Yikes. According to Screamscape, Six Flags Great Adventure's #1 ranked wooden coaster, El Toro, is closed and apparently the lift hill motor blew out. If it cannot be fixed, El Toro will be SBNO for the rest of the 2013 season as a new lift motor is installed:

http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_great_adventure.htm

This has not been a very good year for Intamin. Intimidator 305, Shoot-The-Rapids, and now El Toro have all had problems and all 3 could be down for some time.

Good heavens. Just when you think it can't get worse for Intamin. What a shame.

This really isn't good news for Intamin, but wouldn't it be the company that made the motors fault? Just hoping the right person gets blamed and not the wrong one(s).

Edit: Terpy makes a good point...

Who designed the ride and specified the parts?

If a part fails on your relatively new Toyota, do you blame Toyota? They specified the part.

How many rides have they done investigations on because of these incidents?

How many rides have they done investigations on because of these incidents?

Define they.

The Amusement Park Industry.

I Guess...

Oh, it's watching. It's definitely watching.

As buying decisions are made, past experiences are recalled.

Yeah, These incidents are definitely bringing on the:

Intamin

20% off all Amusement Park Rides

Its a machine they all will fail given time.

Some much quicker than others. Some more quickly and easily repaired than others.

Maggie went through two motors, and technically one spare not meant for the ride (raptor spare)...so three motors in 2011

Just saying

Who designed the ride and specified the parts?

If a part fails on your relatively new Toyota, do you blame Toyota? They specified the part.

I work for a Toyota supplier. Toyota blames us if (and when but at a company wide .9 PPM rate) we send them defective parts. If our parts make it to the vehicles then wear out prematurely Toyota eats it.

They tell us what features they require and we design parts and present them to Toyota. If they like the design then we start mass production. Usually there is a negotiation process and small things are changed to make these parts as cheaply made (without sacrificing quality) as possible so both companies can maximize their profits per piece.

This is somewhat on a tangent, but I'm sure all industries are similar in the fact that they push for the cheapest possible part to get the job done. Sometimes hind sight is 20/20 and adjustments have to be made.

Indeed, but the Toyota owner blames Toyota if his or her new Prius quits working due to a defective widget.

This really blows.

Yikes. According to Screamscape, Six Flags Great Adventure's #1 ranked wooden coaster, El Toro, is closed and apparently the lift hill motor blew out. If it cannot be fixed, El Toro will be SBNO for the rest of the 2013 season as a new lift motor is installed:

http://www.screamscape.com/html/six_flags_great_adventure.htm

This has not been a very good year for Intamin. Intimidator 305, Shoot-The-Rapids, and now El Toro have all had problems and all 3 could be down for some time.

Youngstud won't like this!

Indeed, but the Toyota owner blames Toyota if his or her new Prius quits working due to a defective widget.

This is true. I was going to add a line or two about public perception and reputation but I was trying to wrap it up and get out the door at the time. Ha.

Yep. And people who own Prii will blame Georgetown or Lafayette when their vehicle was made in Japan!

For now. There are rumors circulating that my company will start production on Prius parts for a domestically built version.

There are several Toyota plants in the US now aside from the two you mentioned. Also did you know the Camry is the most American made vehicle on the market in the United States?

Yes..did you know another large Japanese manufacturer, partly owned by Toyota, produces four cylinder Camrys in Lafayette under contract?

I know of a joint venture between Toyota and another Japanese auto manufacturer but I do not know the exact details of that venture. I know about the products we produce for Toyota (and others) and their destinations. Beyond that I do not know who makes what parts or where they ship to or from.

Small world. I do work on trucks for a Company that most likely hauls the parts your company supplies for Toyota.

For a ride that's been open for 7 years its more of a freak incident rather than intamin issues, i could happen to any coaster, its just blown up because its a intamin coaster.

I found it interesting myself for 2 reasons:

#1-El Toro is an Intamin, so this does connect with the recent closing of Intimidator 305 (another ride having issues with its cable lift) and the Shoot The Rapids accident. Dumb Luck or not, 3 well-known attractions down is not a good thing for Intamin's image ATM.

#2-Perhaps more interesting is that this attraction was voted #1 wooden roller coaster in the world in both the Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards and Mitch Hawker Wood Coaster poll in 2012...and it's won or tied for 1st in the Hawker poll 3 years running now, so it was going for a 4th straight Hakwer Poll title in 2013- something no ride to date has done. Will this breakdown affect its chances? If so, what rides will take advantage of El Toro's stumble? (My guesses, if this does in fact effect El Toro: Phoenix @ Knoebels or Voyage @ Holiday World for the Golden Ticket Awards, and T-Express @ Everland for Hawker's poll...though Outlaw Run could show up as an unknown x-factor, but I haven't heard too much about that ride yet as suddenly it got kind of quiet after the early reviews came in)...

Just some random thoughts...

That would matter a lot...if polls mattered a lot.

They don't.

Yes..did you know another large Japanese manufacturer, partly owned by Toyota, produces four cylinder Camrys in Lafayette under contract?

Sort of off topic, but living in Lafayette, I've had a few opportunities to tour that plant...it really is quite a marvel!

Another failure by an Intamin.

Is it coincidence? Is it poor engineering? Is it an epidemic?

Guests are not happy. Parks are not happy. B & M is happy.

Six Flags?

Premier Rides is also happy.

Terp, who sometimes borders on saying too much.

Good heavens. Just when you think it can't get worse for Intamin. What a shame.

It was already worse...

Excuse my ignorance, but is it that critical of an ordeal to put some kind of a motor at the base of a coaster's lift hill to make the chain go round and round? I mean geez - does it need to have a certain number of government-specified hamsters running around in their wheel or can someone just remove one or two old used washing machine power drivers and sync them up to turn that chain?

I know it's silly - but it times past, when things were simple, you could probably have pulled up your Chevy under the lift hill, popped the hood, connected the chain to one of the fan belts, and revved up the engine to pull the train up and over. Now-a-days, all is computerized and tedious requiring specialized parts and such - hence, the SBNO