[aashish.shah]

Just a thought, I noticed that the deformation on the rim ( both front & back ) & the cut in the bearing is all in the same direction. This disk too has some rupture marks in the same place. can this lead to something. I am not a expert but I find it a little weird for the rim to deform both in & out on the same side.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by aashish.shah

the cut in the bearing

Which bearing are you referring to? There is no bearing damage in this case. And to my knowledge the wheel bearing will not be visible.

[aashish.shah]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Which bearing are you referring to? There is no bearing damage in this case. And to my knowledge the wheel bearing will not be visible.

Apologies for that , what I meant was, if you look at the inside center of the wheel, one would notice the cut on what looks like a bearing ( circular).

Again as I said, I am no expert and am just trying to learn from the experts here.

[Mad Max]

Looking at the damaged vehicle, I am so glad the occupants are alive and recovering. Hope you find the true root-cause for this. I'll keep reading on this thread to keep my friends updated.

[nishantbhatia84]

With no offense to anyone, here are my observations & opinions:
1. If the wheel just broke-off, the car would first land on the front bumper, but I see the bumper is undamaged. This means:
2. The car did hit something large, at a high speed, and the impact caused the damage we see resulting in the car toppling over as well.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by nishantbhatia84

With no offense to anyone, here are my observations & opinions:
1. If the wheel just broke-off, the car would first land on the front bumper, but I see the bumper is undamaged. This means:
2. The car did hit something large, at a high speed, and the impact caused the damage we see resulting in the car toppling over as well.

That's exactly my point.
Even you could notice the front LH wheel arch has got some marks. If it is an outcome of topple, the rear wheel arch & the doors should have got the impact, but that is not the case. Which translates an impact from side (may be from other vehicle) pushed the duster towards right, got an severe impact on wheels and then it toppled. This is how the theory should go. Let's wait till the thread starter add some more info.

[Mr.Boss]

Whether thread starter 'decided to go on his own way'?

@aaren, any updates dude? What was the response from Renault / insurance?

[nishantbhatia84]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Whether thread starter 'decided to go on his own way'?

@aaren, any updates dude? What was the response from Renault / insurance?

I guess it'll be a really simple case for the service centre and insurance company, the accident is clearly because of impact and not part failure imo. I've had instances where my old Zen had gone over deep potholes on the nh8 at triple digit speeds - all that happened was the rim got bent, but no damage to the suspension. I feel the suspension components are designed for high level of abuse and even if the components on the duster were weak, they would break only on a major impact.
Also, I really don't think the vehicle would topple, even if the wheel 'simply' came off.

[aaren]

After posting an update, I was out of station and saw quite a bit of responses and am trying to respond in the best possible manner.

First and foremost, on my statement stating that the "Wheel just broke off", I stand corrected as subsequent understanding of the accident proved that multiple things happened that led to this accident. It was not a case of "Wheel just broke off". It was much much more than that.

Originally Posted by aaren

The wheel just broke off. Will be getting more details on this - we are busy with the financial year closing due to which, my co-worker has not yet met his bro. He will be travelling early April and return with details.

Originally Posted by humyum

Well, I see a lot of alternate theories here out of which IMO the one that sounds the most plausible is, 'the hit on the tyre/rim took place sometime/some kilometers before the actual accident happened and due to not stopping the car to check even after the hit, the tyre/rim combo just came off from the additional pressure of driving on a damaged vehicle. There are no ways about the hit being the cause of the accident, whether it happened sometime before the accident or right then and led to the overturn is what could be ascertained only by the driver or the passengers of the car.

Originally Posted by shashank.nk

If the wheel did hit something sharp and strong before it boke off, how come the tyre is still fine ? Wouldn't the sidewall be cut as a result of such an impact ? It looks alright in the picture.Or are MRF's stronger than that

This vehicle was at Indore on the day of the accident and in my presence only the driver parked the vehicle, when I was standing outside my office. Remember, the vehicle was a 6 months old vehicle. On way back, the accident took place.

Originally Posted by Sankar

The hit and drive-on theory and eventual failure doesn't seem possible in this scenario - it is a huge dent uncovering tyre seating area and this would have resulted in an instant flat and loss of control. If the owner managed to bend the rim like this he wouldn't be able to drive on and cause a further suspension failure.

Also note that its the inside of the wheel that is bent, if the vehicle had accidentally hit a median or stone severely it would be the outside end of the rim that gets bent unless the vehicle climbed completely overt the kerb/median/stone. But if such a climb occurred the owner would never be able to NOT notice it. Owner says no such thing occurred.

Correct. As I understand, the vehicle did not have any other incident on its way back other than the one that happened. Since I can not vouch for at what speed the vehicle was being driven, I do not have any comments to make.

Originally Posted by racerdabba

After going through all the posts, the updates and everything else, a theory

The wheel did not deform running running. A inflated tyre will never allow such a sharp bend on the steel wheel. It will round up owing to the air pressure, as it distributes the force.

