Tik Toker Claims Roller Coaster Restraint Failed - Theme Park Nonsense 

Damn, you probably explained this better than I did! Great video man, well done

Anything I see that starts with "Tik Tok user" or "Instagram influencer" I immediately assume is complete bullshit at this point.

"So now I have PTSD" God, I hate TikTok users more than I hate redditors.

As somebody with PTSD you don't "get PTSD" instantly after an event. PTSD is formed when the brain does not properly process and recognize a traumatic event as being in the past- and it naturally takes time to process things, especially if its trauma.

Sounds like she picked the wrong roller coaster to pretend to have experienced a malfunction

For a traumatized girl with "PTSD" who thought she was going to die on a roller coaster, she sure is snide about the whole thing. I can't imagine almost re-enacting Final Destination 3 and coming away like "can you believe they only gave me a Dippin' Dots voucher?" Exaggerating or social media brainrot for sure.

When I worked at Cedar Point, and I worked Millennium, people would say this to us on a maybe monthly basis. People who don’t know what airtime is or negative G’s constantly confuse their body being weightless and a little off the seat for the restraint failing. We would do the same thing the ride op did, tell the, sorry and give them a food voucher or something like that. Although in this case with her having a “big” following online, the fact that she posted about this and is spreading lies and giving that ride op and park a bad name, she should have been asked to leave the park

She seems awfully calm for someone who claims to have nearly flown out of a roller coaster. Seems like more internet attention seeking

Several problems with her story: 1) she claims there was nothing holding her in when her restraint popped up. This is false, as there are seatbelts. 2) she claims it wasn't going upside down at the time - El Toro never goes upside down. She is clearly heavily embellishing the story here, which makes her unreliable and calls the rest of her story into question.

The way that ride operator allegedly responded is similar to how back when I was working retail and a customer insisted we check for a product we knew wasn’t in the back, we’d pretend to go check and just stand behind the warehouse door for a minute. It feels awful but there’s really nothing else you can do.

Shortcut: If YOU believed that the safety system failed during your ride, *how desperately* would you have tried to stop the ride before the next passenger got on? 🤔

If you listen to her video closely, she self snitches about what really happened! When she says she went to talk to the ride attendant, she starts to tell them her “bar ALMOST came up,” the catches herself partway through the word ‘almost’ and changes it to ‘COMPLETELY.’ It’s clear to me that something unremarkable happened on the ride that scared her (on a roller coaster, too. Who woulda thought?). While she may have actually believed the restraint ALMOST popped up during the ride, she also clearly knew no one was going to take her drama seriously unless she embellished the story. So I call full BS on her story and I believe she knows it’s BS as well. What a Drama Karen she is…I almost, wait, COMPLETELY don’t believe her 😆

I was hoping you would cover this. I'm not ruling out that she is just straight up lying, but she might have confused the -2.2Gs on El Toro for the lapbar suddenly not holding her down anymore if I give her the benefit of the doubt. Then she probably thought it was a good idea to exaggerate it for tiktok, not realizing how big of a fucking deal this would have been, if it had actually happened as she claimed. If it had actually opened there is no way she would have been able to 'hold down' the restraint for one, but once the train was in the station wouldn't she have been the first one to get out before the other restraints were unlocked? I'm sure that would have drawn some attention from the ride operators. She also doesn't look like someone who just went through a near-miss death scenario. Also, if both hydraulic systems failed during the ride, they wouldn't just magically start working again for the next rider in that seat.

I think since El Toro has such powerful g forces she think the restraint was coming up even tho it could’ve been her experiencing airtime

The lack of specifics make me wonder if she has ever been on a roller coaster her entire life.

The girl saying she has ptsd is so upsetting. My life was ruined for 3 years thanks too ptsd

PTSD? Did she even know what the term PTSD means? It isn't a term you can just throw around claiming that you have PTSD and is extremely untasteful to the people that really have PTSD. With regards to whether the incident happened or not, I think it is highly unlikely that it has happened and I have a feeling she might be confusing airtime with the feeling that the Restraints is getting loose. Since there is no video evidence or witness suggesting that they had to hold the restraint down, I highly doubt it. If she really is sure about that happened, then surely she can try to sue six Flags about it. But without video evidence (which wouldn't be possible anyways), how can you prove that it happened and we are to believe her experience? With regards to what guest relationship did, that was really well done. However, I think the ride op should have handled the issue more seriously and contact maintenance on the first hand to check if a guest approaches them with regards to restraints.

