Hinsdale residents are pressing Village President Greg Hart and the Board of Trustees to decide the fate of Fuller's Car Wash at 102 W. Chicago Ave., with some demanding relocation and others defending the business, ahead of Tuesday's board meeting.

Two letters published Wednesday, July 15, in The Hinsdalean capture the divide. Eric and Pam Malchow, longtime Hinsdale residents, called on Hart, the trustees, and bankruptcy trustee Neville Reid to force the car wash to relocate outside downtown. Nancy Harvey, a resident of nearly 40 years, defended the business as a beloved multi-generational institution and argued the safety bollards did exactly what they were built to do.

The letters land two weeks after a 2018 Ford Expedition crashed into the bollards outside Fuller's at about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 1. According to the Hinsdale Police Department accident report, a Fuller's employee entered the vehicle as it exited the wash and the brakes failed, causing heavy front-end damage and deploying the airbag. The driver, a Western Springs man, was treated at Hinsdale Hospital for head pain and abrasions. No pedestrians were struck.

Those bollards exist because of a tragedy. In October 2023, the Hinsdale Plan Commission voted 8-0 to approve the installation of a brick wall and concrete-filled steel bollards at 102 W. Chicago Ave. The bollards extend four feet into the ground. Doug Fuller apologized at that meeting for constructing them without village approval, saying it was an emotional time following the fatal accident three months earlier.

"Can we please use this most recent occurrence as the final wake-up call that having a car wash in the middle of downtown Hinsdale is a serious safety issue?" the Malchows wrote. They argued that whether the July 1 crash was caused by driver error or malfunctioning brakes does not change the fundamental problem: a car wash operating in the middle of town with significant pedestrian and vehicle traffic creates an ongoing safety risk.

The Malchows referenced the July 17, 2023, death of 14-year-old Sean Richards, who was struck by a Jeep exiting the car wash. His parents, Brian and Kristine Richards, have sued Fuller's. The Fuller family voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2025, and Reid was appointed trustee.

Harvey took a different view. She wrote that the bollards "worked as designed and kept all of us safe," calling that outcome a welcome affirmation that the car wash can safely operate in town. She suggested the village should instead install bollards along the west side of Washington Street downtown, where she said cars have jumped the sidewalk and crashed into storefronts.

After the July 1 crash, Hart said in a text message that police were investigating. He posted on social media that Fuller's would be temporarily closed until a licensed structural engineer could verify the bollards were not compromised. Reid said in an email to The Hinsdalean that his team was "working with the village, the insurance company and appropriate experts to determine conditions" for reopening. As of Thursday, July 17, the village had not announced whether Fuller's has reopened.

The Village Board's only scheduled July meeting is Tuesday, July 21, at 7 p.m. at Memorial Hall in the Memorial Building, 19 E. Chicago Ave. The agenda had not been posted as of Thursday, July 17, so it is unclear whether Fuller's will be a formal item. Residents may speak during the Citizens' Petitions portion by stating their name and address at the podium.