Can you survive a tyre blow out?
MANY accidents are caused by tyre blow-outs and blow-outs are caused by quite a number of factors.
When a tyre blows, it sets any car off balance and makes it harder to control it. It makes it harder but not impossible.
The factors that lead to blow out and any mitigation strategies in the event of a blow-out are what we looking at today.
There is a misconception that tyres should just be pressed to 300kpa, which is wrong. You will find that most of the cars on our roads are running on overinflated tyres. I’ve been to a number of tyre repair places and I’ve had to make them reduce pressure to the correct pressure according to the door sticker which is 220kpa for my car. It is well to check your tyres for correct pressure.
In our hot climate overly inflated tyres are risky. The increase in temperature results in increased pressure therefore you are not in the safe zone with overinflated tyres in this heat.
Times are hard in Zimbabwe and very few people can afford to buy new tyres and many people use tyres well into their after life which is dangerous. Risk of blow-out on worn out tyres is very high. A worn out tyre does not necessarily have to be showing the wire braiding. Every tyre has tread wear indicators and once you reach that point, your tyres are considered worn and unsafe.
We have millions of used tyres that are imported from Asia and Europe. Not all of these should be used on cars carrying human life as they would have been condemned. There are no quality checks for used tyres and no guarantees. At times you get good used tyres from scrapped cars but it needs you to be careful when buying to make sure they are not defective tyres. Some of the tyres would have been removed from moving cars as defective tyres and therefore not safe for you or anyone.
Tyres also suffer from defects not easily seen by the eye so good tread does not always mean good tyre. Tyres can separate. They can get damaged by driving on them if deflated. They can also get damaged by potholes or curbs. All that weakens the tyres to a point when it becomes easy for them to blow out.
The public transport service in Zimbabwe has had its own fair share of troubles and that has seen
the growth of the illegal taxi business. The most common one these days is the Toyota Wish which has claimed so many lives on the roads.
Tyres have a maximum load they can carry and most passenger cars are supposed to carry at most 7 passengers but you find these and others like Granvias carrying as many as 12 or more people which is not safe and stresses every part of the car including the tyres as they have to deal with more weight.
Apart from all that, even new tyres can blow out if you drive over sharp objects on the highway or if you hit a pothole or curb so every driver has to know what to do when a tyre blows out. I asked my wife that question and she said, “Don’t Panic! and that’s all you need to do — remain calm.”
A tyre blow-out will definitely upset any vehicle’s stability and it usually comes with a loud bang which then upsets the driver and drives them into panic mode. You need to remain calm enough to keep the car in control until it stops.
The first thing to do if your tyre blows out is to
lift off the accelerator but do not be in a rush to slow down using the brakes or that may worsen the situation. The vehicle may pull in the direction of the blow-out if it’s a front tyre so you need to remain calm enough to keep the car steady and in control.
If a rear tyre blows, the car is likely to sway from side to side hence the need to keep a firm grip on the steering wheel to avoid total loss of control of the car.
Rear wheel blow-outs may be more dangerous than front depending on the speed of the car. Speeds in excess of 120km/hr make it harder for a normal person to control the car after a blow out.
So the answer is yes, you can survive a tyre blowout if you drive at a safe speed, keep calm and remain in full control of the car — remember a vehicle only responds to you so keep it locked, drive safely and Merry Christmas.