The biggest flaw in the story is her claim the she and the passenger next to her were able to hold the restraint down for the remainder of the ride. If it had actually failed, she would have been ejected from the ride. El Toro pulls very strong negative G's (apparently less than -2 on its strongest airtime hill) and there's no chance she would have been able to keep it down with over twice her body weight acting against her. This story is completely bogus.

Another thing that even a lot of enthusiasts don't realise is that modern hydraulic restraint systems often utilise an alternating locking system in the station. When the operator locks the bars, the system will withdraw power from only one of the solenoids in each restraint mechanism, meaning only one cylinder actually 'locks'. This means that if one cylinder fails, the failure won't be concealed by the other cylinder working as intended. When the train next comes into the station, the opposite cylinder is tested to ensure both cylinders are regularly checked throughout everyday operation. Upon the train dispatching, both cylinders will, of course, lock regardless because the power will be withdrawn from both solenoids. This means that it's virtually impossible to operate a ride with even one failed cylinder, because it'll be noticed within two dispatches of a train at an absolute maximum. For the restraint to unlock, you'd have to have both cylinders fail almost simultaneously AND have the seatbelt/any additional safety measures fail at the exact same time which is virtually impossible.

If anything, El Toro's restraints DON'T open, lol. I'm one of those lucky riders who had maintenance come and manually unlock my restraint because it wouldn't open after the ride ended and everyone else had already exited the train. I think either one of 2 things happened to Sammy Quinn- either this was this girl's first experience with air time, mistaking that for danger. Or a request she made had been denied so she decided to fabricate this story. After watching her story, it's quite comical to me that she's so calm recalling her fabricated tale, claiming to fear for her life while still at the park, and then claiming she would've been satisfied with a full park refund. So to her, her life was worth more than a snack voucher but less than $60? MAKES. NO. SENSE. Not only is she giving the park and coaster bad press, but she has the audacity to claim negligence from the op staff. As a frequent guest of SFGAdv I can personally vouch for the op staff that they follow all protocol by the book, especially in a situation where a guest is concerned about safety restraints. The supervisor is alerted of a possible safety issue. An incident report is filed. First aid is offered to the concerned guest. The ride is then shut down. Maintenance manually checks all restraints and then a test train is sent through the course. If no concerns present, the ride is reopened after such an investigation. So the fact this young lady Sammy Quinn states the staff dismissed her concern is a straight up lie and I believe legal action should be pursued against her for defamation. She should also receive a permanent ban from all Six Flags properties and TikTok.

It is virtually impossible that the restraint popped up during the ride. Both hydraulics failing at the exact same time would be infinitesimally unlikely. She is lying. Over the years, I have heard this same exact BS story from people about how the restraint popped up during their ride, or their friend's ride, or their uncle's best friend's third cousin's ride and how they "almost died" because of it. But how coaster restraints even work in the first place makes that possibility virtually zero, almost outside the realm of even theoretical possibility.

My best guess: she had a little more room than expected and didn’t realize it until the intense negative forces, at which point she was probably spooked and obviously without time to think she just held on for dear life. Then at the end she attributed the restraint staying to her act of holding down ignoring the reality that it never came up. I don’t think she had I’ll will. Just a GP who had a scary and unexpected moment on a very intense rollercoaster and belt the need to share it. People should probably know better than to believe this though because there’s no chance her restrain just “completely popped open” and frankly if it dead she wouldn’t be around to make these tik toks

Of course shes faking it

It’s obv fake bc she said “it did not go upside down at the time” and El Toro does not go upside down obv

And the fact that she now claims PTSD from a momentary fright and upset at the compensation are huge red flags to me.

