Typically, when cruising on the interstate, most of us try to be as aware as possible of our surroundings so as to avoid a potential accident. Unfortunately, one Kia Soul driver was reminded that you can’t be prepared for every circumstance, and was literally sent flying due to a wheel that rolled off a neighboring Chevy Silverado.
In a post to social media, we see the events unravel through perspective of a Tesla driver who recorded the crash. After moving over a lane to let the Kia Soul driver pass, the Tesla moves back into the fast lane. After a few more seconds, a Chevy Silverado moves over into the lane right next to the Kia Soul, albeit slightly ahead. This positioning sets the scene for the fiasco that’s about to unfold.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the driver-side front wheel pops off the Silverado and rolls right in front of the Kia Soul. With no time to react, the Soul driver hits the massive tire head-on, and gets absolutely launched into the sky. After a good second or two of hang time, the Soul comes crashing back down to Earth, lands on upside-down, and eventually manages to flip itself back on its wheels. With debris scattered all over the highway, the Tesla slows down to assess the damage.
To add insult to injury, the rogue wheel strikes the Kia Soul for a second time, bouncing off the rear end after the vehicle skids to a halt.
Witnessed and recorded the most INSANE car crash yesterday, you can see Autopilot also swerve and avoid the rouge tire for me $TSLA pic.twitter.com/csMh2nbRNX
— Anoop (@Anoop_Khatra) March 25, 2023
Miraculously, the Tesla driver, who was the also one who posted the video to social media, stated that the driver of the Kia Soul managed to walk away from the accident with no injuries, although likely shaken up considering the severity of the accident.
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Comments
How fast was that Kia going? Lucky to be alive after that crash.
Seat belts yo!
And air bags.
Defintly an underwear changer for the driver of the kia and or the passengers !
Looking at the offset of the wheels on the pickup makes me wonder what kind of modifications may have been made that could have caused the wheel to detach. Possible spacers with lugs that weren’t grabbing enough threads? Purely speculation on my part. It’s rare to see a wheel suddenly fly off.
Agree, people don’t realize how much extra pressure those spacers put on the hubs, bearings, and front suspension.
I was also thinking a broken wheel spacer.
lots of times it is the offset on the wheel itself, without any spacer. People just can’t seem to get the offset correct when they order new wheels.
Broken wheel spacer?
This same thing happened to my husband on a freeway. He also escaped injury but his vehicle was trashed.
I’ve put after market wheels on a few of my vehicles using alloy wheels, I learned the hard way to retorque the wheels every 50, or 100 miles on them. Had a Full Size Blazer with 35″ Aluminum Wheels and all 4 were so lose I couldn’t drive it, pulled over and checked the wheels and they were all lose. Put new wheels on my C8 and the same thing, had to keep checking the torque on each wheel until they no longer needed to be retorqued. Fortunately I was checking the wheels on the C8 and they never got real loose. My 2 cents
Agree with checking and rechecking torque, but you really had 35″ aluminum wheels?
prob mant “tires”.. some people don’t know the difference.
Just another example of replacing standard wheels with stupid aftermarket wheels that stick out from under the wheel wells. That puts a tremendous load on the bearings that over time may cause bearing failure. I wish every state would pass a law like PA about the tire tread can’t be outside the body, you have to use fender flares to cover your tires. In adverse conditions those tires throw up a lot of road spray not only on the truck they’re mounted on but passing vehicles.
Don’t tread on me.
That’s what the Kia driver could have said to the modified truck that could have ended his/her life (and that of any passengers) and totaled their car.
Exactly, but 11 dinguses didn’t understand this Revolutionary War reference.
I agree it was just another poorly modified bro truck that nearly killed someone.
But they felt they looked like the tough guy they knew they were.
Yeah the coming lawsuit will prove it!
The spindle must have broken, if you watch the video on a large screen you can see that the rotor is still attached to the back of the wheel. So the lugs held tight.
Thanx, good catch, missed that. After your post I watched it again and paused the video at a point where I could see the shiny rotor after it hit the KIA a 2nd time. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a vehicle fly through the air like that due to hitting a wheel and I’ve been driving many years.
The big wheels and tires ride and handle like crap, not to mention the stress it puts on the suspension.. Truck vanity has its price.
If it were an American sedan, it would not be flying in the air. Korean and japanese cars are so light you can literally lift them up without a jack! That is why they get high MPG. Seat belt and airbag saved tbe Kia driver.
I HATE those goobers that have to modify their truck by jacking it up putting over sized wheels and tires stressing the suspension geometry that was never engineered for those applications. It also puts the bumpers at a deadly height. Additionally the head light hight is not DOT compliant. Oh yeah all the windshield cracking rocks are a real treat!
Reminds me of back in the day when the young bucks used to jack up the rear of the car with air shocks. The only benefit was that you were going down hill all of the time and it increased gas mileage.
Whee. Lucky they weren’t killed
Amazing! Imagine all the accidents the aren’t caught on camera.
I hate driving behind a vehicle that has the wheels sticking out and throwing debris on my car. Bang-zoom! as Ralph Kramden used to say.
I can’t tell which is more amazing – the fact that the Kia went 15-20ft in the air or that the driver walked away from this incident after crashing upside down. Thankfully no casualties.
Hope all of the Hamsters inside the Soul are okay.
Burt Reynolds would approve.
And who says that high offset wheels don’t destroy wheel bearings?
All I think of when I see this is 1-800 ask gary…
So much for relying upon crash test ratings…though it would be more entertaining to watch launched-car crash tests…
Impressive video all around…obviously the launch and safety of the passengers…but also that the truck was able to stay straight and ultimately pull over.
And all of this made possible for us to view by a Tesla’s camera…
The hardness of the spindle should be checked to see if it meets the specification.