From the article: Rios says he became interested in the car washes after hearing from a friend about an accident that occurred years ago when technicians misco

From the article: Rios says he became interested in the car washes after hearing from a friend about an accident that occurred years ago when technicians misconfigured one in a way that caused the mechanical arm to strike a minivan and douse the family inside with water. The driver damaged the vehicle and car wash as he accelerated quickly to escape. It is not explicitly said, but I suspect that the arm smashed a window and that allowed the water inside the van.