[aaren]

About 3 days back, my co-worker's brother and his friends were returning to Nalkhera (in Dt. Agar, Madhya Pradesh), located about 180 kms from Indore in a Renault Duster (make 2013). Suddenly, the driver side wheel broke apart sending the vehicle into a tumble, before landing turtle.

The driver (brother of my co-worker) got hurt somewhat badly and rest of the passengers were not injured.













With this incident, whatever eagerness that I had of buying this vehicle / its twin has now evaporated.

Certainly a traumatic experience for all concerned.

[shashank.nk]

OMG! I've never come across something like this before. How did the wheel just detach itself from the chassis like that ? Could you give us more details of what happened prior to the wheel coming off that way ?

Also, were the occupants wearing seatbelts ?

[aravind.anand]

At first, I thought it would have been a case of the wheel nuts not being tightened or not fitted leading to this horrible mis-hap. But looks like it is far more serious that that - the entire front wheel along with the brakes, suspension spring and the tie rods have been cut off! Really a terrible accident. Glad to know all the passengers in the vehicle were safe. Wish them all a speedy recovery, and yes, this case does warrant a serious probe to really understand what happened.

[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.

[harry10]

OMG! That's a terrible and scary accident. How can the wheel just break without any obstruction?
Judging from the condition seems it wasn't doing very high speeds. A proper inquiry should be done into this.

[tanwaramit]

Reading the title I thought the wheel left the car, but looking at the pictures I am shocked to see that the whole wheel with its components including disc brakes just got removed.

Glad to see everyone is ok.

Hearing for the first time such a case, the alloy is also bent (may be post the incident). Do update us more as you get more information.

[aaggoswami]

This is horrible. From what I understand, the Rim is not alloy, but pressed steel. There is massive deformation and its clearly broken. Did the car hit something or went into pothole at high speed ?

The entire lower arm is broken off which is not suppossed to happen under normal driving. Last time I saw this was an Ertiga accident posted in Accidents in India thread. The suspension in all vehicles are normally over engineered and this type of massive failure is quite rare.

Please post more details when available. There is another thread of front suspension failure : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...hevy-beat.html
Though both might not be related to each other.

[M35]

Sorry for that. Wheel runoff crashes are always nasty.

• A heavily bent steel rim suggests a strong collision with a sharp/hard obstruction.
• The wheel hub seems to have taken the hit and thus failed.
• Did the vehicle undergo any major wheel/suspension related work recently, prior to the trip?

Relieved to know that all the occupants are safe.

[Ramon]

What happened to the front seat Head Restraints? They seem to be missing.

[vnabhi]

Holy cow, that is one hell of a freak accident! I heard that the Duster is built solid, so I guess it must be a case of a manufacturing defect. Thank God all are safe.

Only yesterday I was watching Fifth Gear where the anchor drives a Duster in Morocco. He was all praise for the solidity and resilience of the car, and the tractability of the motor. He even said that no matter how hard you treat the car, it will keep bouncing back to life!

Do share details.

[Nikhilb2008]

Guys, let us not start using terms like "suspension failure" or "manufacturing defect".

TBHP is a responsible forum with thousands of viewers from all over the world. Let us show some restraint and responsibility.

Until we get more details, we should not speculate.

[aaren]

Thanks. I will need few days to get the facts of what happened when my co-worker will travel and return with details. He will also be going to the Renault dealer. I also need to find out if the car was given for repairs. All I know is that the car has not yet completed 1 year. And, the road in which they were travelling is a pretty good road let us wait for details. And, of course, valuable inputs from you guys will be of great help in taking the matter forward.

[humyum]

This my friend looks like an axle which has broken off after the tyre/wheel taking a massive hit. That bent a wheel rim suggests only that.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by aaren

Thanks. I will need few days to get the facts of what happened

Please do keep us updated on what happened brother. Sad to know about the incident, but thank God the occupants are safe.

But looking at the level of impact on the wheels, it seems that the front RH wheel (the one got dislocated) got an severe impact before the vehicle toppled.

My blind guess is, the vehicle doing a high speed and hit the median, breaking the suspension link and strut the wheel came off and the vehicle toppled (hope this is logical)
Anyways, awaiting your feedback to understand what happened.

[aaggoswami]

A few more observations :

1) There is no visible damage to front bumper. May be, just a thought, that the object ( if at all the moving car hit the object first before wheel came off ) is not very high, else bumper will get hit first. Next, the right side body cladding are also relatively unhurt. If the car had hit divider, marks could be there on body also.

2) The tyre does not seem to have any damage. If there damage is so big to bend the wheel rim, or rather break it, some damage might be visible on tyre IMHO.

3) My sister rammed Wagon R into road divider at high speeds, possibly 80 or so. The Wagon R's front right shaft broke down, lower arm sheared off ( so did ball joints and tie rods ) and the car then toppled on left, dragged on the road. She was not belted in and had a headache. The right side wheel did not come off. The car directly took hit at lower arm area, but wheel did not come off.
In case the wheel hit hard object and came off, the ball joints would break, lower arm would be sheared off, but here the entire lower arm assembly got dislodged from body.
In case of Ertiga accident ( where it was claimed that steering got locked ), the lower arm was with wheel assembly.
Simply put : IMO, lower arm is a very critical component. It is not present either on wheel or on body. Somehow, I believe it can shear off from wheel, but its rare for it to get dismounted from body.

Also, is it possible that wheel got dislodged and then hit any other object like car/truck/tractor, etc. and then got damaged ? Just a possibility.