New tyre blowout. Advice needed please

Joe_Horner

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Yup, agree.

1) Sudden deflation of tyres alone does NOT cause sufficient deceleration or even shock to set off all the airbags.

More than does not, it physically can't.

A blow-out can cause a violent swerve, but the actual deceleration involved can't be more than (around) 0.4g . That's assuming that you have 80% weight transfer to the front (which you won't have) and that the braking effect of the blown tyre is 100% - ie: more than a perfect tyre just before locking (which it won't be).

An emergency stop will give over twice that deceleration (even my old '66 Daf using drums all round could manage 0.9g if you hit the pedal hard enough), and 0.4g is about the same as pulling a (good) handbrake on hard. The only reason it feels worse with a blowout is because it's on one side, so it pulls the wheel.

So, if a blowout triggered the airbag and engine cut-out, they'd be triggering every time you braked a bit sharpish which would have made the news by now!

Conclusion: She hit something and isn't telling you (her friend isn't an independant witness here btw )

motorguy

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Here is the cause.

I suspect the O/P's missus isnt telling him the whole truth

bigjl

Afraid i also feel that your wife has not told the whole story.

And why would all the airbags go off?

If it was a frontal impact the side bags would not go off.

If it was a side impact the front bags would not go off.

It is possible to set airbags off going over extremely rough ground in very rare occasions.

It is also likely that both the tyres on that side were damaged in a previous kerbing incident.

And it was only later that the tyre sidewall failed.

JustinR1979

motorguy wrote: »

I suspect the O/P's missus isnt telling him the whole truth

I'd fib if I caused 3.5k of damage to a partners car to be fair!


The old man hit a bridge and half wrote his car off years ago, and the airbag didn't go off!
A blowout causing all the airbags going out is a million to one shot.

mrmot

A manufacturing defect in one tyre is quite rare these days, but two tyres on the same side?

I've had a front tyre fail at 60mph, it wasn't very dramatic and the air bags didn't deploy.

zappahey

Hmm, first time poster and it's an elaborate and unlikely story. There's a familiar whiff of troll to this

photome

Why would all airbags go off and the engine cut out when a tyre deflates?

Both offside tyres have a bulge/damage.

Have you asked your wife for a proper explanation?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

photome wrote: »

Why would all airbags go off and the engine cut out when a tyre deflates?

Both offside tyres have a bulge/damage.

Have you asked your wife for a proper explanation?

Bearing in mind the marital disharmony, it is possible that there is some sort of fault with the sensors and programming, but it does sound like the sort of damage from hitting something small and solid at reasonable speed, like a rock at the side of a country lane.

Also to be fair, she may not have been aware of this, though I would have thought if the failure was due to contact on the offside on a narrow lane, then you'd expect to be in the hedge.

I've ripped a sidewall off a van tyre due to a rock on the grass I didn't notice at about 5mph. Very impressive noise and a cloud of dust so it is not hard to destroy a tyre.

Retrogamer

Sounds like the car hit some sort of pothole (or similar)
That caused the front tyre to blow out and the impact from hitting the pothole (or similar) would also cause the air bags to go off. Very common.

That might explain why the rear damaged tyre on the same side as a bubble. It would have hit the same hole / object at speed but with the rear end being lighter than the front and being dragged over the object, rather than pushed into it as the front did this caused the tyre to bubble rather than blow.

Only hypothesising of course but seems very unlikely two Avon tyres would become faulty, randomly both on the same side of the car.
About as unlikely as a blow out setting off air bags.

kernowgaz

Thank you guys for all your replies. I understand all the comments about how unlikely an event this is. However, I have no reason to believe that my wife isn't telling me the whole truth. She isn't the type of person who lies or covers things up. In fact, she hates lying.
I will be having the tyres tested by an independent inspector and if that outcome concurs with the first report then I will put this down to an unlucky experience.


This is my first post here and the story may sound unlikely but I can assure you that there is no trolling intended. I was recommended to come here by a friend because there is lots of good advice here.


Thanks again everyone.