This has to be the strangest crash were setting the parking brake could have solved a lot of problems. This crash occurred in Sandy Utah and involved a 25 year old VW Vanagon with a manual transmission rolling uphill while on fire.
Any one who has driven or repaired a German vehicle of this vintage knows what happened. It involves the starter solenoid, no clutch pedal/starter interlock and old electrical components. Can you spot the clues in the news story and solve the mystery?
Van catches fire, rolls uphill then down into Sandy House
It was a bizarre incident that had many people scratching their heads Thursday.
Police and fire investigators in Sandy were trying to figure out how a parked van caught fire, seemingly rolled uphill, then downhill and bumped into a house — spreading flames to the home’s exterior.
The odd incident happened about 11 a.m. near 8800 South and 900 East.
Betty McLeese said she was vacuuming when one of the housing complex’s maintenance workers accidentally broke one of her windows.
“I was vacuuming and I heard this loud crack noise, like a gunshot, and I turn off the vacuum and I can hear glass cracking and I followed the noise and it was my back door,” she said.