Community Forums

brandss · 09-11-2021, 06:52 PM

About an hour from home, 68mph on the Florida turnpike, passenger side, no warning. We have never had this happen and pray it never happens again. No warning from the Eez TPMS, no warning from feel of the steering wheel, nothing. This is the hard part, no knowing why. Things just happen sometimes I guess.

Couple things we learned.
1. No way I will ever own a coach that does not have the safety plus system. With our coach being a 45 foot tag we debated getting it, didn't think it would really help with the ride but purchased for the safety aspect. Thank God we did, would not want to know what the result would have been.
2. Glad we spend time talking about what if's. We spend time discussing various scenarios including a blow out. Never knew if the instincts would be there and more important, kick in, but they did. Soon as it happened, hammered the gas pedal, gained control, then exited to the emergency lane.
3. I have the perfect small compartment on the coach for all of the safety gear. Yellow vest, orange triangles, LED orange flashing discs, etc. Problem is that I had it on the drivers side. Did not think that in most cases I would pull off the road to the right making it dangerous to get to in rush hour traffic. We will be changing this location.
4. Securing items inside the coach is very important. If we were in an accident getting hit, we would have had more problems. We will be securing table chairs, lamps on bed, etc much better before the next outing.

You hear about these things and wonder if it would ever happen to you. What are the odds, in reality how often does this happen with the amount of RV's on the road. I implore each of you to give this some thought. Spend the extra bit of money on safety. Take the extra bit of time to secure items. Take the time to talk about what if's.

TandW · 09-11-2021, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandss

About an hour from home, 68mph on the Florida turnpike, passenger side, no warning. We have never had this happen and pray it never happens again. No warning from the Eez TPMS, no warning from feel of the steering wheel, nothing. This is the hard part, no knowing why. Things just happen sometimes I guess.

Couple things we learned.
1. No way I will ever own a coach that does not have the safety plus system. With our coach being a 45 foot tag we debated getting it, didn't think it would really help with the ride but purchased for the safety aspect. Thank God we did, would not want to know what the result would have been.
2. Glad we spend time talking about what if's. We spend time discussing various scenarios including a blow out. Never knew if the instincts would be there and more important, kick in, but they did. Soon as it happened, hammered the gas pedal, gained control, then exited to the emergency lane.
3. I have the perfect small compartment on the coach for all of the safety gear. Yellow vest, orange triangles, LED orange flashing discs, etc. Problem is that I had it on the drivers side. Did not think that in most cases I would pull off the road to the right making it dangerous to get to in rush hour traffic. We will be changing this location.
4. Securing items inside the coach is very important. If we were in an accident getting hit, we would have had more problems. We will be securing table chairs, lamps on bed, etc much better before the next outing.

You hear about these things and wonder if it would ever happen to you. What are the odds, in reality how often does this happen with the amount of RV's on the road. I implore each of you to give this some thought. Spend the extra bit of money on safety. Take the extra bit of time to secure items. Take the time to talk about what if's.

Excellent! When you maximize your safety we all benefit!

Hurricane-TX · 09-11-2021, 07:02 PM

Glad you made it thru the ordeal. Your trial is why I installed one on my coach, glad it worked.

**Petro** · 09-11-2021, 07:23 PM

Scott & Deanna;

We are pleased you joined us. Sorry to read about the unexpected blow out of your passenger side front tire. In my 26 years of RVing with class A RVs I have had 5 blow outs, 2 on the steer wheels and 3 on the rear. Like you I found my first time a learning experience. The rear ones can do more damage to the undercarriage especially the inside dual.

I commend you for properly taking control of your vehicle and the changes you plan to make are certainly the right thing to do.

Post often and continue to share your RV adventures with us. Enjoy the forums.

Don

brandss · 09-11-2021, 07:28 PM

OP here and just wondering if anyone can advise on what to expect from our insurance company. Quite frankly because the blowout caused the problem, I don't know if anything will be covered. I certainly don't expect them to cover the tire but wasn't sure about the additional damage. We had the hydraulics on the passenger side totally ripped out (front slides and leveling doesn't work of course), fill hose for fuel tank ripped out of fuel door, minor paint damage, rock guard bent to heck, etc.

TXiceman · 09-11-2021, 07:34 PM

The TPMS will not give a pre-warning for a blow-out. A blow out is a sudden air loss and the TPMS will alarm after the pressure is below the preset minimum. The TPMS can warn of pressure loss and excessive pressure and temperature and hopefully prevent damage to the vehicle or the tow vehicle.

Ken

pameridan04 · 09-11-2021, 08:12 PM

Scott I think you DID GREAT in that situation. I keep telling myself if a front tire blows out hit the gas hard, NOT THE BREAKS.

I am on my third coach, and YES the first thing I installed by my dealer was Safety Plus Stabilizer, even before I took the coach home. I had one on my previous coach and it enhanced the driving experience a lot. Stopped the wandering all over the road. Not to mention in case of a tire blow out failure helping the coach staying straight.

Safety Plus had some really great videos at one time, showing actual tire blowouts at 65 MPH with their stabilizer installed.

Regards Jim P.

momdoc · 09-11-2021, 09:35 PM

Glad you are all ok.
Great list for being prepared.
Did you also have a TPMS system?
We also have the Safe T and also makes a big difference in handling.

**TonyDi** · 09-11-2021, 09:43 PM

Glad to hear that you are safe.

There are a couple of different safety rings that you can install on your steer tire to prevent loss of control in the event of a blow out. My MH came with Tyron Bands and hopefully I'll never need them

jondrew55 · 09-11-2021, 09:53 PM

Sounds like you had this possibility planned in your head and were ready for it. Good deal. Defective tire? Road debris you did not see? Doesn’t matter. Thanks for the story.

Arch Hoagland · 09-11-2021, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brandss

OP here and just wondering if anyone can advise on what to expect from our insurance company. Quite frankly because the blowout caused the problem, I don't know if anything will be covered. I certainly don't expect them to cover the tire but wasn't sure about the additional damage. We had the hydraulics on the passenger side totally ripped out (front slides and leveling doesn't work of course), fill hose for fuel tank ripped out of fuel door, minor paint damage, rock guard bent to heck, etc.

I had an inside dual blowout and the total damage was over $12,000.

AAA covered the whole thing including a towing bill of $1,700.

Rewarder1 · 09-11-2021, 11:09 PM

I have a f53 chassis with safety steer. I haven’t had a Blow out yet on the steer tires but would recommend front radius rods. They take most of the play out of the sreering wheel.

cadillac_al · 09-12-2021, 06:27 AM

I'm not understanding why it is better to accelerate than to apply the brakes. When do you slow down and stop?

journey15 · 09-12-2021, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cadillac_al

I'm not understanding why it is better to accelerate than to apply the brakes. When do you slow down and stop?

Michelin has a very good video on what to do in case of a blowout... I would highly advise each and every motorhome owner to watch this video. While we did not have the Safety Plus on our 40 foot coach when we had our blowout, this video no doubt saved us. We had watched it based on someone's very good advice. We had a right front blowout and was just merging onto a 4 lane highway when it happened.
Husband was driving and I started screaming, "Don't mash the brakes" just as his foot hit the accelerator. It was this instinct that saved us of that I have no doubt.
https://www.michelinrvtires.com/tire...dle-a-blowout/