I raise this topic because my friend who owns a 2.5L 07 Nissan Altime coupe just had an accident at 280 N during the heavy rain earlier today. He said he was driving STRAIGHT..and noticed some unstability in the car..the steering wheel vibrated he said. So he held the steering wheel tighter and reduced speed. He was going 60mph when he felt the car was unstable. He applied the brake (not aggressive, just normal) and the car skidded!! Then it spins and making 180 degree turn to the left. Luckily he was at carpool lane and he ended up rooted at the emergency lane at the left facing the other direction. What's worse..his right rear wheel came off when it skidded and that stops the car frm spinning!! Airbag went off as it happened. His front and rear end was finished..

I looked up at Nissan website, and found his car isn't equipped with stability control and traction control. Could the accident have been prevented if those are equipped, you think? Remember...he was driving straight, at 60 mph, brakes, skids, and lost control. No turning whatsoever...

Then I remembered my other friend's 07 Nissan Maxima that's not equipped with stability control too..it skids when making a slight turn in the highway when going 100mph+..

Well my friend is not a cur guy..he doesnt know much about cars..and now he said Nissan is rubbish..japanese car is rubbish.. he would only buy European car for his next car.. now he has an image that European car is SUPERIOR to Jap car..and that it is SAFER than the latter.. I told him his Nissan doesnt have stability control..that's why it happened..and still he doesnt believe coz after this accident he has a strong image Jap or Nissan is rubbish.. I asked, do you think European car is safer?? He said well yeah supposedly..European car what..

Oh well..

 

that's called hydro-planing.

In the circumstances of heavy rain, especially sudden rain (like it always is in CA), it releases particles and just general crap off the road that makes it extra slippery. It can happen to anybody if the circumstances weren't right (like it seemed for your friend).

I don't see how stability control would help you in this situation, because when you hydroplane, technically your car isn't in contact with the ground, it's gliding across the layer of crap and water--which is why the car will behave like it has a mind of its own.

 

I think the problem started when he brake...even with ABS it's possible to skid the car

 

Hydroplaning may have played a role, but it sounds more like a loose wheel was the main problem. That, most likely, accounted for the vibration. Since it was a rear wheel, the vibration would have been more in the chassis, but, in some cases, you could feel it to some extent through the wheel also. As long as the car was going straight, the forces on the loose wheel were not high enough to cause it to separate altogether, but as the car started to skid, the side forces (engineers call them lateral G-forces) caused the wheel to come completely off. You didn't say if the lug nuts simply came off on their own or were broken off.


One other possibility was low air pressure in one or more of the tires, relative to the others....especially if it was a sudden major leak or a blowout. That can cause an sudden unstable condition in a car that is otherwise OK.


Tell him/her to slow down....100 MPH is too fast, ESPECIALLY on a wet road. If he or she is driving at triple-digit speeds on a wet road, that's a perfect set-up for skids. Even if the car had traction control/ESP, it only has a limited capacity to prevent skids...depending on brake and tire conditon (ESP works through individual wheel brakes)

 

Most likely hydro-planing for me. The front tyres can't dissipate the large amount of water quickly enough and and a wedge of water builds under them, reducing the amount of tyre surface in contact with the road. The steering goes light, the car feels unstable and you can get vibration through the rim of the steering wheel.
If you feel that happening all you can really do is lift off the gas but don't apply the brakes - let the car reduce speed naturally while keeping the steering straight ahead. Hopefully the water will reduce and full control of the car can be regained. If you brake or steer violently when hydro-planing you are liable to spin out of control - ESP can't overcome the laws of physics and if your wheels aren't in contact with the road surface it's ineffective.

It happened to my brother once - during a sudden downpour he braked and spun through 180 degrees. He dipped the clutch and found himself travelling backwards in the outside lane of the motorway with traffic bearing down on him. He refers to it as his "brown trousers moment".

 

Hmmm your friend is in for a big surprise especially when nearly all german cars are rear wheel drive... meaning there will be less traction on the wheels moving making hydroplaning more likely to occur. Stability control like the people said up here can't do anything if you are hydroplaning, simply because there is a lack of tire contact to the road. The best thing to do when hydroplaning is to ease off the gas and steer as little as possible.

 

ehm, ESP would have definetly helped, A LOT... And him being in RWD car would hurt a LOT :-).

Tell him not to brake next time during heavy rain...

 

Also, tires could have played a small role - Nissan uses crappy ContiProContacts that are low rolling resistance tires designed for MPG than handling and grip. Naturally, LRR tires like the Contis, Goodyear Integrity, and Bridgestone RE92s have less resistance to hydroplaning. The only cars LRR tires have business on are Priuses, Insights, and Civic Hybrids and even so driving in the rain could get nasty.

 

He hydroplaned. What kind of condition were those tires?

Now I've been in that SAME situation except I was doing 80 and I had about 7 lanes to work with...I lost control and all I heard was the BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP of the VSC. I spun totally one way and tried to turn into the spin. I almost hit the wall and the car miraculously started to spin the other way.

I ended up in the middle of the highway at 0 mph. The VSC did save my ***. Went home and the outside of my tires looked fine, then I felt the inside and there was no tread.

Dreaded inside GS tire wear FTL.

Most people that crash in the rain are simply driving to fast for conditions.

 

Ah..Hydroplaning..that word just didnt come across when I was writing.. The milage on his car was 12000, so tires won;t be bad I suppose. I heard Conti Pro Contact tires are long lasting.. for other issues like tight lug nuts, this car has done every recommended service at Nissan dealership.

I don't think 60mph during rain is too fast? Well 50-55mph is best but 60 is acceptable I think..

 

60mph in the rain can definitely be too fast depending on how hard it's raining. I'm not one to preach about speed limits (last night I raced an M5 up to 120mph) but a lot of people drive entirely too fast in the rain.

 

if you feel that car is unstable under heavy rain, you slow down, slowly... it was obviously way too fast for the conditions he was in.

 

please tell me it wasnt him who caused that giant backup! i was stuck on 280 for like an hour!

just wanted to note that the altima is a FWD car...

but yes, it was probably hydroplaning. what he should have done was just release the pedal and dont ever EVER touch the brake. let the car slow down by itself.

id like to think that stability control could have saved him when he started to spin. and probably some of the blame should be placed on the tire brand and quality

 

Don't forget that if it hasn't rained for a long time (AKA SoCal) then the roads will most likely have a layer of oil on top of the water from the rains today

 

Several of you seem to be convinced it was hydroplaning, which may have indeed been part of the problem, but it doesn't explain the vibration and the fact that the wheel came off in a skid. I tried to address that in my earlier post.