"Opening Restraints" Phenomenon

I had the weirdest experience ever on Chang a few years ago. Mid-way up the lift every restraint on the train was realed and so were the seat (which made an uncomfortable feeling. It stopped and the ride-ops came up to re-secure all the restraints. Then the ride continued and they didn't even ask if anyone wanted to get off. I kind of did, but o well. How could this have happened?

Has anyone ever been on a coaster that stopped at the bottom of the lift hill and slowly rolled back into the station? Just curious.

Thunder Run's restraints popped open on one of my trips. I think it may be a maintaince issue on PTCs.

When I was marathoning Starliner at Lakemont Park my Buzzbar on the PTC train had come up. It might had been because of the MAJOR ejector air in the back seat of the ride. :-p

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BeccaRaptor said:I think it may be a maintaince issue on PTCs.

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I was wondering the same thing, Sara...since I kinda doubt any *manufacturer* will post to this thread, maybe Dave can enlighten us? ;)

DOES seem to be a theme with the PTCs, even though I've never had it happen to me, they seem to be the trains that get the most occurrences...might it be based on number of trains in use?

Has nothing to do with the number of trains in use.

Has nothing to do with maintenence on a PTC either. It's clearly a flaw IMHO of the trains flexing and having a thin ratchet strip for the pins to lock into. PKI took the whole darn thing and turned it upside-down and not once in my over 4000 rides on PTC's at PKI have I ever had one release. I suppose it could be maintanence if the mechanisms are worn but Im kinda doubting it.

Chuck, who don't feel particularly safew with a dozen little clicks of a PTC compared to ONE CLUNK of a GCII meaning when it's locked, IT"S LOCKED!

I was riding Hurler in Carowinds, the bar popped mid ride, I jammed myself into the front of the car and the back of the seat. My wife was freaking out the whole time. I was lucky since it popped while going down a hill. The ride op at the end was shocked that the bar was off when I got off the ride.

That is an issue with PTC train's. I know on Hersheypark's Wildcat, if the bar isn't down two clicks, you're not supposed to be able to ride. Of course, whether this is enforced or not is up to the ride ops.

Myself, I've only seen it happen once, on SooperDooperLooper (where it's not really nessicary to keep you in the ride).

When I was very young, my parents took me on Blue Streak at Cedar Point. My sister and mother rode in the back of the train, and my father and I rode in very front. I was very scared at the time, this being one of my first coasters. I had this death grip on the lapbar since I thought I was going to fall out. Everything seemed fine going up the hill. I kept pulling on the lapbar to be sure it was locked. The first hill was intense and we hit the first airtime hill and my lapbar went up one click. I was soooo scared, I thought it was going to release. Then we hit the second airtime hill, and sure enough the lapbar did release and I flew into the air, did 3 backflips, and was finally caught by my mother in the back of the train. Then I looked at the sun and it turned into Dick Kinzel's face, and he said, "Nooooo, it never happened!" and he erased everyones memory but mine.

Sorry, but I just think some of these stories are a little farfetch'd. Not all but some.

Also I just want to say, it is possible on some of the earlier B&Ms to be dispatched from the station with the shoulder harnesses completely open. But on later models on certain types, as early as 2001 that I know of, are able to detect when a restraint is not locked.

Why does anyone have any reason to lie?

I even had a park rep tell me they had a restraint pop open on T-2 at SFKK. A death grip and seatbelt are the only things that kept him in.

wanna call me a liar to my face?

Chuck

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Raven-Phile said:
Had my restraint pop a few notches on the first drop on Raptor a couple weeks ago.

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Glad I'm not the only one who had this happen to them. Granted, it was many years ago and before I was the coaster geek that I am today. It scared the bejesus out of me when it pop a click. I think it was too tight on me and it didn't completely lock into place and so it just moved forward a click. Still it was pretty scary to me at the time.

Another time, my restraint along with the three others in our car on the Iron Dragon popped open as we re-entered the station. I'm guessing the guide wheel under the car that doubles up as the restraint-locking mechanism struck the trough as it entered the station. Needless to say the ride was immediately shutdown after our ride.

