UPDATE: Driver hits door at North Delridge Subway

(Added: Thanks to Angelina for the photo taken right after it happened)

12:11 PM: Thanks for the tips reporting a vehicle crash at the North Delridge Subway (Delridge/Andover). The 911 log shows a heavy-rescue call that canceled quickly. We’re en route for a look.

(WSB photo)
12:26 PM: Police at the scene say no one was hurt. Store management says the shop IS open – this damaged one of their two doors, but the other one – on the north end of the facade – is usable, and they will be finishing cleanup shortly. Police say the crash was caused by the driver hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake.

Wes C. Adle January 6, 2016 (12:24 pm)

One of the glass doors and adjacent storefront windows appears out be busted out as observed from my vantage point kitty-corner. Police are in the parking lot and the door way is taped off.

WSB January 6, 2016 (12:25 pm)

Thanks. Patrick just got there and called me with the basics, which I’m adding, as well as a photo to come. No injuries and the shop IS open.

Guy Olson January 6, 2016 (1:19 pm)

I’m glad the driver didn’t go a foot longer…

chemist January 6, 2016 (1:51 pm)

“No Drive-Though Customers, Please”

Lindsey January 6, 2016 (2:18 pm)

I did basically the same thing as a fresh young 14-year old driver. I couldn’t stand to show my face in my small town’s only Subway for YEARS. At least this guy has some other options in West Seattle.

miws January 6, 2016 (3:43 pm)

That property owner needs to put some wheel stops in those parking spaces now. That curb appears to be quite low.

Granted, wheel stops didn’t protect Pet Pros at Westwood during a similar incident last year(?), but at least it’s an added barrier, that may be just enough to prevent a car jumping the curb on, forbid, future occurrences.

Mike

Matt S. January 6, 2016 (3:56 pm)

chemist wins even with the typo.

Charlene McCarthy Blake January 6, 2016 (7:35 pm)

“Driver error” is a catch-all excuse used by automakers to divert attention away from serious safety defects, it seems. There is insufficient regulation of safety standards in the automobile industry, especially in the area of complex electronics. For instance, Toyota is in the lead in terms of cases of sudden unintended acceleration. I’m not referring to the SUA events involving jammed floor mats, sticky accelerator pedals, or pedal misapplication. I’m referring to the unintended acceleration and erratic ELECTRONIC throttle control system behavior that occurs when a glitch is present in the substandard software. In a recent Oklahoma court case lost by Toyota, Bookout vs. Toyota, embedded software expert Michael Barr’s findings of ETCS-i glitches were presented. Also noted was that a SUA-inducing glitch could also render an ineffective fail-safe. Translation? Your runaway Toyota could prove to be unstoppable until something impacts it.

Toyota, GM, and Chrysler, among other automakers, have hidden safety-related information from the public for far too long. Drivers’ and their passengers’ lives are at stake. In the case of sudden unintended acceleration, pedestrians have been injured and killed as well. Crashes into storefronts, buildings, and homes, are daily occurrences now and there is an extremely well-orchestrated push to conclude “driver error.” Other speculative conclusions are “medical condition” (diabetes, seizures, etc.), prescription medications, driving under the influence of something, etc. A recent far-fetched speculation was that the driver’s shoe (a teen learning to drive with her father beside her) jammed the accelerator causing the vehicle to “take off!” Don’t most teenagers wear flip-flops? Show us how a flip-flop causes this.

In the case of GM’s ignition switch, “driver error” would be the easy way out. Does GM use this conclusion despite evidence to the contrary? Are driver’s (if they survive) statements discounted or discredited as they are in the cases of Toyota sudden unintended acceleration? Usually, the automakers follow the same playbook. Be sure to read Parris Boyd’s “BEWARE of Toyota…it’s next victim may be YOU” blog and Jessie Powell’s “Route 44 Sold me a LEMON” blog to see how it’s done.

One thing is clear. GM and Toyota aren’t going to tell you anything you don’t find out on your own. It seems historically and literally, the automakers like to be “unaware” of the issues customers reveal to them. They’d much rather say their loyal customers are confused and/or causing the problems themselves. That way, their dear bottom line is not impacted negatively. And now, with all the media control via advertising and more, the automakers’ secrets can remain hidden for a whole lot longer…decades+ as shown! Add NHTSA in their back pockets, good reputation management companies, on-line customer complaint suppression, and a gaggle of attorneys, and you have an untouchable entities, don’t you? Maybe…as long as the grassroots vehicle owner groups don’t wise up and organize, like GM Recall Survivors, to demand answers and expect more from lawmakers and the automakers.

Charlene McCarthy Blake

Matt S. January 6, 2016 (8:10 pm)

Charlene brings up a good point: what *is* the difference between spam and aggressively misplaced activism? If you’re at a neighborhood cocktail party and someone bursts in the door and vomits all over the place, there may not be anything particularly illegal about it. But does that make it okay?

WSB January 6, 2016 (8:57 pm)

I let that one through but did mean to ask if anyone can even tell what make this car was … if it’s entirely irrelevant, no, we don’t let just anyone barge in and unload. But trust me, as spam goes, I’ve seen so much worse. Will review further when I get a sec.

Nancy Native January 6, 2016 (10:19 pm)

Yeah, TLDR

Backstory January 6, 2016 (10:49 pm)

Ms. Blake seems to be quite the single-issue commenter. She seems to pop into the comments of every accident report on the internet, and post the same diatribe. (Even when told specifically by people with knowledge about the accident that it was caused exclusively due to a medical emergency or driver error and that no automotive malfunction was involved.) I wish I had more time, it would be interesting to find out what’s driving her single-minded and often inappropriate tirades that I found on other sites. It would be nice to know if she’s some sort of righteous Erin Brockovich or simply a disturbed/disgruntled person who has it in for the auto industry.

Matt S. January 7, 2016 (9:37 am)

@WSB I wasn’t questioning your moderating, just enjoying how comically out of place the frothy rant had been. I tried (and failed) to figure out that car’s make to see if it was even relevant.