/\ This would seem most likely.
You didn't see the TPMS light on prior to this?
Definitely should have tried the EMERGENCY brake when your REGULAR brakes failed.
Very funny that the person getting rear ended took off.
WTF is up with the stock tires, damn!

 

I dont thnk it went flat because I had just gotten off the highway (i was doing hiway speeds) and car was riding/feeling perfect. I was only 25-50 ft from the toll when I lost it. I may have only been doing 10-15 when i actually hit her.

Not sure it is visible but the bottom of the fascia is buckled under. no noticible separation on the right side but a 1/2 inch separation on the left side near the headlight.


It was too sudden to even react to downshift. I think if there had been a hand brake i could have pulled that but both feet were on the brake.

 

I didnt see the tpms light on ( im pretty **** about watching my gauges). All the lights came on at the same time ( i thought that it had stalled/lost power and the lights had come on when you first turn the key)

The cop thought it was funny too. He said that she drove away from her lottery ticket!

 

Holy crap, that's a catastrophic failure. I don't mean to minimize the accident but that could have been much much worse. Like fatally worse. I'm not sure I'd get back into that car without a very good explanation. I can see that you really can't do anything in that situation. I suppose you couldve reached for the emergency brake but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have had time. Maybe hit the paddle to get into first and have the engine slow you down but even then you wouldn't slow very much. Yeah, please let us know what the dealer says. And for your own safety, get a hell of a good ironclad explanation on that. I've never seen anything like that. Looks like you hit one of those police strips designed to rip your tire off.

 

if its my fault and the other person runs ... im ok with that lol

 

How far away did you find the tire debris from the toll booth? That's a good indication of when the tire sheared off.

Crazy accident! Lucky you weren't killed.

 

The tire was sitting on the median between two booths. Essentially right at the toll booth.

My wife drives this car as well. had it been her it might not have ended the same way. She is all of 5"2' and 100 lbs and would never have been able to put enough pressure on the brakes to stop it.

I'm glad it was me.

 

I think you may have had a bubble on your tire...whenever you do, it's only a matter of time until the tire explodes.

Just my $00.02

 

The Good:
Well, I was finally able to pick up my G today after what seemed like an eternity waiting for it to get fixed. The place did a great job doing the body work. They even cleaned up a brush mark on the rear bumper from some guy that swiped my car while in NYC (note: when the tire flew of it scraped the rear bumper which is why my insurance covered it). They even went around and cleaned up a couple nicks here and there on it then detailed the inside and out. I highly recommend them: Finish Line Collision in Prospect Park PA - ask for Charlie or Marty!

The Bad:
Infiniti could not find anything wrong with my brakes. No hoses cut, no problems with the master cylinder, nothing. This has me concerned. They said they couldn't even get any codes from the system to show what could have gone wrong. Is this even possible? The car lost all braking and all the lights were lit up. I was sure they would find something.

Any thoughts from someone with knowledge on this would be appreciated.

 

We had some weird issues with our Nissan Armada. The breaks were like 'digital' they didn't work or the ABS kicked in. After two scary incidents and guessing by Nissan NA, they blamed it on the brake booster after we paid to have the ECU re-flashed.

 

but you didn't hear the tire pop?

i would suspect you had to be pretty low on air to begin with. if that tire was full, it would have been loud when it popped.

 

/\ i would imagine that the tire would be SIGNIFICANTLY harder to pop/explode when its low on air. lol... just think about the pheesyics behind it.

nonetheless, youre safe and thats all that matters OP
btw... be glad that the airbags didnt go for such a minuscule accident lol (otherwise, the value of your car would go to poo)

 

Bizarre indeed.

Glad you got your ride back and I am sure you are stoked that it now looks mint. Dont stress about the unknown. It was likely a freak issue based on the tire not the car - and, since the tire was replaced, (and thankfully no one was injured), this is now but a memory...

Any shot that you kept the tire and could contact the manufacturer for a little investigation?

 

yeah... if the tire was low on air to begin with the rim could eat up the tire that way from rubbing on the ground. he would have to be really low on air... maybe caught a nail or piece of glass that deflated the tire, then rode on rim for some time... although the TP sensor would have flashed.

if the tire was full and it did just pop... it would have been loud.

 

I have the wheel and tire. I am contacting Infiniti to report this incident and hopefully they can shed some light on what happened.

Unfortunately I have had back issues since the accident so this has been a lingering memory...