P500 wreck

[25yrvet]

I saw in a small AZ newspaer this week the pic of a wreck of a P500 & a Subaru. The caption under the pic stated; "The ups driver was headed north when she noticed traffic had slowed down in a construction area. When the driver hit her brakes they reportedly locked up and the truck veered into the southbound lane, striking the subaru head on. Both drivers were taken to the hospital, treated and released."
Those P5's are dangerous, especially on the hiway with new tires.

 

[over9five]

"Those P5's are dangerous"

Agree with that. Why don't they get rid of them? Nothing slides better than an empty P500.

 

[30andout]

Same reason they ignor a lot of things. I suggested a long time ago they put the reflective tape that they use on school buses on the rear of our cars. I think that would show up a lot better than the little four ways on those dark nights. Guess it wasn't a good idea.

 

[dragracer66]

Why all of a sudden are p-500's dangerous? They have been around since the 70's. Maybe it's today's driver's and not so much the truck. As a mechanic I see more untrained drivers now than ever before. Driving while on the phone,playing with their diad, driving with there foot on the clutch pedal,not stoping for red lights,etc,etc,etc! Back in the day driver's payed more attention to the road and not to there surrounding's. Today for instance I chased some a**hole air driver because he tried driving his p-32 through a 5 foot flood and got stuck in the middle. When I asked him why he did it he said it's not his truck why should he care? He also almost became part of that flood after I heard that!! Since he was done with his air's I left him behind to wait for the hook and he had to explain to the police why he went down a road that was closed due to a flood!!!!

 

[musicman]

How about the old P-600s man those things were an accident waiting to happen!

 

[toonertoo]

Cant say much for an idiot driving through a flood, or on a cell phone, (which I dont know how anyone can do, because I couldnt if I wanted to in a manual transmission vehicle) but they have been around since the 70s might be part of why they can be dangerous. They are all old, worn out and 700,000 miles or so, I think they have gotten their money out of them by now. Even the best mechanic has to have something to work with.

 

[wornoutupser]

Tooner,

My P-5 is over the 1 million mark at 1,164,000 miles and still going. It was on the schedule to be crushed last year but now it will not be crushed.
As to the "safety" of the P-5, I have had 2 fall apart on the highway and I am scared to death of them. My opinion of them is that they are old, unsafe and they need to go. Ask the last driver in our building, she is in the middle of a lawsuit with Big Brown because she was put on the road in a P-5 that was written up 3 times in a week as unsafe to drive- take off road. It flipped over.
We had many P-5's that suddenly would veer off the road and I know because mine did it twice in one day with a supervisor onboard- once with me driving and once with him driving. The final determination was that they had to have matched tires, all new all the way around.
Guess how many we have now with new tires all the way around? That was two years ago and we are back to recaps on the back again.
Sorry for the rant but this center only seems to get mostly old garbage hand me downs from other metro centers. I used to have a P-10 on another route. It came out of Orlando.
When we got it,it was a "fine vehicle".
Baloney.
In 1 week, both the engine and transmission died. Orlando went nuts when our mechanic had the guts to charge the repairs back to them for their "fine vehicle".

Our mechanic can only do so much- and that is 1 mechanic for 52 vehicles. What is the ratio in other facilities?

Please understand that I in NO way blame our mechanic. He has to put the tires on the cars that he is told to. We have one of the oldest (per car) fleets in the state that I am aware of.

 

[wornoutupser]

Music Man,
I had one of the old P-6's a long time ago.It was FINALLY crushed after the frame started to go. It would flex if you drove it over uneven ground, that was a strange feeling!

 

[Phantom Lord]

"Those P5's are dangerous"

Agree with that. Why don't they get rid of them? Nothing slides better than an empty P500.

The first time I drove a P5, I was shuttling misloads at the time, I had to lock up the brakes (some dummy stopping for a squirrel on a busy highway) and had the scare of my life, because when the back wheels locked they started bouncing, so the I only got traction every few feet. I stopped in time, thanks to getting the big picture - "Stay back and see it all!" but it still scared the crap out of me.

 

[speeddemon]

"Those P5's are dangerous"

Agree with that. Why don't they get rid of them? Nothing slides better than an empty P500.

Ill tell you why, Because they would have to spend thier big bonuses to do the right thing and get us some trucks that arent a moving death trap.

 

[loserupser]

Just remember to talk to a lawyer if your involved in a accident with the old p500, Lawsuits will eventually get this crap of our line ups

 

[Ruralbrownman]

dragracer66 asks why P5's are dangerous now ? The reason is quite simple , and it has nothing to do with the abilities of our mechanics who are all to often forced to repair package cars with tarp starps and duct tape, most P5 and P6's are getting close to 20 to 25 years old. When new they were ok vehicles but wear and tear have taken there toll , especially in the rural centers where they run about 170 to 250 miles a day , and the outlying center usually never get them new. Yes you can change engines and transmission etc. , but the frame and other parts and still original. What will it take , a fatality before we junk them? But then we need more airplanes , because we are constantly told we dont make any money on ground anymore!!!

 

[ikoi62]

It would flex if you drove it over uneven ground, that was a strange feeling!

i remember those..the seat on the post would rise and fall and the body wouldnt move..it was a strange feeling..

 

[quebec_driver]

Try driving a p5 in a snow storm, scary... my sup actually asked why I was over the next day.

 

[toonertoo]

Yes they flex, the front and the back dont even seem to be connected. It was a weird feeling, I drove one on I90 where the grooves are well set from the semis, and it was like a tobbogan ride. I never volunteered for that again especially in snow in Ne Ohio but I was the lucky one a few times and it was not a fun ride, and all this time I thought it was just me.
HA NOT.
Im not in the position to do that any longer, but God had to be with me because when a semi passes you, and your truck is "flexing" from the ruts in the road...............it aint fun. You cant even tell where you are on the road til its done doing its thing.
Crush them, they are not safe, they are too old and worn out, and the mechanics can only do so much with a piece of crap.

And they cant even get the parts for them when they are broke, they just "rig" them together and try to run it another day.

 

[mittam]

I totally agree about the P-5s they are dangerous but I would rather drive one of those in snow than a P7,they are horrible in snow, we too have the problem of getting used trucks from other centers, we got a new 1200 but that is all, all others are old, we have quite a few turned over the 1,000,000 mile mark tires clutches and trans can get changed but I agree again what about the body of it, it doesn't change we need to use all our habits especially "get the big picture" and " leave yourself an out" always blame it on safety if questioned about time

 

[wornoutupser]

Tooner,

You are SO right!

Our mechanic strips parts off the old P-5"s and keeps them. He can no longer get volt meters and the like. Have you tried to get a set of back door seals in the last few years? That is a company required item to maintain for dust control, yet the seals are no longer available...and the list goes on for the old cars!

 

[wornoutupser]

Mittam,
I can not compare the snow handling of the P-7 because I am in Florida, yet I do know that they will fishtail if they are empty in the torrential downpours here!

 

[Ruralbrownman]

I would take a P5 over a P7 in the snow anytime. With the duals on the P7 you can get stuck if one tire is in a little depression. And if that happens use one of the forever bags , they work well , I carry one all the time in the winter.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

Hey Rural Brown Man, what's a "forever bag?" I get stuck in the mud in my P7 and would love to know how to get out without calling a tow truck. Our mechanic says chains won't work on deulies.