NTSB confirms failure to fix Duck resulted in crash
Nov 15, 2016, 11:49 AM
The amphibious vehicle that smashed into a tour bus and killed five people shown during the NTSB investigation into the 2015 crash. (NTSB)
(NTSB)
Faulty axles and a failure to fix them, that’s what the National Transportation Safety Board says is the cause of the Ride the Ducks crash that killed five people on the Aurora Bridge in 2015.
In NTSB’s assessment announced Tuesday, the board reiterated that the driver of the amphibious vehicle was not at fault. Instead, it was a mechanical failure.
According the board, the mechanical failure was related to a vehicle part called the Duck 6 axle housing design.
KIRO 7 reports the company overseeing Ride the Ducks Seattle, Ride The Ducks International (RTDI), was not registered with the Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a manufacturer. Therefore, the administration could not address defects.
According to the NTSB, RTDI was aware of defects on some of its vehicles and attempted to correct it with modifications to the vehicles, but the modifications were poorly executed.
More than 90 people were injured, and five died in 2015 when the Duck vehicle veered into oncoming traffic, smashing into a tour bus.
The NTSB had been investigating since the crash occurred.
