Lapbar question.

Today I was at Dorney Park, and was riding Thunderhawk I was in the front seat with my son. I always check to make sure that the lapbar is locked. Its has pretty forceful airtime at the turnaround and into the figure 8. I was almost thrown from the train because the the lapbar came unlocked and into its full upright position. I am the type of person that always keeps my seatbelt loose because I figure the lapbar is enough. My question is, "what can cause a lapbar to unlock?" When it happend I was pretty much in shock because it was something that I never expected to happen. My main concern at the time was my son, so I put my arm around him. When I pulled the lapbar back down it relocked. It was really strange. I have never really heard of that happening before. I know it added thrill to the coaster that I didn't want to experience. ;)

I had that happen once... at a major park, on a major ride. It freaked me out.

The reason I am not saying where or when is because I do not want to start a flame thread of "that could never happen on..." trust me, it happened. except on this ride it did not go all the way up. However, it went up into a wierd position about halfway between all the way up and where it was. I could push up and down on the bar and it would not click. Even at 6'3" the bar was up high enough that I could stand if I wanted too.

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CoasterBuzzCon - not just an event, more like an adventure...

If I remember correctly, the Thunderhawk still has the electric double-bars on it.

If that bar went all the way up, it should not have been able to come back down; it's designed to lock in the 'full open' position so that it doesn't come down unexpectedly while you're using it as a handrail to try to get out.

If it didn't go quite all the way up, then you should be able to pull it down and it should re-lock easily.

With that out of the way...It's a mechanical latch with a pair of solenoids on it to pull the release pins in. It's rare, but not unheard of for the bar to be incompletely latched and to pop open, particularly if some parts get worn out inside.

It happens. It scares the riders. On most rides, it doesn't make a bit of difference in terms of actual rider safety, because the ride forces on most coasters aren't enough to toss you clear out of the train anyway.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Ya, lap bars fail sometime, it happens, thats why PKI doesn't have buzz bars anymore.

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Can we change the name of Top Gun to your mom so no one wants to ride your mom?

Thank the coaster gods for the new "staple guns" that we've got on most woodies now.

Rideman thanks for the info. It was the type of lapbar you had mentioned. It did go up to the complete open postion. I was jsut shocked cause I have never seen that happen before. It wasn't locked open like you had mentioned. It came down easily. It popped open at the top of the 2nd hill. Since my seatbelt was loose I was thrown pretty good, so I was basically standing up. When I sat back down I was mainly concerned about my son, so I pulled his seatbelt tight.

ive had my lapbar pop open on a few occassions. 3 times on the comet @ great escape, and once on the cyclone at sfne.

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John
Albany Entertainment:
http://home.nycap.rr.com/albanyent

Actually, I know about failures of the electric double-bars, but the only lap bar failures I have actually experienced have been on the mechanical ratcheting bars. One of them at Kings Island, in fact (though admittedly their ratchet bars have electric release).

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I am a coaster enthusiest, and still learning a lot about them at 29 years old. Thats why I read and post on this site. There is so much useful information to the coaster enthusiest. Thanks Jeff.

My "buzz" bar has once popped open mid-ride. It didn't go all the way up, so gravity pulled it back down and relocked it.

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My two favorite coasters are named Superman.

On the Great American Scream Machine at SFoG the buzzbar popped open midride on my friend and I. Scared us half to death but we survived.