What to do in case of a blowout...

[grampachet]

Here is an interesting video I saw from another forum, it has information concerning what a person should do if a sudden air loss occurs while driving a MH. I wonder what they would say regarding sudden air loss on a tow vehicle? It is stated that whatever vehicle you are driving the reaction should be the same. What is your take on this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwOE1yKY5c

[8.1al]

That's interesting isn't it? I was taught to never jam on the brakes and to gradually slow down, this is somewhat of a new twist

[noneck]

I've seen that one before...not sure I'd be jumping on my accelerator either. I know I won't be jumping on the brakes and if its the tow vehicle I've found from experience that early detection is my biggest worry...I've had blow out, unknown loss of pressure and spring failure, all separate incidents unrealed over many years of towing. Detection was not immediate and had it been I might have reduced some of the collateral damage.

[Art-n-Marge]

Same for me. Almost mashing the accelerator is a new one for me.

I have had three "failures" when towing and all of these were on the trailer. Gradual deceleration then braking at the end worked for me each time. I definitely haven't been inclined to mash the brakes but I didn't mash the accelerator either since the TV was able to control the trailer to keep it straight.

I had a blowout at highway speeds on the driver's front tire on a minivan once and I didn't mash the brake or accelerator that time either. Just tried to keep the steering wheel straight until I could coast to an eventual stop and used the brake pedal to complete the stop.

I wonder if this is only for RVs (Class A, Class C, maybe even Class B) which are much heavier by themselves or whatever they are towing?

[grampachet]

I have only had one blow out and that was on my old SOB going up a step highway called the Coke here in BC and we only heard the boom, saw the dust and stopped with no problem. But I was only going about 35 at the time. Would I stomp on the accelerator? I dunno about that. That definitely doesn't seem like a normal thought process, and in the moment of time it would take place would you take time to think about what to do or just react naturally and take your foot off the accelerator?

[jjackflash]

That video is exactly right! I've driven over 20 years of professional trucking, hauling Doubles and 53 footers and have had 3 steering tire blowouts. I was trained to do exactly what that video describes,you immediately step on the gas and believe me it works.
As you see in the video a blowout causes pulling side force,by accelerating you create a stronger forward force which allows you to immediately gain control until you can safely slow down and pull over. When a blowout happens,if you let off the gas the side force will take over than you can possibly lose control.
As I mention before, it works and with any vehicle.
Jack

[Waynem]

As Jack said.
Remember that you are accelerating to gain control. Once control is had you ease off the accelerator, but still maintain control. And as jack said, this is for a steering blow out. A dually, or one tire on a trailer will not make much difference in steering and you can immediately slow down because it is not a steering tire.

[grampachet]

What about the rear tire on your TV while pulling your 5th wheel?? Does the thing same apply?

[PapaBeav]

I have never had a blow out and I hope I never do. But just in case I will store the information in my memory bank, whats left of it. And if the time ever comes that I need it I will try and remember what to do in that split second of time that I have to react.

[8e3k0]

All those situations can apply if your flat tire stays on the rim; but when pieces of rubber start coming apart and hurling every direction you want to get that rig off the highway as soon as possible without minumum damage. There is no way that I would push the accelerator with 500 plus horses under the hood and the tranny wanting to shift to lower gears!! Again, personal experience mixed along with theory in these applications, one wants to make sure safety is always a priority.

[H. John Kohl]

I think the key is you accelerate to regain control of the tow vehicle, not to race down the road. Even a 500 horse engine will take a little time to really build up speed.

When working a corner you brake before the corner and hold or light accelerate in the corner and more acceleration when over half way through the corner. I feel the corner is providing the same type of side pull as the loss of air.

The film was made by experts (Michelin) and jjackflash (a professional driver) confirms the instructions.

So I will mash the motor until I am stable then safely pull to the shoulder. The trailer flat had no effect on my TV (experienced first hand).

I hope no one has to test this lesson.

