Filed under: Safety, Commercial Trucks, Volkswagen
Transporter full of VWs drives into San Diego Bay
Volkswagen doesn't make amphibious cars, but it may want to consider them in the future. On Saturday, a trucker hauling a load of new VWs from San Diego to Los Angeles drove off a pier and into the ocean.
Local authorities say the driver apparently "suffered from some kind of medical emergency", causing him to black out and lose control of the truck. The cab careened into the San Diego Bay at a National City marine terminal, plunging into the water. The trailer stayed on the pier, but three cars fell into the bay.
The teamster regained consciousness underwater, escaped from the tractor and swam some 13 feet to the surface where he was evacuated in reportedly good condition to a local hospital.
[Source: 10News.com via All Cars, All the Time]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Omar G. 11:16AM (12/31/2007)
What a waste !
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Speddy 11:50AM (12/31/2007)
Nah. They recovered the transporter. I'm sure the cab and trailer can be used again. Oh, you mean the VWs? Unless Passat's, they can scrap the rest.
refugee7 11:17AM (12/31/2007)
Glad that the driver is safe.
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Luis 12:10PM (12/31/2007)
I can't imagine coming to and realizing you're underwater...and on top of that being able to have enough sense to hold your breath and swim to safety! Amazing! That really is a good thing driver's ok.
EJ25RUN 11:18AM (12/31/2007)
thought it said vw transformer with that pic!
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3seriesisking 11:45AM (12/31/2007)
That sucks.
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zach 11:50AM (12/31/2007)
Hopefully none of the cars had been special ordered by customers... that'd be a real kick in the nuts.
shouldn't be that big of a deal though; nothing like mazda's recent "issue" or the bmw/volvo ship.
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Solo Racer 11:51AM (12/31/2007)
Mazda scrapped all those cars.
Todd 12:00PM (12/31/2007)
"....Introducing the Volkswagen sign, THEN swim, Then drive sales event."
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Rick 3:57PM (12/31/2007)
Good one ;)
NewJerseyBMW 12:01PM (12/31/2007)
bahh just let'em air dry and it'll be all good.
Is this why Vw fans have a club H20 ?
http://www.clubh2o.com/
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jc 12:32PM (12/31/2007)
actually, volkswagen made amphibious vehicles during ww2.
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Adam 12:39PM (12/31/2007)
When the cars you're carrying suffer from spontaneous combustion at times.......this may have been a good thing.
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JIm 1:06PM (12/31/2007)
Reminds me of the '60s VW ad...
Volkswagens will definitely float, but not indefinitely.
I live in San Diego. Check signonsandiego.com for the local paper's view.
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Benfolio 2:38PM (12/31/2007)
Farfrommsinkin
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Pat 2:46PM (12/31/2007)
Filming a new GTI ad?
Time to vash ze auto!
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stang fan 3:21PM (12/31/2007)
"Medical emergency"? Sounds like the driver was trying to make sure none of those "bad" VWs got into customers hands.
How about changing it to..... "Dry and Drive"?
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j_diesel 3:55PM (12/31/2007)
i never thought i'd see Transporter and VW in the same headline ever again.
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peter gusztav 11:01PM (12/31/2007)
Wow, this is great promotion for volkwagen, I also posted it on my blog, with extra comments, www.opentopix.com/topic/off-beat/vws-transporter-runs-in-san-diego-bay
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peter gusztav 11:05PM (12/31/2007)
Sorry link to long here is the shorter link just opentopix.com, www.opentopix.com/topic/off-beat/transporter-runs-in-san-diego-bay
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