As a ride operator myself I have guests once in while make these claims. Have never once found any issue with the ride. If a guests reports something like this our procedure is to suspend operation and have maintenance check the seat in question. and like I said 100% of the time nothing has ever been found after a guest reported the restraint unlocking mid ride. But as a ride operator you have to still do your job to keep everyone safe even though sometimes the claims are ridiculous you always have to go the safe route to have it checked out. The ride I work at also has hydraulic restraints as well. I think sometimes people get some of that airtime and they think they're flying out of the seat so they think the restraint unlocked, that's my guess. But if the part with the ride attendant is true they should train what to do in that situation better to their employees.

It is obvious that shes lying because the second her restraint opened she would have went to the fcking sky

She could have been trying to pull a scam for her Tik-Tok followers to their reaction. Like you said it doesn't go upside down and the restraints won't just pop-up

I hate how she says "I now have PTSD" like it's not a serious disorder

I can tell you that they do not mess around with Lap Bar safety on El Toro. I have ridden it over 50 times and they always push down on my Lap Bar harder than any other coaster I have ever ridden. I am glad they do because El Toro is one heck of a crazy awesome ride that requires this for maximum safety. Glad she was ok and hopefully they will get to the bottom of this. Great videos as always.

“Restraints pop open mid ride” huh, pretty sure that the rolling thunder hill would’ve made her day a whole lot worse if true. 💀 Glad she’ll “never ride a roller coaster ever again” that’s one less person in the queue! 🎉 Silly GP learning what ejector airtime is… 😂

When i was a kid, probably 13 or so, i rode a Ring of Fire ride and i seriously felt like i was about to slip out of my restraints when i was hanging upside down. It was around 20 years ago but I still vividly remember hooking my feet under the seat in front of me and wrapping my arms around the restraint and feeling like it was the only thing keeping me from falling out. It freaked the heck out of me, i was 100% convinced i barely escaped with my life and was slightly traumatized. I had nightmares of falling out of that ride for a long time and I still have occasional nightmares of falling out of a roller coaster. But in hindsight obviously the restraints were fine, if i could have slipped through them i would have... so, if i were to give her the benefit of the doubt maybe something similar happened to her???

Stormrunner also had an "incident" like this, where a father claimed his son's restraint never locked.

Her story about "holding the restraint down" already gives her away -- unlike ratcheting restraints, Intamin hydraulic lapbars can't go down mid-ride any more than they can go up. If something happened, the restraint would be locked in the open position, and wouldn't move downwards.

Well, now we know for sure she is lying. Her latest Tik Tok, she revealed that she exaggerated everything. She was on Runaway Mine Train, not El Toro, and her restraints only went up a click.

I'm pretty sure she wouldn't even be alive to tell this story in the first place if her restraint truly failed knowing how airtime packed El Toro is known to be. So it's pretty damn obvious she's lying. Also, as someone who is diagnosed with PTSD for real, I can say with confidence that she's totally faking that as well! In fact, I find it downright insulting to real PTSD sufferers that she'd claim to have that disability while acting so disgustingly casual when describing the very traumatic event that supposedly gave it to her.

i watch a LOT of true crime and police interrogations. the way she’s describing what happened sounds so similar to the way a lying criminal lies in interrogation. between the stuttering, long pauses, unclear timeline, extra unwarranted details, and her overall demeanor. while i’m no psychologist, her video made me uneasy to watch. felt like i was watching someone lie right to my face.

All I had to read was ‘TikToker’ and I knew she was a clout-chasing drama queen.

Social Media "celebrities" who commit libel and slander should be hunted in court by the businesses and individuals being attacked by such claims. Two or maybe three trips to the court systems with some decent news coverage watching these media spotlight hogs get served some reality and this foolishness will stop.

I love how she describes how the attendants respond to her because for me that fully exposes that this is a lie. It is so reminiscent of working in service and having to deal with customers lying to get free stuff.

The fact that she insulted all the people who called her out in her bs really shows that shes talking out of her arse

Glad you covered this! I see way to much of this nonsense, and it scares my GP friends out of riding coasters. Will show them this!

