They might sound comical to those who have never seen their destructive power before, but loose vehicle tires, even off the smallest cars can be deadly. A larger tire, like the one that came off a semi-truck on a California freeway, packs even more destructive force, as evidenced by how it obliterated a Tesla in a head-on collision recently.
Watch a guy pull a gun on a repo man.
Thankfully, the crash wasn’t fatal. In fact, as OnScene TV reports, the Tesla driver only suffered minor injuries, which is truly amazing, especially when you look at the extent of the front-end damage to the EV.
Witnesses and the victim said the tire responsible for the collision came off a semi-truck traveling the opposite direction. After it came off the vehicle, the tire bounced over the median wall, into oncoming traffic and giving the Tesla driver no time to react.
After the collision, the victim swerved off the freeway. Luckily, the Tesla didn’t hit or get hit by another vehicle. Secondary crashes like that are common and can also turn deadly.
California Highway Patrol was still looking for the tire in the area of the crash but had failed to locate it. That doesn’t surprise us since loose tires like that can keep going for miles, even after hitting a car, so it could’ve gone almost anywhere.
CHP was also still trying to identify the semi which lost the tire. At least two in the area were pulled over, but it wasn’t clear if either one was at fault. We’re sure the company carrying the Tesla’s insurance policy wants the trucking company held accountable for the destruction of the vehicle.
A number of maintenance issues can cause a tire to suddenly come off a vehicle, as can crashes. Obviously the latter isn’t what happened in this case, so it seems this was likely the result of improper maintenance.
Image via OnScene TV/YouTube
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