Car Ramp Safety Warning, TAC, PIC (Potential Injury Content)

[Fred Munro]

    I just had a car ramp collapse today. Fortunately, it failed as I was
putting the vehicle on the ramp, not while I was under the vehicle. True, it
was a full size van, but it only weighs 600 lbs. more than my UrS4 (TAC -
Token Audi Content).
    These ramps were heavy duty units with an 8" lift and wide enough to
comfortably take the 225 tires on the S4. They are a typical 2 piece unit, a
stamped steel ramp with  a stamped steel riser mounted to the front. Two
stamped U-beam tension bars connect the riser to the ramp to keep it from
kicking forward under the weight of the car. The riser is angled about 10
degrees forward to keep it from kicking backwards under the ramp as you put
the car up.
    I've had these ramps for 20 years and in that time they have been used
on some less than even surfaces. As a result, one of the U-beam bars had
bent outwards a bit (about 1/2" or so) on one ramp. From what I can
reconstruct, as the van went up on the ramp and came up against the tire
stop at the front, this bent bar failed in compression and allowed the riser
to fold under the ramp, dropping the right front of the vehicle about 3" (
and generating an "oh-oh" incident). The ramp dropped another 3" as I backed
the van off. Both bars on this ramp failed in compression and bent outwards.
The riser is neatly folded back under the ramp.
    If you use similar style car ramps, I suggest you check these bars for
straightness. I plan to replace the bars on mine with 1/4" solid plate bars
cross-bolted in the centre. I don't feel up to bench pressing a 4000 lb. S4.

Fred Munro
'94 S4  114k km