Accident - Please Read

[Simon Singh]

Just got a phone call from the missus, she was driving on the M1 in her A3.

She was in the outside lane, and the wheel came off.
Veered into the crash barrier multiple times.
Somehow made it onto the hard shoulder.
Police and everyone turns up, she's hurt her foot.

After checking it over, the coppers are saying the WHOLE front offside has come off - wheel, brake, suspension - it's all been ripped off.

When I drove it, it's made a slight whirring noise from the front, but nothing major sounding.

There's alot of bodywork damage too apparently.

Just wondering what to do next - I'm very new to Audi - About 2 weeks in.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[god_thats_quick]

I hope she's okay, and I expect that'll be a total write-off from your explination.

I would imagine it's difficult to tell the cause from the result if she hit the barrier a few times, I was in a friends 130i when we hit the central reservation and it ripped the suspension strut out when we hit the barrier the first time.

If you bought it from a dealer at little as two weeks ago I'd be interested to get a full report on what is the most likely cause of the accident and pass them the details if it's shown to be a mechanical failure!

 

[HTC]

Woah! not good!

Saw two cars travelling down the M6 the other days, both cars (separate accidents) had ripped the whole offside front wheel suspension off. Hit the central divider etc.
As above, hard to say if it exploded or whether the impact ripped the parts off the car.
Heard of wheel bearings, CV joints failing etc. Wheel deffo come off before the impact? Wasn't a blow out?

Glad all involved are alive.

Any work done on the car by a third party recently? Best you can do now is get it to the garage and talk to insurance about the fix up.

 

[Simon Singh]

Not sure what happened, the car's being towed as we speak to the house.

The coppers are suspecting it was a blowout.

Will give more details as they come.

 

[rickparmar]

Glad she's ok mate

 

[jojo]

Sounds bad just reading it, hope your missus is ok bud, I'm sure she means more to you than a replaceable A3.

 

[S3 Rav]

sounds bad mate. hope she's all well thats the main thing.

 

[MikeA3]

Glad she's ok & hope you get it sorted out

 

[NHN]

problem is trying to prove to goodyear etc as I am right now the tyre is faulty is just ridiculous, I had a pretty expensive tyre on my S4 B6, took for test drive for a buyer while back, ****** thing just blew, no reason for, no tyre damage from any road debris, just blew for no reason which I can only explain badly manufacturered, but will they take responsibility, like feck they will!!!!!!!!!!!

Still battling though as out of principle I dont expect to pay £150 for a tyre that blows for no reason at all

Not being funny, not blaming you of course & just asking but if you heard a whirring noise wasnt that a pointer to get it checked out before she drove the car, sounds like maybe wheel bolts not tight, have you checked the car since purchasing & yes if from a car dealer ring them immediately & advise of the problem & say you're not to happy about this after just 2 weeks

Of course dont tell insurance company about the whirring noise as thats an excuse for them to not pay out, a little bit of blagging on this one could get you something out of it huh

 

[simch]

Your post at the top said "the wheel came off".

I know you were posting about a few problems, I do hope you torqued the wheel up properly if you had it off to check for problems.
Wheels fly off vehicles with alarming regularity in the uK every day and they are extremly dangerous, usually for others not at all connected to the vehicle it came from.
I hope your wife is ok, car sounds like it is terminal, but if a wheel did indeed come off the car, and you have only just bought it, expect an investigation by the police as that is some serious sxxt!
Good Luck

 

[joe6886]

Probably the Wheel bearing gone ****** and dropped off.

 

[Simon Singh]

Glad she's ok mate

thanks man

Sounds bad just reading it, hope your missus is ok bud, I'm sure she means more to you than a replaceable A3.

alot more!

problem is trying to prove to goodyear etc as I am right now the tyre is faulty is just ridiculous, I had a pretty expensive tyre on my S4 B6, took for test drive for a buyer while back, ****** thing just blew, no reason for, no tyre damage from any road debris, just blew for no reason which I can only explain badly manufacturered, but will they take responsibility, like feck they will!!!!!!!!!!!

Still battling though as out of principle I dont expect to pay £150 for a tyre that blows for no reason at all

Not being funny, not blaming you of course & just asking but if you heard a whirring noise wasnt that a pointer to get it checked out before she drove the car, sounds like maybe wheel bolts not tight, have you checked the car since purchasing & yes if from a car dealer ring them immediately & advise of the problem & say you're not to happy about this after just 2 weeks

Of course dont tell insurance company about the whirring noise as thats an excuse for them to not pay out, a little bit of blagging on this one could get you something out of it huh

car was checked before buying, everything was fine, i've even checked it myself, and nothing out the ordinary. i checked the tyre condition, lug nuts and tyre pressure myself yesterday in the afternoon when i washed it, so I know that was all fine.

Your post at the top said "the wheel came off".

I know you were posting about a few problems, I do hope you torqued the wheel up properly if you had it off to check for problems.
Wheels fly off vehicles with alarming regularity in the uK every day and they are extremly dangerous, usually for others not at all connected to the vehicle it came from.
I hope your wife is ok, car sounds like it is terminal, but if a wheel did indeed come off the car, and you have only just bought it, expect an investigation by the police as that is some serious sxxt!
Good Luck

full story (as i know now)

she was driving, all was fine
pulled over into the service station (watford gap)
when she pulled out again, she said the car felt funny (like it was really windy - i'm thinking a puncture?)
in the outside lane doing 65mph, heard a massive bang, tyre exploded, car kept swerving to the right, she kept hittin the crash barrier, at least 5 or 6 times
somehow she made it only the hard shoulder, the doors locked up - couldn't open them, airbags did not go off...
some people that stopped helped open the door, and then the traffic coppers came, and stayed with her until the recovery truck came
according to coppers (i've not seen the car yet - it's in lemington spa) on the bang she heard, the wheel sheered off at the control arm - they found the entire wheel assembly, wheel, brake disc/pads, control arms and other things in an entire piece.
so the tyre popped, everything came off, then when she car started swerving, that was because she was on 3 wheels... apparently in 95% of those situations, the driver shuts their eyes and the car skids to the right, catches traction and flips... thank god she kept her eyes open and was able to control it.

