Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Road Safety (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/)

-   -   Ford EcoSport - Axle breaks on highway. EDIT: Due to accident (details on page 11) (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/170202-ford-ecosport-axle-breaks-highway-edit-due-accident-details-page-11-a-15.html)

Both were good questions.

In this case, it would depend on what the vehicle speed is (calculated from the rotating wheels).

The brakes on the locked wheel would probably begin (or continue to?) pulse when the wheel touches the road once again. If the coefficient of friction agrees, the wheel should start to roll again.

We can continue this in an ABS thread, as it is off-topic here.

Does this look similar?



Watch the below video from 09:59 to 10:15 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wrcQeHTi5A

Excellent find!! Made a .gif for easy viewing:



Also, I've seen a car where the tie-rod broke in front of me. It was approaching a T-junction (so was @ <20 km/h). If you saw the car from one side, you'd think it was turning left, and from the other side it looked like it was turning right :D. Other than that, no damage.

I don't think that the same thing happening @ 80 km/h would smash the alloy the way it looks on the EcoSport. The wheel would just lock up and the tyre would drag - just like as if the brakes were applied.

With a rack and pinion steering, one wheel is still steerable. So, end broken one wheel will be turned away from the vehicle and the other will be in the direction of the steering.
Once the tyre is perpendicular to the movement, the drag is enough will tear off the tyre. Once tyre is torn, the alloy hits the road, and shears.

However, you need more than 80kmph for that.

The tie rod end of my Jeep has come off on the run, with different results though.. Hence the comment. :)

Yep! Person was trying to turn left, other wheel was going right :D

I don't really agree with this. (Think of handbrake turns and drifting). Though it's hard to prove or give examples that are more suited to the situation in this accident...

In this case, note that the tyre is still on the rim. I'd say the main reason the beading left the rim was because it lost pressure (through the huge crack in the rim).

I don't really agree with this part either. I don't think the wheel would shear like that, just from being dragged along the road (with a tyre still between it and the road for the most part). Also the grazes on the rim would look very different if it had dragged on the road.

Seeing more pics would help...

Just wanted to bump up this thread - has there been any update on this "accident" / "manufacturing defect"?

Wanted to chip in my views on this, but could not find time.

I'm aware that my experience on accidental survey shall be lower than most, specially w.r.t the person who has given his view on the accident. But, still I could not agree with his view and my observations are below :

1) The car seems to have traveled around 75-100 mtrs + in a straight liner after the location of suspected external impact. This judgement is derived from the images posted where the car tracks well in a straight line.

The post above ( by raj_5004 and Rehaan ) where the car hits the concrete wall, just observe how quickly the car stops and it has not traveled much further.
The distance between Ecosport and the place of external impact is much more.

2) Looking at the tyre, if external impact lead to tyre burst, then car could not have traveled so much as air loss would have been sudden. And such a sudden air loss means that any driver would have realized something is not correct and that it was necessary to bring vehicle to a halt. Also, such a straight line would not be possible.

3) Concrete piece found inside the tyre. Could not have happened, if it would have happened, the car should be much, much nearer to point where it had external impact with much severe damage. Why so ? Any tyre burst video should explain it well, the air would gush out with significant force. So the chances of a concrete piece sitting comfortably in tyre is not correct (w.r.t damage to car and distance traveled ).

4) Dust inside the tyre : when there is so much pressure difference during tyre burst, dust particles can get in. This has to be discussed with an expert, irrespective of experience. Even noticed dust particles in the car even when the car is driven most with AC on ? When one opens the door, dust particles get in.

Also, the inspection of vehicle was done by somebody in the service center, not at the spot of breakdown. During transit, things and debris could have entered into the tyre, specially the dust.

To summarize, my view is that if the tyre burst happened, car could not track so straight for so long. If the impact is so huge that suspensions give way, the car should have stopped near point of contact with more significant, no so far away.
As the evaluation of car is done in service center, dust inside tyre should not be a reason to believe car hit the concrete sidewall at high speed.

The theory to me looks like its made up. I am not aware if the owner of car is responding or not, but in my honest view TBHP should not accept the view of a person and wait for Ford's feedback. Would love to get myself updated in case my above observations are found inappropriate.
For such a detailed evaluation, investigation should be done at place of accident, not at service center. This is evident from his views on front co-passenger seat where he claims someone at rear was not wearing seat belt.

Had gone to the Ford body shop today and inquired about this vehicle. Apparently the owner accepted that it was an accident and the vehicle was repaired. Insurance paid according to the initial estimate and customer had to pay 5000 extra.

End of story. :)

I know this is an old thread but I just want to express my opinion on this. To me it is a speeding accident where car front left hit one of the narrow berm of small water pass under the wider road(Can be seen in pic below). It scratched bumper hit wheel and caused the arm to bend and progressively damaged car till rear fender(see picture of damaged rear fender). Hitting wheel caused bounce to the vehicle which helped her travel so far. After bounce car landed on damage tire and cause further damage to alloy, axle, tie rod, wheel well, front door etc.
My opinion is that this is clear case of an accident and nothing else. But it happened in a way that it was difficult to judge.

It's quite concerning how people use forums like ours to build a wrong case - though these are proved later, a lot of damage is done with the first post with very few people following up the entire case (close to 3 years here).

Just wondering what if Ford decides to sue the owner for maligning the brand with false allegation!!