The wheel indeed came of as a surprise, and got lodged between car body/suspension components and that is what caused the bend. This lodged wheel caused the car to brake immensely and as the tyre was lodged in suspension lower arm/tie rod/anti roll bar, it raised the car enough to make it roll over to the other side.

This also explains why there are no scuff marks on the bumper/lower body, since the car never nosedived.

Not sure if you have seen the subsequent photographs of the vehicle.

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Can you please post the snap of incident location more clearly, showing the traces marked in road? To understand the initial direction of travel and travel after the incident.
Also what is the direction of roll? (which side of vehicle lifted first?)

Going by the snaps of wheel outer side, couldn't convince myself that the wheel didn't got any hit before.

a. As mentioned earlier, the vehicle was at Indore earlier in the day and it was in a good condition.
b. This place is probably around 100 kms from Indore; hence, it would be difficult to post the snap of incident location, with any trace marks.

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Sorry to say, OEMs don't make cars, they 'Design' it.
Many may claim on the part / product quality, but the level customer abuse can put any over design / 10,20,50,100 times the factor of safety in shame.
This statement is definitely not for an argument, this is purely from my experience.

The kind of durability loads / cycles the suspension parts were tested is next to impossible to reach in real life situation.

Forget the rapid loss of air pressure, just throw away the tyres and try running the vehicle only with rims for a considerable distance (distance required by the driver to bring the vehicle to halt after the incident) I'm sure the wheels / suspension parts will never fail to this extent unless and until the wheels get an severe impact.

The part connecting wheel to engine is Drive Shaft. DS failure will never generate a huge load/force to push the wheel outwards / break the suspension member / put such a load on shock absorbers.

Thanks for correcting me on some of the terminologies.

Originally Posted by black_rider

Outside of the rim bending that way could be because of the tire rubbing against median. Maybe the wheel broke off when car hit the median. A survey of accident spot can clear this.

Looking at the pictures, I still find it hard to believe that there was no impact, "and the tire decided to go its own way". A wheel running off, just like that, will not have damage on the outside, like it has now.

With no intention to be harsh, what is the source of this statement :

My statement, "...the tire decided to go its own way" is incorrect as subsequent findings are proving. My sincere apologies on this count.

Also there were some questions in regard to Insurance. It is tricky for me to answer this question. On the one hand, am a member of Team-BHP and on the other hand, my office only has insured this vehicle. So I have to tread this issue carefully. I brought this case here as an Automobile enthusiast only. But at the same time, I need to ensure that my company's interests are also protected. Hence, I have to draw a line so that there is no conflict of interest. All I can say is that various options are being considered from an Insurance perspective.

At the time writing this, no other developments from Renault side. If there is any, will keep posted.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by aaren

On the one hand, am a member of Team-BHP and on the other hand, my office only has insured this vehicle. So I have to tread this issue carefully. I brought this case here as an Automobile enthusiast only. But at the same time, I need to ensure that my company's interests are also protected. Hence, I have to draw a line so that there is no conflict of interest. All I can say is that various options are being considered from an Insurance perspective.

At the time writing this, no other developments from Renault side. If there is any, will keep posted.

Does this implies that the driver of the car was hiding the facts earlier and the car did hist something at a very high speed?

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by aaren

It was not a case of "Wheel just broke off". It was much much more than that.

If possible can you explain what went wrong?

[ksmrsm]

Originally Posted by aaren

Also there were some questions in regard to Insurance. It is tricky for me to answer this question. On the one hand, am a member of Team-BHP and on the other hand, my office only has insured this vehicle. So I have to tread this issue carefully. I brought this case here as an Automobile enthusiast only. But at the same time, I need to ensure that my company's interests are also protected. Hence, I have to draw a line so that there is no conflict of interest. All I can say is that various options are being considered from an Insurance perspective.

Thanks so much for taking time out to explain. Appreciate your reasons for being careful on the Insurance matter.

May we request you to:

1. Keep us posted on how the issue is resolved from the company's point of view - once the issue is resolved.

2. In a similar situation what would the verdict be from any insurance company.

Thanks a lot for the guidance.

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by aaren

First and foremost, on my statement stating that the "Wheel just broke off", I stand corrected as subsequent understanding of the accident proved that multiple things happened that led to this accident. It was not a case of "Wheel just broke off". It was much much more than that.

This is not right!!!

You should get all the details of the incident before posting on a forum like this!
When I read the initial post of this incident, I was quite shocked to note that a modern generation car, from a global auto major (Renault) can have a serious manufacturing flaw like 'wheel just broke off'.
Am relieved to note this was not the case & there was some serious impact that caused the 'wheel decided to go on its own'!

Hope Renault doesn't sue for the misinformation & loss of reputation caused by this thread!

[::CMS::]

I would suggest the mods to update the thread title appropriately based on the OP's post regarding the false info.