Why This Chevy Cruze Had Its Entire Rear Suspension Yanked Out By A Police ‘Grappler’ Device

Police chases are, statistically, extremely dangerous. According to a study published by the New York State Attorney General’s office in June, 30 percent of pursuits nationwide end in a crash, and nine percent result in some level of injury, whether that be to the suspect, the police, or a bystander. So departments have increasingly adopted “grappler” tools to end chases before tragedy strikes. One Michigan driver learned the hard way how much damage can be done if you try to flee after being grappled —especially if your car has a torsion beam rear end.

The Grappler Police Bumper made waves on its debut in 2018 as a safer, more straightforward way to end police pursuits without endangering bystanders or involved parties. It’s a device deployed from the front of a police car’s bumper that holds out a nylon net. All a user has to do is touch the net to the rear wheel of the car in front, and the nylon gets entangled in the wheel. One piece of the nylon stays attached to the cruiser, allowing the officer to, in essence, “rope in” the captured car by slamming on the brakes, bringing both vehicles to a stop. The device’s inventor, Leonard Stock, told Fox 10 Phoenix in 2023 that he came up with the idea in a dream.

Unsurprisingly, use of the Grappler has spread across the country to dozens of law enforcement agencies. One such agency is the Livonia Police Department in Michigan, which used the tool to great effect on Thursday against a second-generation Chevy Cruze stolen out of Dearborn. Video from onboard the pursuing cop car shows a textbook capture on Interstate 96, but the driver of the Cruze couldn’t seem to accept defeat. Instead, they tried three times to tug their way out of the nylon. On the third tug, disaster struck. Watch for yourself:

In a statement published to Facebook, the department said it called on the assistance of the Michigan State Police to help them out with the fleeing Cruze, which had allegedly been identified as stolen. Here’s what else the agency had to say:

The 27-year-old male driver from Brighton, along with two female passengers, a 32-year-old from Wayne and a 31-year-old from Livonia, were all arrested and taken into custody without further incident. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

What Exactly Happened Here?

The Chevy Cruze uses a torsion beam rear suspension. Also known as a twist beam, it’s a common piece of design in modern, front-wheel drive economy cars that uses a transversely positioned metal beam to hold the wheels, tires, and brakes to the car, via just two mounting points on a set of trailing arms linked by the twist beam. Like most other modern suspension designs, the suspension includes a shock and spring per wheel (the former is bolted to the body, and the latter sits pressed between the body and the torsion beam spring perch).

Torsion beams are generally panned by enthusiasts, as they can’t provide the same articulation or refinement as a true independent suspension. But they have exceptional benefits. Torsion beams are simple to work on and cheap to produce, which is why you see them on so many everyday, low-cost cars. And they still provide some level of wheel independence, as the beam can twist when one wheel encounters a bump, so as not to upset the other (hence the “torsion” in torsion beam). But because the semi-independent suspension is only bolted down in two spots (plus the shocks, though those are much weaker attachments), they are particularly susceptible to being ripped out when encountering a Grappler tool. At least, when the driver really forces the issue.

That’s exactly what happened here. On that third tug, the Grappler held onto the left wheel, which stayed attached to the hub, which was connected to the trailing arm, which was connected to the torsion beam that connected to the other trailing arm and wheel. Ultimately, the two lowly bolts holding the suspension to the unibody sheared away, and everything else attached to the beam, including the shocks, the brakes, and the right wheel—came with it. The springs, meanwhile, were never formally attached to the car in the first place—just held in place by pressure (OK, there might have been some very basic hold-down clamps). So when the torsion beam was ripped out, the springs simply left the chat. If you watch closely in the above video, you can actually see one of the springs roll into frame on the pavement.

Here’s a top-down view of the Cruze’s torsion beam design, with a detailed explanation of each part and what went wrong, put together by the incredible David Tracy. The two connection points are actually held to the car via metal brackets, which stayed connected to the car, at least partially, going by the photo published by the Michigan State Police.

[Ed Note: I should add that some Cruze’s rear torsion beams featured a Watt’s Link, but I doubt this one did. -DT]. 

The lesson here? If you get grappled while trying to flee police in a car equipped with a torsion beam, don’t try to break free. You won’t just lose a tire, you’ll lose the entire rear end of your car.

Top photo: Michigan State Police and Livonia Police Department