I think there’s always a little truth to lies like these, I bet while in the station she was sitting forward, and one she hit the bottom of drops she likely got pushed back in her seat, therefor the lap bar “came forward” but not actually, she just moved back, I bet that’s what happened and then she might have genuinely thought it broke or something

She’s really like « I have ptsd now 🗿 »

I think the restaint might've moved a little, as they typically do are rides with lots of hills, valleys, and turns, and now she has convinced herself that the restraints totally failed. I deal with people like her all the time, and they're honest to God the worst

As someone who used to go there all the time in high school I think she just got way more airtime than she was expecting and freaked. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve been there but Nitro and El Toro’s lap bar restraints aren’t anywhere near as accommodating as other coasters, if you’ve under 5”5 or you’ve got a short torso you won’t be unsafe by any means but you will get thrown around and leave with a major headache afterwards. The ride staff at Great Adventure especially don’t really push down as hard as ride operators do at say Universal when checking lap bars, just slouching during the final check is usually enough to get you some extra airtime during the ride but I can see people accidentally getting their experience and being freaked out.

I think she's lying tbh because she seems way too chill about it. I fainted on a coaster once as a kid and basically shut down emotionally for the rest of the day. I didn't get the courage to ride coasters again for a couple of years after that. If I had something as scary as a restraint failing happen to me on a coaster, I would be really shaken up. But this girl is talking about this "incident" with the same tone as telling a story of how irritated she was that McDonald's messed up her lunch order. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that maybe, as you suggested, she mistook the roughness of the ride with the restraint moving. But I wouldn't be surprised if she just made up a story to try to get a viral tiktok.

100 percent lying through her teeth. Any coaster that recieved this report would close for saftey checks before reopening to the public.

Claims the restraints failed yet no investigation was done and no reports of injuries for her or anyone else. Doesn't know the layout of the ride she said she was on. Self diagnosed PTSD from this event. Has a monetary incentive to lie for views. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she confused the slight give of the restraints for them being unlocked but certainly if that happened there would be quite the scene as people panic and raise alarm around her after witnessing the restraints fail. The simple answer is it didn't happen.

The park should sue her for defamation.

Six Flags should file a lawsuit against her for misinformation & ban her from all amusement parks. Liars like her need to be punished.

Or it’s a gp that got air time for the first time

She said at 2:20 ALMOST completely popped up. That's a big difference from a failure. It doesn't sound completely true. I've ridden plenty and have had restraints on Medusa at SFGrAdv and Raptor at CP pop up a notch because it wasn't completely clicked into place. it scared the hell out of a friend of mine who won't ever ride an invert again (Not sure why Medusa didn't bother him). It happened on the lift hill I think, it was so long ago I can't remember but I remember it clicking down tighter than I normally would have clicked it. It didn't phase me, the restraint jus wasn't fully clicked into place. I didn't do that intentionally-just one of those things. I have never had a restraint pop open, nor has anybody I know of had it happen. I've ridden ElToro plenty and love it...can't see how those lap bars could just pop open.

She’s just making this story up. 1) if both of the hydraulic cylinders were to fail then there’s a seatbelt holding her in place. 2) El toro never goes upside down.

There was a wooden roller coaster at Rocky Point or Lincoln Park when I was a kid where I almost died. The bar that comes down and locks you in didn't lock in place and popped up. Before I knew it we were off, a boy next to me saw what was happening and held on to me for dear life as I wrapped my arms around the loose bar. I could've died that day but survived and I'm still here... So it's not impossible.

I was waiting for you to talk about this! It pissed me off she said that she has PTSD because it's ruined my life for years, but I do think she's lying. All she wants is clout

Yea…. Had that really happened she’d be crying and stuff. ESPECIALLY on El Toro?? The restraint popped up on El Toro…. The craziest airtime in the world…. And you’re calm??

She probably got airtime then said it failed.

Opening up 4 inches possibly, but that is not a failure and wouldn't kill you. I just think with social media clout chasing it's too hard to tell who is honest these days.