Parks do a decent job maintaining the safety systems of their rides. Somehow though, some problems still fall through the cracks.

~Rob Willi

I had it happen to me and my son on Dorney's Thunderhawk, and all I have to say is I know why all those PTC's have regular seatbelts now. If it weren't for those I may have gotten thrown from the train.

Whats funny is I pulled on the bar several times, and it finally came back down and locked as we were hitting the few bunny hills before the station.

I had posted about it in a trip report, and was basically told that I was full of crap. That it couldn't happen. It did, and everyone else on the train seen it.

I've never experienced a lapbar or restraint coming open on a ride, although I've experienced the "in between click" thing on Raptor.

My husband had an issue only once on Corckscrew at CP...but I suspect it's because he's tall inthe body and didn't have the restraint pulled down properly before they were locked. We were partway out of the station before he realized his restraint wasn't locked.

And I believe someone brought up a good point about some of the ratcheting lap bars...although it's not supposed to happen, I think those of us who are able to ratchet down several clicks wouldn't have as much an issue as those who can only get one or two clicks down. And, of course, those who aren't getting more than a couple of clicks are likely exerting a bit more force against the bar, so if there is any wear on the ratchets, it would make sense the extra force against them could add to the likelihood of a bar popping open.

This is why I've never complained about the added seatbelts. A secondary form of restraint just makes too much sense.

It didn't matter if I had two, four or five clicks. It opens completely on the PTC's

Chuck

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wheels00000 said:
I had a bar pop open before at HP on Great Bear. The attendant failed to check the seat correctly. Most times when a seat is going to pop it is one click. If you get more than that either something is wrong, or the attendant didn't push down pull up on the restraint.

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When I had it happen on ME my restraint was locked & checked & was more than a simple one click prior to dispatch so it had to have been a mechanical failure in that one seat.The incident occured on the blue<now orange train> in row #7/right hand side.

You know,out of all the sites posting tech info on coasters we don't have a single one explaining in detail how the restraint system works from a mechanical/electrical standpoint.Coasterquest had a "how do lap bars work" page way back when the site was still around but every time I clicked the link that particular page was down.

Perhaps Rideman might be able to create an addition to his site explaining in detail how the restraint system on most rides works? I'd certainly appreciate having such info at hand to study up on.

OK, I have a scenario/question relating to this.

Suppose you were halfway up the lift hill on a coaster and you realized that your restraint was completely and totally un-locked. Imagine that you tried your hardest to slam it down and lock it, but it just wouldn't stay. How would you go about alerting the ride operators that there was a problem?

You can't wave your arms and yell, because people do that all day long on roller coasters. Short of standing up and causing a ride op to see you and e-stop the ride, what else can you do?

Now let's take that a step further. Personally, if I was in danger and standing up was the only way to get the attention of the operators and have them stop the lift, I would do most likely it. The question then stands, will you jeopardize your admission if you stand up to alert the crew of a potential safety issue?

Honestly, I would really like to discuss this. I really wonder what would happen if that [God forbid] situation ever arose.

With this seeming to happen so commonly, you'd think there'd be a lawsuit or death by now.

Not saying I don't believe it, as it's happened to me once too.

Just don't let the consumer advocates hear about this stuff, or they'll have a field day.

Actually, Peabody, it was me that had the bar pop open that day (unless Frank did, too, which I don't remember)

The rest of the story is that the bar popped open on my FIRST ride. One my second ride the bar stayed down, but the SEATBELT was disconnected when I got back to the station (not of my own doing, or knowledge).

Now, to be fair, it may have indeed been a 'one click ride', as this was back before such things were frowned upon. Like, 2 days before...

I was happy that both incidents didn't happen on the same circuit.

Raven-phile, if you were actually in the situation you describe, do you think jeopardizing your admission would even be on your mind?

whitelightnin,
as my case shows, most coasters these days have redundant systems (bar AND seatbelt), either one of which, when working properly, safely secures the passengers.

I didn't say it would. What I want to know is, what would you do, and how do you think the park would handle that situation?