Yamaha Motor Corp USA is a deceptive ripoff; Engine & Throttle Malfunction Causing Severe Crash on Land. Kennesaw, Georgia
OWNER'S AND POTENTIAL BUYERS BEWARE! OPERATE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
This is the true story of a Yamaha LS2000 Jet Boat purchased in the spring of 2000. The story begins on May 25, 2002 (Memorial Day weekend.) If anyone has any suggestions as to what happened on that day and may know how to prevent others from getting hurt, please feel free to contact me.
My Dad and I took turns driving the boat. Neither one of us noticed anything out of the ordinary, except, that the throttles had been altered to hold the forward position. The two years prior, they would automatically fall back down to the idle position once you took your hands off the throttles. I had to wonder why they had been altered? After about an hour of boating, we decided to go back to the campsite to have lunch and pick up my wife.
It was about 2:30pm and we decided to call it a day since Dad had to get back to the house to change for a wedding reception. We came in the cove where the campsite was located. We were about 50 - 60 yards from the shore when I noticed something really weird with the throttles--they wouldn't pull back! In fact, it was jammed in the full throttle position. My Dad immediately noticed something wrong as well and said, "Son, you're going too fast!" In a panic alarm I said, "I know, I know! I can't slow the boat down!" As my hand frantically pulled back on the throttles, they still would not pull back. They would not respond.
I was able to move the throttles probably 1/8 of an inch backward and the boat sped up. I quickly grabbed the gearshift and tried pulling it back, but to no avail. The whole time yelling to my Dad, "It won't slow down! I can't pull the throttles back!" My Dad made a mad dash for the gearshift and throttles, but couldn't reach it due to the speed of the boat and the force pulling him backward. We were heading right for the shoreline and I knew I had to do something quick.
The steering wheel was non-responsive as well. Every time I tried pulling the steering wheel to the left, it wouldn't go anywhere. I finally was able to pull the steering wheel ever so slightly to the left to avoid a head on collision with the bank and trees. We did go into some low over hanging branches. After clearing the branches we quickly picked up speed. The boat made a half crescent moon shape around the cove and on the edge of the bank. All the way I desperately tried pulling the steering wheel to the left and pull the throttles back.
We finally ran out of water, we hit a log, the bank, and then a large 3-4 foot in diameter pine tree. I remember my wife and nephew flying out from the left side of the boat into the water. After we hit the tree, the boat bounced back in the water. My immediate reaction was the boat landed on top of them. Luckily that didn't happen. I knew something was not right with my arm and my finger and just lay in the boat holding my broken left arm. My Dad managed to get off the boat. My wife and nephew managed to climb out of the water and onto the shore.
This was perhaps the most terrifying and scary feeling of being out of control I've ever experienced. I just couldn't believe the boat would not respond to my touch. I was in a lot of pain.
Next writing will be titled, "Unsafe Design and Construction on Yamaha LS 2000 Jetboat."
Steve
Woodstock, Georgia
3 Updates & Rebuttals
FASTBOATS03
New York,USA
Stuck or modified throttles
#4General Comment
Sat, June 27, 2015
OK. So I know that this article is very old, but just in case other people are reading this for the first time like I am, here is my suggestion. Should anyone ever find themselves in this same situation, PULL THE d**n KILL SWITCH! This was such an easy fix for these guys, it's not even funny. Why didn't someone try to shut off the motors?? People get hurt because of their lack of knowledge on the water. Take some boating courses and learn how to operate and drive a boat properly before you decide to buy one.
j
Columbia,South Carolina,
U.S.A.
a marine mechanic responds
#4Consumer Suggestion
Tue, January 21, 2003
I have been a marine mechanic for 13 years. My certifications include Evinrude/Johnson and Mercury products. First and foremost a throttle "box" (or any other major or shift and throttle part) should NEVER be altered in any way. This is strictly a no-no.
If your local dealer or any marine professional did this "repair" then you may have a case. If you did it yourself you are screwed. However, it is not uncommen for a manufacturer to issue an "update kit". Usually this is a performance or safety related repair and is almost always performed under warranty.
This may be what happened to you. The kit may not have been installed properly... One other cause may have been that the throttle opened past the point it should have at wide open throttle, jamming the linkage either in the "box" or on the engine itself. Hope this helps.
Mike
Lake Worth,Florida,
Curious Throttle Modification
#4Consumer Comment
Wed, November 20, 2002
EDitor's Comment
BEWARE: these comments are purely speculation and the position this person postulates is completely without benefit of knowledge of the situation. We must give the victim the benefit of the doubt.
EDitor
======================
In this story it was mentioned that the throttle had been modfied to "hold the forward position". Who altered these? If not physically altered by someone, this should have served as a warning that something was wrong.
The throttles are designed to automatically pull back to idle speed in case the operator is ejected from the boat (either due to water conditions, or improper (read as unsafe) operation). There also exist teathers that act as an engine kill switch which should be attached to the driver, so that also in the case of ejection, the engines will be immediately turned off. If modified by the owner, I would suspect that the modification resulted in the stuck position of the throttle.
The other possibility is that the throttle wire had not been maintained and dirt had accumulated whihc did not allow the throttle to function as it should. The driver then likely panicked, pulling back hard on the throttle and kinking the control wire. A maintenance issue, or perhaps manufacturing, but either way the bottom line is, if something doesn't appear to be working as it has before, fix it before it fixes you.
Boats generally live in a very bad environment, humid, hot, sitting for extended periods of time, and if something is wrong they generally tell you. You just need to listen.
In either case, this should have been reported to your local law enforcement agency and investigated rather than passively put on a board such as this with people who have generally already tried (to no avail) the accepted and normal avenues of dispute resoultion.