I believe she got airtime and freaked out thinking the ride wasn't working

The little slip up from her going to say “almost” to “completely popped up” is funny to me. It might have felt like something slipped but the restraints didn’t pop up.

So she decides to go straight to tiktok after having a potentially life altering event that clearly didn't happen because it would've tripped either a sensor or she would've been ejected from the seat and been killed.

I agree that had the restraint really come loose, neither her nor the person next to her would have been able to hold it down, because that's what's happened in other restraint failure situations. The fact that she seems more annoyed than frightened tells me this was probably a ploy to get free tickets or other swag from guest services. Also... I don't know about El Toro specifically but I'm almost positive modern coasters have alerts on the station panel if any restraint isn't locked. What are the chances there'd be a double solenoid failure AND a simultaneous sensor failure?

As others are saying, misunderstanding the roughness/airtime at best, attention-grabbing bullshit at worst. The restraint absolutely did not come up, otherwise we would have at least one other source to back this up besides a TikToker who now has "PTSD".

Just want to say thanks, coaster collage. You got me in to roller coasters back in 2020 and have made it a huge part of me. Thanks

I NEED ATTENTION BUT NOTHING HAPPENS IN MY LIFE! 💡 Time to lie on social media

ya know most of the time when something like this happens the reaction isn’t “let me record a tik tok” it’s “holy shit I almost died”

3:18 "I now have PTSD" Wow, you got a diagnosis of PTSD like... an HOUR after you got off the ride that caused it? Gurl...

As somebody who has been on El Toro, she could not have possibly lived to tell the tale.

PTSD isn't a joke. What a horrible person she is to act like it's just some funny illness to throw around

If her video results in less attendance to the park, does that mean they can sue her for defamation? She made false claims that can potentially hurt the business or reputation of the park purely to get more attention for herself online, more views, and for monetary gain for herself (if she's making money from her videos, this is the kind of thing that would get hee MILLIONS of views). Seriously, falsely making these kinds of claims may end up landing her in some serious hot water, and you know what? If that happens, I won't feel bad for her. Influencers and social media "celebrities" are getting out of hand with their need for attention.

It's likely that the restraint was simply just not as tight as she expected it to be, causing a freak out.

Ok as someone whose had a season pass to Six Flags Great Adventure for years and has been on El Toro many times. That girl is making that story up. If your restraint came up on that ride you would IMMEDIATELY be thrown from it. That is the most intense ride I've probably ever been on (stopped riding it recent days because it's too strong for me). There is no way she and ANYONE else could've held her in. The flimsy seatbelt with the metal prongs that go into each other could not hold someone in without the lap bar. Also, where is the person who was helping to hold her in? You'd think they'd be just as traumatized and on the video as well. And the fact that she threw in the OBVIOUSLY incorrect upside down comment when the ride doesn't go upside down is just the nail in the coffin. It's like she'd never even seen the ride. I call CAP, like the kids say these days.

The park needs to take her to court for these claims if they are untrue, it could deflam the reputation of the park.

I'm guessing she was confused, thinking that the extreme airtime meant the restraint was failing.

"uhm i now have PTSD and am terrified" no girl. you dont diagnose yourself with ptsd twenty minutes after experiencing something that was kind of scary. if you can still talk at your phone and roll your eyes, youre gonna be okay. you dont know you have PTSD until it makes itself known to you.

Coaster topia did a great video and he proved that she never went to geust secvices about the ride incident it was a diffrent minor claim

Maby she was confused with airtime and thought that pressing against the restraint would cause it to go up.

My question is why would she say that? What was the point of that? It's obviously ridiculous as she seemed completely calm, it was not reported on the news, and she was not carrying any attribute that would make the ride fail (extreme size/can't fit, leg amputations), so what was the point of putting Great Adventure in a random scandal? To take away one of the world's most beloved wooden coasters just because it had been in a few other accidents so she felt unsafe? So she can get free passes? Wicked woman. They should ban her from the park so she doesn't have to worry about her "PTSD" again.

