Never before have we heard of someone dying from a brake caliper flying through their windshield, but that’s exactly what killed a 20-year-old woman in Georgia. She was riding in the front passenger seat of a Hyundai when one of the brake calipers on a vehicle driving ahead came loose, the deadly projectile hitting her.
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That woman, Autumn McClure from Tennessee, was traveling with her boyfriend through Ringgold, Georgia when the freak accident claimed her life. The boyfriend was driving the car at the time. It’s not clear from reports if the fatal incident happened on the highway or a surface street.
We can’t imagine something like this happening to a loved one.
Brake calipers are quite heavy. If you’ve ever serviced your own brakes you already know this, so we can see how one could potentially punch through the safety glass on a windshield and kill someone.
The big question we have, and we’re sure it’s one investigators are looking into, is how one could come off a vehicle. After all, if you someone forgot to bolt it back in place, the brake line would keep the caliper from going anywhere, unless that was left detached as well.
Usually a loose caliper makes quite a bit of noise and the loss of braking power at that hub is noticeable. Either a service shop or an individual is going to be facing some sort of legal action, probably a wrongful death lawsuit. It just blows our mind this even happened.
This fatal freak accident should be a reminder to double check that all components are reattached to your car and torqued to factory spec if you do any work on your own ride or for a friend’s vehicle. Not properly attaching parts to your car can result in a fatal accident.
Image via WTVC
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