Six Flags shuts down X2 permanently

Six Flags announced Tuesday it would permanently close the X2 roller coaster at Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, following allegations of serious brain injuries linked to the ride.

How extreme forces damage the brain

Experts told TIME that abrupt acceleration, twisting, and changes in direction can stretch brain tissue and blood vessels, potentially increasing the risk of concussions and bleeding.

Three lawsuits filed in September

Three lawsuits filed in late September allege that riders suffered brain injuries after riding X2. Attorneys told CNN that more than one hundred people have contacted them with similar allegations.

Six Flags explains the closure decision

Magic Mountain president Brian Oerding wrote that after almost twenty years, the company decided to permanently retire X2 because it believes it is the right thing to do when guest confidence is affected.

“While X2 consistently passed a multitude of safety tests, we have decided to close the ride because we believe it's the right thing to do.”

X2's extreme specifications

X2 was a two-minute thrill ride that reached a top speed of seventy six miles per hour and opened in two thousand two. It ran along three thousand six hundred ten feet of track with rotating seats mounted on wings.

Two hospitalizations in July two thousand twenty six

In July two thousand twenty six, two women hospitalized six days apart after riding X2 both suffered subdural hematoma, or bleeding on the brain. The first woman, forty, had emergency surgery and was unconscious for two weeks.

Second victim remains in coma

The second woman, twenty six, underwent similar surgery and is still in a coma. On July twelve, Six Flags closed X2 indefinitely, a closure made permanent at the end of September.

A history of dangerous roller coasters

In eighteen ninety five, the Flip Flap Railway opened at Captain Paul Boyton's Sea Lion Park in New York. The ride's tight loop produced crushing G-forces and closed by nineteen zero two after many injuries.

The roller coaster arms race begins

Steel roller coasters were first introduced in nineteen fifty nine. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, a roller coaster arms race took off, with designers building tracks taller, faster, and more extreme.

X2's troubled past with injuries

X2 went into operation in two thousand two and underwent an upgrade in two thousand eight when rotating seats were introduced. Brain injury allegations date back to at least two thousand nine when a sixty two year old man alleged he suffered a brain bleed.

Death linked to the ride in two thousand ten

In two thousand ten, a twenty eight year old woman died on X2 when a congenital vascular abnormality in her brain ruptured after the ride, medical experts suspected.

Children face higher brain injury risk

Dr. Michael McDowell says roller coasters are inherently higher risk in children than adults. Children are physically smaller and the forces they experience are higher relative to body mass, with disproportionately larger heads.

“Roller coasters are inherently higher risk in children than adults.”

The path forward for roller coaster safety

Experts suggest research on brain injury in sports like football may offer transferrable considerations for making roller coasters safer. More research is needed to investigate head accelerations beyond seat levels and factors like neck strength.