Her life isn’t even worth dippin dots lol

My immediate thought is that she's lying. Especially with how little detail about the actual accident she gave. No explanation as to when the lap bar came up, no mention of the seat belt, no details about how far her body came out of the seat with only the seat belt holding her down, and no retelling of dialogue between her and the riders around her, as I'm sure they all noticed and panicked. Surely other guests would have said something. It's worth mentioning that I wouldn't put it past Six Flags to have a failure like this, as they're not exactly known for their safety record (at least in comparison to other major US chains). And they're definitely not known for their good training of ride operators, so I don't doubt that the conversation with the ride operator was true. Maybe the restraint went up a click. I haven't ridden El Toro myself, so I couldn't speak of what that would look or feel like. The cherry on top for me is that she claims to have PTSD when that's a disorder that requires a diagnosis, and isn't something you self-diagnose in a TikTok video two minutes after the supposed incident.

I remember a time when say you had PTSD meant something. The person next to me farted, I now have PTSD.

Press X for doubt

Basic physics: Because of the speed of the roller coaster, the centrifugal force of any turn that was not parallel with the ground, ESPECIALLY an inversion would result in the rider being held in place even without restraints or seatbelts. Either the ride operator was a disgruntled college-age individual or was so nonplused by hearing this non-issue being spouted by this junior Karen in training that they responded that way, both of which are fair, IMO.

So we all know that she claims it was el toro. But allegedly the ride she actually went on was runaway mine train. That makes a bit more sense because of restraint slips but I still don’t believe it came all the way up. and doesn’t el toro pull a ton of negative gs. So for her to be making the video if the restraint came up at the drop would be highly unlikely cause of those negative gs. Other than that this was a great video

I've been on hundreds of roller coasters and only experienced a restraint issue on Hades 360 at Mt. Olympus in 2021. I am very thankful for the seat belt used on the restraint as a secondary safety measure. The Ride Ops team wasn't helpful, but I made sure to warn the next person sitting in the seat I had to double check the restraint.

Tiktok? Not buying it one bit.

Yeah no this is just clout chasing. The fact she is so smug, ingenuine and nonchalant about it while claiming to have PTSD. I can't stand these kids who just want internet clout.

I experienced a lap bar failure on High Roller in Valleyfair in 2022. It opend a few locks (or what ever the name of these things is) but not entirely. We reported it prior to deboarding and they took the train out of service. Later, the train was back in operation but the row we set in was closed. No PTSD.

I was hoping you would cover this. As much as I wanted to say that Sammy's story was "bullshit", I also didn't exactly want to completely disregard it as I wasn't there when it happened so I can't really say. Anyway, thanks for talking briefly about this incident.

Paused as soon as el toro was mentioned, I GUARANTEE that the restraints did not fail on el toro. What she most likely experienced is the weightless feeling on eltoros drop where it feels like you physically come out of your seat. Had the restraints failed, she would have been ejected.

I commissioned two different coasters. One with ratcheting restraints and one worn hydraulic restraints. When engineering was trying to get a restraint failure on the hydraulic one it took a long time. They had to basically pierce and drain both cylinders to achieve that failure.

I had a ride scare once, not in a rollercoaster mind you. One of those swingy arm ones that puts you upside down. It made a very loud click sound and I jolted forward. If my restraint failed I would have died. But it didn't, and I'm fine. Pretty sure it just didn't latch properly. Scared the hell outta me though.

How does one "hold down a restraint down" in negative G?

At the start of the video she said that it completely poped up but halfway through she said it partially poped up

I don’t like that she’s misusing ptsd.

You said this more calm than I ever would. In my mind I would have been going full on enthusiast mode.

That usually happens when you go on a fast rolercoaster for the first time, sometimes, if your body is not touching the seat, you feel like the restriction "lifted", but it's just a feeling, if that really hapened, she would had to talk to someone else who works there until someone believes her and checks the seat

Being charitable, I’d agree with many other commenters that perhaps she got confused during some airtime and panicked. However she does seem oddly collected about potentially getting thrown to her doom. If her story is true, it’s a serious accusation and there is a lot of important info that was left out.

Her story is so hard to believe. I mean, if it really happened, that's terrifying and awful, but it sounds so hard to believe.