Posted on 06/19/2013 4:04:13 PM PDT by jjotto
The writing-about-writing crowd is abuzz with discussion about the rather unusual death of Buzzfeed/RollingStone/Gawker writer Michael Hastings. Mr. Hastings, whose name is never mentioned in the press without the immediate mention that he was “the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal”, died in a single-car accident in Los Angeles yesterday morning. This in and of itself is not unusual, but the circumstances of the crash and its aftermath won’t do anything to quiet the conspiracy theorists who are already claiming that the military-industrial complex found a way to cap the guy.
The definitive video of the incident can be found here. It features everything you’d want in a crash story, including:
The ejected motor and transmission Video of the car burning with the fury of a thousand suns A man holding a goat in his arms and stroking it to keep calm as someone else discusses the incident The mention of Mercedes-Benz
That last bit is the critical part. Mercedes-Benz USA is no doubt sweating bullets over this one. An eyewitness report says that Mr. Hastings was driving at an excessive rate of speed down a suburban street when his car “suddenly jackknifed” and hit a tree “with the force of a bomb”. The Benzo, which by the wheels and quarter-panel appears to be the relatively prosaic but cheerfully stylish C250 four-cylinder turbo coupe, proceeded to throw its powertrain out of the engine bay, immediately catch fire in a manner typically reserved for episodes of “Miami Vice”, and burn its driver until said driver was charred beyond recognition.
This isn’t good. The official ad copy for the C-Coupe states
Like every Mercedes-Benz coupe, it wraps four sport seats and passion for the road in sleek style. And like every C-Class, it’s a paragon of engineering virtue and extraordinary value. Put it together, and it’s like nothing else.
Nowhere in there does it say anything about “then this sucker is going to jackknife out of control and char you like a steak ordered by a high-school dropout at Ponderosa”. No wonder the guy in the video is stroking his goat to keep it calm. If I owned a C250 I’d be outside staring at the thing wondering if it was safe to drive it at 100mph in a suburb.
Mr. Hastings has been eulogized by his editor at Buzzfeed in an article called Missing Michael Hastings, which unfortunately makes me think of Missing Missy. In the piece, Ben Smith tells us that Michael looked in clothes and that he was handsome and that he worked out. He also lauds Mr. Hastings for writing Valerie Jarett Versus The Haters, which opens with
Valerie Jarrett is one of the most influential women in America. Protective, fearless, dedicated: the controversial White House figure and Chicago titan is now yolo’ing on the homestretch to get her “little brother” re-elected.
Reading that article at one AM with a bottle glass of Ketel One in hand makes me think that a) I’ve been too hard on automotive journalists and b) half of the TTAC staff could make big money in political writing. That’s because only half of us say stuff like “yolo” and “swag”.
But I’m not here to speak ill of the dead. I’m here to state that I’ve seen dozens of cars hit walls and stuff at high speeds and the number of them that I have observed to eject their powertrains and immediately catch massive fire is, um, ah, zero. Modern cars are very good at not catching fire in accidents. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is an evolutionary design from a company known for sweating the safety details over and above the Euro NCAP requirements, should be leading the pack in the not-catching-on-fire category.
Nor is the C-Class known for sudden veering out of control into trees and whatnot. My father’s been running a C350 of that generation around Hilton Head for a while and if anybody could make a C-Class veer into a palm tree without warning it would be him. If you happen to see my father on an airplane somewhere, please don’t tell him I said that, and also don’t tell him that I always call the C-Class the “Cheap-Class”. Thanks.
Mr. Hastings’ aggressively Democrat-friendly storytelling has the Internet already considering the idea that his death was engineered somehow. I can’t say it’s totally unlikely. As noted above, the reported (and videotaped) behavior of the C250 was not in line with what we’d expect. On the other hand, surely it’s expected that a respected, mature writer on non-automotive topics won’t be barreling through a suburb so fast that any tree he hits will cause his car to burst into flames, right? We’ll keep an eye on this to see what, if anything, develops.
Maybe because it looks as if he hit a fire hydrant just before the tree - note the gusher. That would torque the car and cause prior damage before the slam into the tree.
Even worse then— he hit the tree and tore out the differential, drive shaft and engine off the motor mounts...sheesh.
The issue isn’t so much an ESL guy misusing a term, it’s the way the writer ran with it while attempting to slam MB. I’m not a Merc guy, but trying to blame a 4:15AM fatal wreck on poor design and build quality is patently absurd.
Spinning out via oversteer and jack knifing are two completely different things when discussing vehicle dynamics and crashes.
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All modern Mercedes have a system called “ESP” Electronic Stability Program that uses accelerometers to detect and (using independant braking on each wheel through the ABS computer AND computer takeover of throttle input , decreasing throttle or decreasing power in a non-abrupt way, throttle is electronic same as in a Toyota) minimize any oversteer/skid. The ESP system inall the MBZ’s I’ve been in has a manual “off” button.
Someone posted FWD , The newest (cheapest) MBZ is FWD , C Class is RWD.
I don’t believe you understood the piece as the writer intended.
And Hastings’ last article was about the evils of the NSA – which ended with the tantalising line, “Perhaps more information will soon be forthcoming.”
Thanks for being so specific, but I do know what jackknifing is. I was simply remarking on the ‘witnesses’ use of the word. I think we all knew what he meant, but that doesn’t make his description correct.
Speaking of what happens to vehicles going about 100 mph, here’s an interesting video.
http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/video%3A-i-675-crash-caught-on-tape
Interesting thing about this one is that the guy lived.
Perhaps your family tree has no branches either.
Not too unusual, however single vehicle collisions are ALWAYS suspect and generally points to operator cause/error.
Not so sure in this case..
lol...Don’t feel too bad...Mr. ham was lecturing me yesterday regarding grammar and sentence structure...
Funny stuff...He’s probably president of some homeowners association...
Well if you are going to include my family in this debate, let me just the best part of you dribbled down your mother’s thigh.
Just say. U sanctimony SOB
Yours has no roots.
Latest has this as 'perhaps' - a cyber attack - something Hastings would not expect - albeit; he feared 'something'. And something that Snowden probably does know about. (They take control of your car via 'computer programs' that car runs on. That will be our next 'futuristic freedom-sucking MO; from our Government; as they justify their decision based on all the things now; this Gov fraudulently, obsessing over. Your phone in the car; your coffee; ad nauseam; 'distracting' you and leaving you a menace to all on the highway and by-ways of America.
Unless; that is; your are smoking Marijuana; and have a legitimate case of the 'munchies'. But I digress. . .
Meantime. . .Mercedes has not commented on the 'workings' of their car; if only to protest/clarify some of the claims. And suspect; we will not hear a word from them; no matter what.
Bottom line; our Gov a 'Frankenstein'; who in it's darkest personality mode; is capable of anything. We suspect; we know; we fear. . .and Snowden yelling 'fire'; because the smoke is deadly. . .And Hastings too; for that matter.
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