanding the height restrictions, or cannot actually read. It's a bit like the sign you used to see outside lifts that read "In case of fire, do not use lift". Well believe it or not, but many people actually believed that you would cause a fire if you used the lift! As a result, they had to change these signs to read "If there is a fire, do not use the lift"!

So, if we want the situation to improve, there needs to be a drastic change in how we handle driver training and testing.

[Transporter]

I agree that there are many dumb drivers that shouldn't be behind the wheel, when they don't know what is legal and what's not. However, it took more than 1 year to coroner to clear VW and I doubt that Ms Melissa Ryan's family is happy that their daughter is blamed for the accident. So, what should I think about that coroner? On one end, you have the dumb drivers and on the other, the coroner who needs an extremely long time to figure out what had happened, and I'm not sure if he got it right?

[wai]

It's a no win situation. If the coroner came down with the same decision too quickly, then there would have been cries of not a thorough enough inquest. It was lengthened to take more evidence, and that is seen as taking too long.

This is why it is important to get the full transcript of the inquest (if it is available to the public).

[PassatB6]

It's a no win situation. If the coroner came down with the same decision too quickly, then there would have been cries of not a thorough enough inquest. It was lengthened to take more evidence, and that is seen as taking too long.

This is why it is important to get the full transcript of the inquest (if it is available to the public).

The complete coroner's ruling including all the evidence can be found here.Coroner rules out systemic safety issues with the Volkswagen Golf in freeway crash death inquest - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Its at the bottom of the page. If you get a 404 message just refresh and it comes up. The evidence is clear and unequivocal. The deceased persons car was not faulty. The car slowed to 40 k in 100 k zone, the driver was on a mobile phone call and the truck driver didn't see her slow down because he was looking in his rear vision mirrors. Her brake light were on according to expert evidence suggesting she braked.

[wai]

The complete coroner's ruling including all the evidence can be found here.Coroner rules out systemic safety issues with the Volkswagen Golf in freeway crash death inquest - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Thanks. Just spent around an hour reading through it.

[Ideo]

I do not see how anyone can not see the way in which Fairfax has manipulated the reporting of this case in order to be seen as "crusading journalists protecting the consumer".

They have used a death of a citizen to push their own tangentially related campaign.

Did the DSG issue deserve to be pursued? Yes. Of course. VW has reacted shoddily to this matter in Australia. However, to try and link a coroners inquest on an accident involving a completely different model and transmission is cynical and manipulative in the extreme.

[ziggyboy]

I disagree that SMH took advantage of Ms. Ryan's death to pursue Volkswagen.

I believe that it was the other way around. Melissa Ryan's camp was probably using Volkswagen's poor reputation to keep her free from blame. Read this article: Fiance disappointed with VW crash finding

I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Ryan's camp that "pushed" or "drove" SMH to make those links, not the other way around. So no, her death was not exploited. It was VW's issues that were.