Can you guess what this is? An abstract sculpture in the local park? A catapult?
If you guessed that the above picture is of moving parts from some large machine - you are correct! The picture was taken late Monday afternoon... after a long series of learning experiences.
Now I shall explain. Monday afternoon at around 5pm - the rear window hatch of my Suburban exploded. Yes. Exploded.
It actually wasn't a huge surprise to us - several months ago we discovered that the right rear hinge for the glass hatch of the suburban had cracked and was falling off. For months we opened that rear hatch very cautiously and completely stopped using the glass window portion. We even found that there were other Suburban owners out there in the world with the same problem. And that it would cost just at $1000 to repair - as the entire rear door of the vehicle had to be replaced.
Yes - we put it off. But Monday afternoon Dave had driven to Sears to pick up our new chest-type freezer (yay!) and had to drive with that rear window open so that the freezer would fit. Even then - all was well... It was just that when Dave got home and opened the rear hatch to remove the freezer... with the window section still open... That was apparently more than the broken hinge could take -- and the entire strange rubbery plastic frame twisted and glass exploded for at least 15 feet in all directions. Thankfully, Dave was not injured at all - and the freezer wasn't scratched either.
Suburban casualties aside -- we're thrilled to have our new freezer. Although it's empty at this moment...
Now I shall explain. Monday afternoon at around 5pm - the rear window hatch of my Suburban exploded. Yes. Exploded.
It actually wasn't a huge surprise to us - several months ago we discovered that the right rear hinge for the glass hatch of the suburban had cracked and was falling off. For months we opened that rear hatch very cautiously and completely stopped using the glass window portion. We even found that there were other Suburban owners out there in the world with the same problem. And that it would cost just at $1000 to repair - as the entire rear door of the vehicle had to be replaced.
Yes - we put it off. But Monday afternoon Dave had driven to Sears to pick up our new chest-type freezer (yay!) and had to drive with that rear window open so that the freezer would fit. Even then - all was well... It was just that when Dave got home and opened the rear hatch to remove the freezer... with the window section still open... That was apparently more than the broken hinge could take -- and the entire strange rubbery plastic frame twisted and glass exploded for at least 15 feet in all directions. Thankfully, Dave was not injured at all - and the freezer wasn't scratched either.
Suburban casualties aside -- we're thrilled to have our new freezer. Although it's empty at this moment...
We had to remove one of the bottom pantry shelves to get this monstrosity in place -- but other than that and the exploding SUV hatch -- it all went very smoothly. And hopefully the money we save buying in bulk and freezing prepared meals will help us pay for future daily learning opportunities.
4 comments:
I am so glad neither one of was hurt! Holy cow! Nice freezer!
It's utterly miraculous that Dave didn't get glass in his face or eyes... When we were cleaning the mess up (hours and hours of sweeping -- don't want the kids to get glass in their feet!!)both of us ended up with cuts -- and we were all itchy like when you've been handling fiberglass.
Maybe log a complaint online with the nhtsa? If enough people do that, there might be a recall at some point, and maybe you could get a refund for the work.
I am not sure how it works for older vehicles. I have a 69 Mustang, and more than 15?? years after I bought it, I got some recall notice.
On the other hand, I also have my late Mom's 1992 Buick, which has a primer defect which causes paint to peel right off, and Buick seems to have zero interest in that. I can sort of understand that due to the age of the car, but I'm still going to be out an extra $1000 since the primer has to be removed before the car can be repainted.
I've got the NHTSA website up right now. We were told by someone somewhere that because the hinge wasn't a 'safety' issue there would not be a recall. Of course - just one look at our pictures and it's pretty obvious that this very well can be a safety issue.
Odd that you should mention it.. We just got a recall notice for Dave's 1995 Ford truck (the one that flooded and is in a scrapyard somewhere).
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