Uwatec problems

[FreediveWI]

I no longer use Uwatec computers, but I thought that this might interest those of you who do.

Jon


Corporate Coverup Exposed Divers To Grave Risk According To Lawsuit
Monday May 26, 2003 @ 06:07
Submitted by Cliff Etzel

In what appears to be an apparent seven year coverup of a flaw in their Dive computer software, Uwatec is being accused of not notifying the general public regarding a critical flaw that jeopardized the health and safety of hundreds of divers, according to interviews, legal documents and company memos as posted in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 25th.

Later this year in November, four divers will take their cases to trial in Oakland, California federal court, where they will contend that Uwatec blocked any disclosure of the dive computers defect.

It is being reported that after two employees working for Uwatec repeatedly urged a recall of the computer, the company fired them. When Uwatec's founders sold the company, they assured the buyers there was no defect.

When the company president testified about the computer, he denied under oath that any flaw existed.

Cynthia Georgeson, a spokeswoman for Uwatec's parent, Johnson Outdoors Inc., says the company moved to protect divers using the computer as soon as possible after confirming the defect in the summer of 2002.

"This is not a company that behaves irresponsibly when it comes to consumers," she said, "especially when you're talking about diving equipment."

But word of the defect has unnerved countless divers from Miami to Monterey, and the tale of how a corporate coverup has exposed serious divers to severe danger has stirred many scuba divers deepest fears.

According to information being used in this court case, a design engineer told the founders of Uwatec, Karl Leemann and Heinz Ruchti, that a software defect was discovered that caused the device to underestimate nitrogen levels after a series of closely spaced dives. A diver breathing Nitrox who was relying on the Aladin computer over successive dives could exceed the safe time and depth limits and fall prey to Decompression Sickness, commonly known as The Bends.

In detailed information, the continued silence by Uwatec's founders, along with continued coverup and denial of any problems with the computer has led to several divers succombing to DCS.

The company weathered an investigation by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which had inquired about the computer at the end of 1998 but dropped the proceedings many months later without announcing findings.

Former Uwatec employees say the company misled the commission by sending modified Aladins that had the defect repaired, but Johnson denies the charge.

More troubling for Uwatec was the growing number of reported injuries - and the lawsuits they provoked.

Several divers have been seriously injured or died from the defective computers in the alleged coverup.

Robert Raimo is one of those divers who became a victim to DCS as a result of using the defective Aladin Dive computer while diving in Bonaire.

According to accounts, after his fourth and final dive off Bonaire, Raimo returned to his hotel and grew nauseous and dizzy. Pain bit into his shoulders. He realized almost immediately that he had the bends.

Two seven-hour sessions in a recompression chamber saved his life but left him permanently injured from having contracted The Bends. And Raimo, a veteran of thousands of dives, could not understand what had gone wrong.

"I made no mistakes," he says, "no miscalculations."

The accident was so unexpected that, even after months at home with his wife and two children, he was still having difficulty coming to terms with what or how he had contracted The Bends in the first place. But Raimo's outlook changed Christmas of 2002, when a diving friend mentioned some information regarding a lawsuit involving the Aladin.

Upon the recommendation of several divers, Raimo contacted attorney David Concannon, who sent him copies of the Jan. 30, 1996, memo in which the Uwatech engineer mentioned the Aladin defect.

More than anything, Raimo wanted the Aladin off the market. On Jan. 27, Concannon began the process of sending the Johnson and Uwatec attorney's letters demanding a recall of the defective dive computer. The company legal representitives responded by threatening to sue Concannon for defamation.

On Feb. 5, Raimo sued Uwatec and its parent, Johnson Outdoors Inc., in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California.

Later that day, Uwatec pulled the computer from the market.

The recall covers 392 Aladins dive computers that were distributed in the United States, but for Raimo, it won't change much.

Even if he wins his pending lawsuit, he has already lost too much.

He will never be able to participate in the activity that gave him so much satisfaction in his life.

[xtracheese4me]

question. do people tend to not look at the charts when they use computers? I am really new to all this so i am overlly religious to the dive chart..

[dfreeman]

Some people do not use computers or charts and just follow the group, with the hope that they know what they are doing.

It is very easy to rely upon the computer alone and not take any of the other precautions recommended by the tables. It is a good practice to check your profiles, but it takes some skill to check multi-level profiles. Good wisdom is to have a good surface interval (over 40 minutes, I like at least an hour) and plenty of safety stop time to shed nitrogen, at least 3 minutes. I like to swim around at the 20 foot depth for as long as possible, just to see the sights, use up the air (spent $4 for it anyway) and dump nitrogen.

