As great a tool as highways are for traveling and commerce, it’s also important to remember just how dangerous those high speeds can really be, as we often become numb to how fast we’re actually traveling in our vehicles. Unfortunately, one couple from Clinton Township, Michigan was reminded how things can change in a split second on the highway, as their Chevy Cobalt was struck by a stray wheel.
Meredith and Dan Wronikowski were traveling eastbound on I-696 when an errant truck wheel and tire barreled out of nowhere and smashed into their Chevy Cobalt. Miraculously, the wheel split the vehicle almost perfectly down the center, ripping off the roof, and thankfully sparing both occupants from major injury.
“We saw it right by the median, bouncing right toward us in a split second,” Meredith Wronikowski remarked. “I had to make a decision. I didn’t know what to do, and I just slammed on the brakes. If I would have turned the car just a little bit this way or a little bit that way, maybe it could have hit us head-on, we wouldn’t be here now talking.”
As of the time of this writing, the Michigan State Police stated that the exact origin of the rogue truck wheel is currently unknown.
“On impact, I turned away and it went through the windshield, clipped my shoulder, knocked my head, took the roof right off,” Dan Wronikowski stated. “I just keep seeing the tire going through the windshield. I feel lucky, but not so lucky, like why us?”
While this incident is certainly very frightening, Dan made sure to capitalize on his luck, and purchased a scratch-off ticket that won him $50.
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Comments
“As of the time of this writing, the Michigan State Police stated that the exact origin of the rogue truck wheel is currently unknown.”
Uh, the truck driving by @1:00 with the drum brake dragging along the ground was probably your guy.
That was a Pennsylvania accident that the reporter referenced and not this Michigan accident.
In 1986 my schoolmate, Rodney Draxner was killed by an errant semi-trailer tire.
In the half-century since his death, there has been no change to semi wheel design to reduce or eliminate these needless deaths and injury. Perhaps this is because there is no accountability or consequences to the owners of the trailers when this happens.
While technology can only go so far with reinventing the wheel itself, there have been many advancements in the trucking industry to minimize the possibility of these issues happening in the first place.
As someone else has posted, alot of these accidents are caused by a catastrophic bearing failure where the entire hub/drum/wheel assembly separates from the vehicle. The other cases may be wheel nut/stud failure that allows just the wheel/tire to come off the vehicle. Or even a simple tire failure. Wheel seal, bearing, spindle nut, and tire/wheel technology have all made advancements in materials and design.
While preventative maintenance can almost eliminate these from happening, there is always the chance that these issues could arise while on the road. Drivers are to do walk around inspections both prior and post trip, and techs go over the vehicles much closer, there is no way that every potential problem will be caught.
As a trailer technician, I can attest to the extraordinary measures we take to maintain our equipment. 99% of the trailers in our 1500+ fleet comes through one of our shops every two months for detailed inspections, and preventative maintenance. The remaining trailers are serviced by shops across the country, as they are on dedicated routes, but still come back every 6 months for detailed inspections.
My attitude as a tech is to remember that these trailers are hauling 40k pounds of freight on the same roads that our families travel on. I take pride in my job, and do my absolute best to ensure that they leave our shop in the safest condition as humanly possible.
I can’t speak to the liability issues when an accident like these occur, as I honestly don’t know.
I am sorry for the loss of your school mate.
Thank you for your comments JW.
I am curious – with all of the inspecting and work that you do on trailers (thanks for keeping things safe for all) how often do you lose wheels like this? Is careful and diligent maintenance like you do the key to preventing this, or is there something that can’t be prevented no matter how much you try? Or are these failures from trailers that aren’t as carefully and diligently serviced as your fleet is?
I don’t recall any vehicles in our fleet losing a wheel, in recent memory anyway.
In my opinion, preventative maintenance is the key to catching issues before they can turn into major problems. Though as I said before, there are still possible failures that even the most veteran techs can’t see, let alone prevent. Over time, all metal fatigues from stress, enviromental conditions, etc.
Our company has scheduled maintenance on all of our equipment, trucks and trailers alike. For example, we are currently in the middle of a maintenance campaign that includes changing the airbags, and brake cans on an entire series of trailers (around 160) whether they technically need it or not. This is set on a 5 year schedule. If a problem arises in the mean time it is immediately replaced and the remaining like parts are closely inspected.
We are considered a large fleet trucking company, over 500 trucks and over 1500 trailers. Some of the smaller companies, or independant truckers, may not have the resources to do alot of preventative maintenance. From looking at the photos in this story, it looks to me like it was a single wheel that seperated from a large vehicle that caused this damage. It could have been from a fractured wheel mounting flange (where the wheel nuts secure it to the hub), or even the lack of proper torque on the wheel nuts. Either way, this may have been preventable.
There are alot of unknowns that affect the trucks/trailers that we all share the road with. Everything from the environment, to road conditions, to the four wheelers as truck drivers call us non truckers. It all plays a part in the safety of these vehicles. But rest assured that there are way fewer accidents involving big rigs than there are normal vehicles. Most truck drivers are professionals, and takes great care and pride in what he/she does for a living.
Wow, we had the same thing happen to my son in his Cobalt. He was going to college in Rochester NY. He called me and said he he had an accident and it wasn’t his fault …he said that he was driving down a 4 lane highway and all of a sudden a huge tire was headed right at him. It trashed the whole front, but luckily he wasn’t hurt. He said that he couldn’t see any vehicle pulled off to the side of the road. We followed up with the Rochester police and over the hill a few miles down the road they had stopped for a truck missing a wheel -but they wouldn’t connect the two, so our insurance, especially my sons, was jacked way up and we had no recourse.
Let Congress find out about this then they will be alarms on each axle when the torque pressure on the nuts fall below a safe amount. It will set off alarms and make the truck or car pull over to have it checked
Yea thats the answer!!!
Usually it is the wheel bearing that fails and the whole assembly takes off. I have seen 3 duals(separate incidents) on the highway and thats 500 pounds of death rolling at 60-70 mph
Some race cars have a system that prevents this errant wheel type of incident. Perhaps a similar system could be developed for truck tires and if not too expensive even automotive types of tires. I know Indy cars have a system like this.
I have a Cobalt SS and this has me questioning whether I should change vehicles. Thank god they are ok
Greg, I rolled my 2009 cobalt XFE at 65MPH 6-7 times. Got pulled out without any Injuries. Cut the roof off and took off the hood and all that and it still runs and drives. They are built very well. Not many vehicles out there will fare very well being hit by a 200 pound wheel and tire at probably 100mph combined speed. I just bought a 2009 cobalt SS/TC to replace my XFE.
It’s easy to forget we’re actually falling horizontally at whatever speeds, towards the unknown wheel or deer. The wheel and drum assembly @ 500#, force amplified by motion, is a force from which few vehicles can protect. Large and small, they are almost all just thin steel cans.
Wow. Thankfully nobody died here.
And I want to call out the ‘fake news’ headline. That car was not even remotely close to being ‘cut in half’.
Not very credible IMO.
Maybe you should have been in there with us and perhaps you’d be changing your tune! I think if you were in the driver or passenger seat, or even in the back seat, you would have felt like you were being cut in half by the tire! I should know because it was my husband and I!!! I am thankful that we are seriously here though. We definitely could have died for sure as you stated.
I’m very glad you were not injured seriously or killed. My comment (and I apologize if I offended you) was only about the car not being fully cut into 2 parts as the title led me to believe. That is all. The damage was clearly incredibly dangerous and extensive.
All the best.