My Grandaughter rolled her car last night

[Dave-S]

My 16 year old Grandaughter was involved in a rollover last night and she destroyed her car. Other than being badly bruised up nothing else seems wrong with her. They did a cat scan to check for internal injuries and it was negative. She was wearing her seatbelt too....thank God! So that's the good news....she's is alright.

But the rollover is a bit baffling. The car was an older 4 cylinder front wheel drive Infinity. There were witnesses to what happened since this occured on one of our interstates. The car apparently started fishtailing (dry road conditions) and when she tried to save it she got off on the median, tried to apply her brakes, and lost control and the thing flipped about 8 times according to the witnesses. The Highway Patrol said she was not at fault but I would sure like to figure out what happened. She doesn't remeber a blowout, but I was wondering if a flat tire could have caused it. My son is going to look at the car today in the salvage yard and I told him to check out the tires and suspension...or what's left of them.

Anyone else have any thoughts on what could have caused this?

[wolfdogs]

thank God she's alright. And for wearing that seatbelt.

blowout could have caused it, but you dont fishtail that bad, unless she really slammed the brakes on hard when the tire blew, as you know, thats the worst thing you can do with a blowout...slam on the brakes......

a brake cylinder locked up possibly, on one side?

let me know please.

[Y2KHAWK]

I'm glad she's alright!

[Trash man]

least shes doing good, bruises can heal a death never does

[Screaming mad]

Glad shes ok...

Another good point to wearing seat belts! Rolled it eight times and came out with only bruises! Things could have been terrible if she had not....

[Nightrage]

Good to hear she's alright!

[Steel2686]

I was in a rollover when I was 17. My friend was driving and it was a similar type of thing. His was definitely a blowout. He paniced and slammed on the brakes. We went sideways and flipped three or four times. We both made it out with just minor cuts and bruises.

I would guess a blowout if anything. Just glad to hear she's okay.

[Dave M]

thank God she's alright. And for wearing that seatbelt.

blowout could have caused it, but you dont fishtail that bad, unless she really slammed the brakes on hard when the tire blew

An inexperienced driver suffering a blowout... that could be exactly what happened. Hit the brakes and the car gets away from her. Glad to hear she'll be alright.

[Gary94Formula]

Thank god she's OK.

[BadWS6]

Glad she is OK
seat belts save lives

[Christopherrr]

Wow...I'm glad she's okay. As I was reading the title of the thread, I was for the worse. Good to know all that she came out of the wreck okay.

[fastTa]

I also expected some bad news when I read the thread title. I am happy to hear that she escaped with only very minor injuries.

[TransAm95]

Very glad to hear she is ok and cat-scan was negative!! The same thing happend to some one at work on the way home on the highway last month. They don't know what happend and they just lost controll and flipped it into a ditch. There was a write up in the paper about it and said a witness seen the car go into a skid. I always figured the only possible answer to why?, Would be a blow-out

[Dave-S]

Thanks for all the replies and concerns folks. My grandaughter continues to feel OK and ironically most of her superficial injuries are scrapes, "burns", and a swollen eye that all seem to have come from the air bags. Incidentally all the air bags deployed too, including the side air bags, so they did their job! My son sent me some pictures of the car and it is pretty much demolished........one of those cars you look at and wonder if anyone could have possibly survived!

And it is very clear from the photos and his examination that the right front tire blew out........there is a huge hole in the tire! The tires were in good shape otherwise so I am not sure why it blew but after having read some of Ken's posts over the years, anything could have caused it.

Ken, awhile back I remember you had an excellent write-up on the do's and don'ts when you have a blow out. Do you still have a link to that write-up somewhere? I remember sending that to quite a few people at the time but for sure I want my grandaughter to read it now and I can't locate it.

Again.......thanks everyone for showing you care. It means a lot to me.