Tyre Blow Out on 7 mth old Model 3 …. Not happy

[Laurdan]

I know... I'll grab my coat.... I can sympathise as Ive had a blowout maybe 20 years ago and only that once in my lifetime of many fast cars and bikes. However the tyre was really old/ feeble. I won't get to engrossed in this but imho, Its unfair to say your Tesla is at fault to what happened. Maybe the tyre was faulty from factory and on the basis that Tesla (as a business) sold it to you, this might carry some recourse if you can prove it or it might be a case to sue the government/council for the poor state some of our roads are in.

Either way, happy you're ok

I guess I assumed the Tesla would have alerted us to a problem which it didn’t until my husband had to work to handle the steering and I saw the screen advised a flat. Once on the hard shoulder we looked, it clearly was not a flat but a complete blow out
You’re so right about the state of a lot roads

 

[thax1]

Thank you for your kind words and thank God that didn’t happen us or it would have been curtains for the car and us

Or on the flip side, a cruel and vengeful God caused your tyre blowout and the skills, training and years of experience of a team of Engineers ensured that it didn’t result in loss of life

 

[Js1977]

I guess I assumed the Tesla would have alerted us to a problem which it didn’t until my husband had to work to handle the steering and I saw the screen advised a flat. Once on the hard shoulder we looked, it clearly was not a flat but a complete blow out
You’re so right about the state of a lot roads

It's just monitoring the pressure and it was all good to that point. As advanced as our cars are, they are just not there yet even though imo you can be forgiven for thinking as such.

 

[glide]

The whole experience has certainly taken the shine off of driving my Tesla, I have trepidation, could be my age 61, but I’ve said my husband can drive it from now on

Sad really….. because before Wednesday’s night drama I loved it

Again. This is absolutely absurd.

Unless you plan to give up driving altogether, you’re simply trolling at this point.

 

[glide]

Clearly ….. it’s not a nice feeling

Well for future reference; Tesla is correct to not let you drive the vehicle off their lot without a tyre.

But that does not mean you are obligated to buy an overpriced tyre from them.

 

[scdoubleu]

Again. This is absolutely absurd.

Unless you plan to give up driving altogether, you’re simply trolling at this point.

Agreed. OP is a troll.

 

[Js1977]

Agreed. OP is a troll.

Be that as it may please dont feed the trolls

 

[MrT3]

Tyre was in perfect condition and car gave no indication of an issue

I think it would be difficult for anyone to claim this as we don't fully inspect our tyres before every drive, and even if you did you couldn't guarantee the sidewall hadn't been sliced/nicked during your drive.

Do a google image search for tyre sidewall blowout and you will find most makes of vehicle and tyre have had this sort of issue at some point. Very occasionally it is a manufacturing defect but mainly it is due to sidewall damage at some point that leads to a failure. Unfortunately the standard tyre pressures for the Tesla mean it is likely to be a bit more of an explosion if it does happen than some other vehicles.

Glad you are ok. Just try to put it out of your mind and be reassured that it is unlikely to happen to you again, given how rare it is for modern tyres to do this.

 

[Peteski]

The whole experience has certainly taken the shine off of driving my Tesla, I have trepidation, could be my age 61, but I’ve said my husband can drive it from now on

Sad really….. because before Wednesday’s night drama I loved it

I can fully understand your feelings about this. As an experienced automotive engineer (worked in F1 motorsport) I can assure you this is not a specific Tesla issue and could have happened on any other car. I'm not going to speculate on the reason this particular tyre suddenly failed, but I can confidently say it wasn't anything to do with your Model 3. Fortunately, sudden tyre blowouts like this are very rare. I've had one in the past 35 years on an almost new BMW (was less than 6 months old). The tyre failed suddenly on the motorway without warning just like yours. I have no idea what caused it, but it was probably from some previous sidewall damage that I was blissfully unaware of.

In future all you can do is regularly check your tyres for damage and wear, particularly around the sidewalls. Simple things like kerbing can cause critical damage and it's all more likely with ultra-low profile tyres. But in all probability lightning won't strike twice.

 

[Black306]

This has blown a bit out of proportion...

Going to be an expensive fix...due to inflation.

 

[D.E.]

The whole experience has certainly taken the shine off of driving my Tesla, I have trepidation, could be my age 61, but I’ve said my husband can drive it from now on

Sad really….. because before Wednesday’s night drama I loved it

It was the tire that failed, not the car.

 

[Laurdan]

Or on the flip side, a cruel and vengeful God caused your tyre blowout and the skills, training and years of experience of a team of Engineers ensured that it didn’t result in loss of life

All I know is , I’m here to live another day. Let’s pray that experience will not be repeated

 

[Laurdan]

I'm "sharing my experience": I had a flat once. It was a sudden blow-out. Once on the roadside, I found I'd run over a screwdriver. Having experienced flat tires before, I had no real problem steering the car, though we did weave around a bit. I put a plug into the hole, found it was not holding air, and put in two more plugs before I could pump it up with the pump I carry. The leak stopped, and I drove it another 5000 miles before getting a new one. Being a car owner for decades, it was no big deal.

Your experience was very different from mine. But thank you for sharing.

 

[Laurdan]

It was the tire that failed, not the car.

The car did not alert us there was a problem and Tesla have confirmed that the blow out was instant and that the car did not alert us before the blow out

 

[pgkevet]

How well did traction control work at keeping you straight? I must admit that after 4 punctures on my MS I keep tyre pressures up on the binnacle display.

[Only Motorway blow-out I ever had was 1969 (in a '53 A30) - steering was so wonky in that I hardly noticed until trying to negotiate the roundabout off the slip road with a shredded tyre...]

 

[SteveJol]

The car did not alert us there was a problem and Tesla have confirmed that the blow out was instant and that the car did not alert us before the blow out

It's called a blowout for a reason. It's not a slow deflation where the car could warn you, it's an immediate blowout, done in an instant with no potential for pre warning.

Its a scary experience. You either need to quit driving and being a passenger in any car road vehicle ever or get back on the road, including the Tesla. Do not sit in the Tesla again is illogical to the extreme.

 

[seadog]

How do you expect the car to warn you that you are about to have a blow out? Can any car on the market do that? All cars have pressure monitoring systems and some give tyre termperature information but if the blow out is sudden and not caused by driving on a slow puncture I can't see how any car could alert you that a blow out is away to happen.

 

[Laurdan]

It's called a blowout for a reason. It's not a slow deflation where the car could warn you, it's an immediate blowout, done in an instant with no potential for pre warning.

Its a scary experience. You either need to quit driving and being a passenger in any car road vehicle ever or get back on the road, including the Tesla. Do not sit in the Tesla again is illogical to the extreme.

Right Steve …. My post was in reply to others who have advised I had a flat tyre which I did not

But thanks for your comments and I know you are right, I’ve been driving for 44 years, so yes I need to get over it and get back behind the wheel ….. don’t say I didn’t warn you

 

[STS-134]

I guess I assumed the Tesla would have alerted us to a problem which it didn’t until my husband had to work to handle the steering and I saw the screen advised a flat. Once on the hard shoulder we looked, it clearly was not a flat but a complete blow out
You’re so right about the state of a lot roads

It might not have had time to warn. You could have hit something that suddenly blew out the tire.

 

[Laurdan]

It might not have had time to warn. You could have hit something that suddenly blew out the tire.

Yes maybe…. But we were travelling on a busy motorway (M25 one of the busiest in the UK) there were many many cars in front and we didn’t feel that we had hit anything

We will never know why or what caused it to blow