I have checked my profiles and it was not the decompression dives that I have taken that presented the worst DCS risk. It was a short surface interval boat dive in the Cayman Islands where my buddy and I were easy on the air. First a 100 foot multilevel dive for 30 minutes and then a 50 foot dive that turned into a 65 foot multilevel dive for 45 minutes after only a 35 minute surface interval. I was very surprised at the nitrogen levels that my computer estimated when I checked the dive afterwards. Still safe but wow.

Be careful and do not push the edge of the charts or the computer.

Doug

[FreediveWI]

Acent rates play a big role as well. I no longer do the standard 3 minutes at 15'. I have switched it to doing 1 min @30', 1min @20' and 1 min@10'. For deeper dives I extended those stops deeper and longer.

One of the reasons that I no longer use an uwatec, or any other dive computer, is that they can't calculate deco properly. I plan my dive out on my palm pilot and write it on a slate and in my wetnotes.

None of the dive computers takes advantage of deep stop theory. They also allow divers to become too lazy in their dive planning. IF your planing a deco dive you can't just go by your computer. You need to plan your gas consumption and bail-out's as well. Dive computers can't do this for you and often lead divers into trouble.

Jon

[matt t.]

I've been reading a little on other boards about references to deeper stops in recreational diving lately. Can you point me to somewhere that I can get more info on this? It sounds good but I'd like to read more>

Matt

[FreediveWI]

IF you take a GOOD advanced Nitrox class it should be covered in there.

There was a lecture on it at the last Our World Underwater.

I think that DAN has finally gotten on the bandwagon with it and has some data on their website.
If you look up any of the work by Dr. Richard Pyle you will find info on it- although this is almost 10 years old now.

All of the new NAUI tec-diving courses have this in it.

You could also check out the GUE.com site for more info. The WKPP has been diving this way for years adn has a lot of sources listed on their site if you dig through it a little bit.

Jon

[Omicron]

I read that article earlier today - interesting stuff on the coverups. They certainly aren't recalling many of the computers - it's almost as if someone noticed the glitch pretty quickly and changed the software in the computers before too many of them got out in the market.

I'm with dfreeman - I stay on the shallow dives as long as possible. When doing wreck diving or soming up on a line, I usually do a couple of minutes at 20ft and then around 3 at 10.

As far as more info on deep stops...I can't think of anything specifically but if you check out some of the discussions on other scubaboards ( in particular) there is a lot of info on deep stops. One of the new theories is that by making shorter, deeper stops one can remove some of the shallower deco obligation.

[dfreeman]

Did some dives with experienced Trimix divers using VR3's. Their deco stops usually start at 100 feet for 1 minute, then at 40 feet and so on. I am a fan of deeper stops and working your way up slowly. Also, I believe in slow ascent rates. It takes some discpline but I believe that it really helps.

Taking Deco procedures I believe is a big help also. Lets you pre-plan and question your computer.

Doug

[matt t.]

I'm not experienced enough or have the "need" to do the advanced nitrox class or the deco procedures class yet. I think the deeper stops may be beneficial for some of the wreck dives we do here. Not especially deep (65-90 ft) but we do usually stay as long as possible.


Matt

[FreediveWI]

On trimix dives our stops start deeper than 100'.

For the wrecks around here I started doing deeper stops a while ago- as soon as I read Pyle's article's in the early 90's. My typical stops when scuba diving on the Willy are to do a minute at 60'( top of the wreck) followed by another at 50',40',30',20'and 10'. This will clear out your body pretty well and get you out of the water with less fatigue. My stop time is only about 7 minutes, but it's "where and when" the stops take place that is most important. These stops also don't take into account what I am breathing and any deco obligation that I might have as a result. Sometimes I use air and other times I use nitrox. My last few "scuba" dives on the Willy had me using triox. I would add in any deco obligation on top of the stops mentioned.

The idea is to keep the bubbles small enough that they don't cause any more problems on the ascent. The old tables had you shoot up to the shallows and hang out there forever. Esentially you were "bending" yourself on the quick ascent from depth and "fixing" yourself during the long stops. The new(er) theory has you avoiding the injury phase of the dive altogether.

It works for rec and tec.

Jon