 

[marriedblonde]

Thread tidied up.

J.

 

[NHN]

good point J, lol, but yeah glad she did keep cool in those circumstances & ****** lucky I'd say, maybe she could teach my on/off missus about driving, "there's a kerb there love, watch the kerb, ok parked the car cool, oh no she decides to move car a bit forward & ye well done you just fecked my new alloys on the kerb, doh, lol" literally had them few hours & she did that sometime back

But back on track I'd say she did remarkably well at those speeds with whole wheel assembly missing, yeah did it have warranty?

 

[simch]

Sounds like a lucky escape for her all told. And maybe the car had a few more probs than you know about, so maybe it being written off may not be a bad thing!
There are plenty of nice A3s and golfs out there to replace it, so once she is over the shock and the leg problem, hopefully she can get hereself a new motor and get back out there.
It also goes to illustrate a point made many times on here. Tyres are basically the only thing stopping us an our precious cars visiting the nearest tree! We all like to save a few quid here and there, but tyres are so critical, it makes sense to always get the very best ones you can, and forego a few things to increase your budget if necessary. More importantly though, is to check them all regualrly and watch out for crap on the road.

I followed a guy only yesterday in a lexus who ran over some debris as he left a slip road on the A34, there was a lot of dust suddenly blown up, and his tyre was down.......but he drove on, negotriated the roundabout turning left, (with rear flat on inside) and just drove on! I was flashing him and he was speeding up and when I overtook him and tried to stop him, he tried to overtake me.!! !I did eventually stop him, and he thought I was road raging him (I asked him why what did he think he did wrong!?) and when he saw the trye and now knackered alloy he was very surprised! ! Now there is no way any sensible driver with a bit of concentration could fail to notice the car handled a bit oddly like that, so why did he not stop.....because he was gassing to his missus and not concentrating on his driving is why! Hence he also thought that in his distracted state, he may have inadvertantly carved someone up!! !
Your missus was lucky but you should diplomatically point out that next time the car feels a bit odd, for no apparent reason, it is always best to stop and check it out immediately! Things tend to go wrong awfully quickly especially at mway speeds!

 

[Purple Princess]

All i can say is thank the A3 gods! I got out of my A3 crash with just a hurt leg and Im glad she got out Ok. I don't care what people say, Audi make the best cars!

 

[Simon Singh]

Thread tidied up.

J.

Thanks, I've been typing it as and when I can, so it's been abit here and there.

good point J, lol, but yeah glad she did keep cool in those circumstances & ****** lucky I'd say, maybe she could teach my on/off missus about driving, "there's a kerb there love, watch the kerb, ok parked the car cool, oh no she decides to move car a bit forward & ye well done you just fecked my new alloys on the kerb, doh, lol" literally had them few hours & she did that sometime back

But back on track I'd say she did remarkably well at those speeds with whole wheel assembly missing, yeah did it have warranty?

Even more suprising, as she first started swerving she managed to hit her hazards!

Very very proud of her being able to control the car in that situation.

It was a private sale so no warranty.

Sounds like a lucky escape for her all told. And maybe the car had a few more probs than you know about, so maybe it being written off may not be a bad thing!
There are plenty of nice A3s and golfs out there to replace it, so once she is over the shock and the leg problem, hopefully she can get hereself a new motor and get back out there.
It also goes to illustrate a point made many times on here. Tyres are basically the only thing stopping us an our precious cars visiting the nearest tree! We all like to save a few quid here and there, but tyres are so critical, it makes sense to always get the very best ones you can, and forego a few things to increase your budget if necessary. More importantly though, is to check them all regualrly and watch out for crap on the road.

I followed a guy only yesterday in a lexus who ran over some debris as he left a slip road on the A34, there was a lot of dust suddenly blown up, and his tyre was down.......but he drove on, negotriated the roundabout turning left, (with rear flat on inside) and just drove on! I was flashing him and he was speeding up and when I overtook him and tried to stop him, he tried to overtake me.!! !I did eventually stop him, and he thought I was road raging him (I asked him why what did he think he did wrong!?) and when he saw the trye and now knackered alloy he was very surprised! ! Now there is no way any sensible driver with a bit of concentration could fail to notice the car handled a bit oddly like that, so why did he not stop.....because he was gassing to his missus and not concentrating on his driving is why! Hence he also thought that in his distracted state, he may have inadvertantly carved someone up!! !
Your missus was lucky but you should diplomatically point out that next time the car feels a bit odd, for no apparent reason, it is always best to stop and check it out immediately! Things tend to go wrong awfully quickly especially at mway speeds!

Yup, I asked her why she didn't stop when it felt "funny", and she said something bout it being windy normally.

She wants to get another A3, but I'm not too sure... I want her to get a BMW, but if she REALLY wants another A3, it's got to be a 1.8t

All i can say is thank the A3 gods! I got out of my A3 crash with just a hurt leg and Im glad she got out Ok. I don't care what people say, Audi make the best cars!

Ehhh, I'm a BMW man myself, I love my little mini tank.