[skypilot]

NM State Mounted Patrol training years ago; drivers education instructor for Army many years ago; recent DDC (for insurance discount) last year --(and for what it is worth, flight instruction - loss of engine for Center-Line thrust Aircraft -- long time ago) all taught the same thing -- add power to assist in gaining control and then slow-down gradually with minimal if any braking - especially if a front tire flat. Braking puts additional weight on the front of the tow vehicle, adding to the lateral pull of the low/flat tire. You will notice enough of an increase in sideways pull as you slow down anyway, why increase that pull unnecessarily.

[cdaniels]

Thanks whoever got this to post again. I was going to search for it but saw it was relisted. After the deadly accident of one of our RV guest we wanted to know what the experts say on how to handle a blow out.

[richfaa]

Same here in bus driver training.

[sreigle]

Had yet another blowout (this one with damage, see other post) just yesterday. I immediately got on the brakes and pulled over onto the shoulder. We were on a big city freeway and were doing just 56 mph (gps speed). The blowout was on the house (again), not the tow vehicle.

In this case, as in most of our other blowouts, we heard the pop. This one was very loud. So I know it was a blowout and not caused by a tire gradually going flat. Plus, just 199 miles earlier, before starting the day's trip, I had checked the pressure. 80 psi. And just 42 miles prior we had stopped for lunch and everything looked fine. So in most of the cases we've had tire problems while towing no tire pressure monitor would have helped. However, if a tire has a slow leak, having the warning might be of value in getting stopped before there is damage.

[NCFischers]

I asked Vickie what she would do if she had a blowout and she said that she would hit the brakes (a natural reaction). It can be difficult to fight your instincts when something like that happens. Having things reinforced by threads on this and other forums can help avert disasters.

[pbahlin]

It's hard to wrap your head around this because the forces involved are happening in the space of a few seconds and we usually associate mashing the accelerator for tens of seconds with an increase in speed.

Remember that force is the product of mass times acceleration and remember that acceleration is a CHANGE in velocity. Acceleration is in units of feet per second per second.

Now imagine that you have a blowout and you mash the accelerator. Imagine, because of your training, you instantaneously increase the force to the drive wheels by, say, 20%. This means you've instantaneously increased your acceleration by 20% too (your mass isn't going anywhere unless you've exploded). But, in that first second, when all this is happening your speed hasn't changed a bit. If acceleration is going from nothing (just chugging along) to some number of feet per second per second, the first second or two can go by with all that increase in force applied and your speed will change by little to nothing.

Try it going down the road with nothing wrong. Cruise along at 60, then mash the accelerator for 2 seconds and see how much your speed changes. If you're towing, I'd bet that your speed won't go up 3 mph. It might not even move the needle on the speedometer. But you've massively increased the force being applied to the vehicle for 2 seconds. That's all the time it will take to counteract the new force applied by the blowout.

[sreigle]

Yep. I neglected to say in my post that hitting the brakes was my automatic reaction and that I'm surprised that's not the right thing to do. I will have to study this more closely. Thanks for the information.

on edit, watched the movie and it makes sense. But it sure will be hard to overcome a natural tendency to brake, without benefit of repetitive training.

One of my concerns is if I don't get stopped quickly enough and the rubber disintegrates enough to allow the rim to run on the pavement, how long before that aluminum rim disintegrates, dropping the rig onto a brake drum and probably far more damage? I already cracked one aluminum rim during a blowout.

Reason for concern or not???

[pbahlin]

Did you ever watch one of those shows like Cops or Amazing Police Chases. More often than not the chase ends with the perp running on four rims, throwing sparks like a fireworks show.

I've always wondered how the jerks maintain control under those conditions and how those rims can take that abuse. Of course they aren't loaded like a 5er axle but still, they seem to make it OK. I'm not sure I'd ever trust a rim that had gone through that kind of stress.

[Jdrobone]

John is right on. Mashing the accelerator in this case is not for the purposes of accelerating but to provide the power needed to combat the lateral forces until you can make a safe, controlled stop.
Jerry