OEM car jack dangerous

[neil]

MY07 Jetta

For the first time had to jack the car up using the OEM jack , while having fully raised
the rear tyre off the ground the jack then fell forwards towards me, or sideways to the car
luckily still had the tyre on. only way to remove trapped jack was to lever up car with
long timber plank and chocks just far enough to remove trapped jack.
Tried again and still felt like it would collapse but this time had chocked the suspension
in case it did the same. Have no confidence in this jack.
The whole design sucks including constantly hitting your knuckles on ground while turning
handle to raise.

Was on level concrete so not sure how anyone could use it on anything other than being level
which is not always possible in the real world.

Have changed many tyres over the years including heavy vehicles and never had any issues.

Time for a replacement.

[h100vw]

MY07 Jetta

For the first time had to jack the car up using the OEM jack , while having fully raised
the rear tyre off the ground the jack then fell forwards towards me, or sideways to the car
luckily still had the tyre on. only way to remove trapped jack was to lever up car with
long timber plank and chocks just far enough to remove trapped jack.
Tried again and still felt like it would collapse but this time had chocked the suspension
in case it did the same. Have no confidence in this jack.
The whole design sucks including constantly hitting your knuckles on ground while turning
handle to raise.

Was on level concrete so not sure how anyone could use it on anything other than being level
which is not always possible in the real world.

Have changed many tyres over the years including heavy vehicles and never had any issues.

Time for a replacement.

Lots of people call them widowmakers but TBH In the 21 years of owning VWs and Audi's the last time something fell off a jack it was a trolley one. I have done heaps of suspension changes and other maintenance with only a std jack and stands available. They are flimsy but as long as the car doesn't move they work fine IMO.

Never scraped my knuckles either?

Gavin

[Candyman]

OEM car jack dangerous

I believe their are some good instructions in the manual ...

Must admit, my Golf R jack (and jack point) are better than others cars I've owned

Still, I always take care when removing a wheel, making sure to use an axle stand and keeping clear of the actual car itself.

[jazd]

Yes you are right they tip over easily, as Gav said they are known as "widowmaker" jacks. I know what you mean about scraping your knuckles too.

[yowie]

These jacks are their own warning, IMHO.
I use ours only on flat concrete and only after also chocking two diagonal wheels for and aft, sliding the spare under the car, and making sure I am clear of it. I also check, after part-loading the baseplate, that it is in fact flat to the ground. Which is what appears to have occurred.

The problem is the lack of reference points on the jack itself. Its hard to get a read on whether it is vertical and properly loaded or not.
On uneven ground I will call my State motoring club. Or I might get around to buying a better one.

[The One]

I've found Nissan OEM jacks to be worse, to the point you get skeptical everytime you take it out of the boot, so shocking.

[Ben J]

I always kept a little scissor jack in my car, theyre cheap and take up not much more space than a widowmaker, but are a whole bunch safer

[Candyman]

OEM car jack dangerous

Scissor jacks, even worse ...

[wai]

I know that there are warnings, but if you feel they are unsafe, make a report to the ACCC who will then take appropriate action.

Manufacturers will try and give you the most minimal jack as saving a few cents per jack can amount to considerable savings.

The only way things can change is if people report things.

[DkN]

Are you sure you were using the jack properly, using the correct jacking points etc? It has never caused me any issues on flat ground. And like Gavin said, if you're using it right you wouldn't hit your knuckles on the ground? The jack sticks out about 45% angle upwards and you twist in a half circle, flip around horizontally to the other side, twist again. No chance of touching the ground unless you want to. This may sound a bit silly but the only reasons I can think of for your situation is if you're using the jack upside down or lying the jack's long side (instead of the small square bit at the end of it) flat on the ground.

[bennjamin]

The OEM jack is fine.....use correctly as designed- that is , on a flat level surface. Make sure to loosen the nuts before jacking up too.

There are many threads all over the Internet like this stating similar negative reviews when the OP sometimes simply didn't read the instructions :0)

[yowie]

I agree with both the above posters.
If used as designed, the jack is fine.

Those statement also high-light the difficulty.

Keeping the OEM jack within its design parameters while in use requires a very good eye for detail and an understanding of the load principles involved. While there is an indicated load point on the vehicle, there is nothing to tell you whether it is loaded vertically within the lateral and fore and aft tipping tolerances or not.

For all its faults, the scissor jack I am familiar with has a horizontal screw and two elbows and a wide foot plate, all of which aid the eye in aligning it under the load point.
Something like a bubble level on the base might help the OEM jack, but it would need to be on a plastic extension to fall under the eye properly. Maybe Dyson will invent something radical

[poyta]

Its works fine from an operational point of view but I think they are quite low quality - mine failed on me once - the threaded bar in the centre actually bent - took ages for me to get it replaced under warranty too.

[grtuned]

OEM car jack dangerous

Never had an issue using standard jack supplied with any Volkswagen used them many times. Don't know how it was used in the first post nor am I judging but if used correctly they do the job there designed for.

[Tony_Mitchell_1983]

I have used my standard jack many times with no issues, but the other day, using it the same way as I always have, it slid under the raised car making the car fall towards me. Luckily, all wheels were still on the car. I am now up for a new side skirt though as the jack ripped straight through that.