so I was pulling up to a toll booth and all of sudden my brake went to the floor. I pumped it then had to put both feet on it to stop the car - didn't work. I hit the car in front of me!

As you can see from the photos damage to the front of the car and my left rear wheel - completely gone except for the sidewall.

I have no explantion as to why this happened as everything was fine until i got down to 15+- before the toll booth. My infiniti dealer guessed that when the tire came off that it severed the brake line causing me to lose pressure. THE QUESTION IS WHY DID MY FREAKIN TIRE COME COMPLETELY OFF! I had the police retrieve the tire/tread just in case I had to prove it was defective.


As for the driver that I hit, she took off. The bridge police think she may have been drunk, had a warrant, or had no insurance (in philly they impound your car if no ins) Lucky me? Not sure but as of tonight I don't have anyone ready to sue me!

 

thats wierd... defective tire maybe? so did you starting pumping your brakes after the tires were gone or you noticed the tire was gone after the crash??

 

I didn't know the tire was gone until i pulled off to the side of the road ( I actually drove across the bridge trying to follow the girl I hit) All that I noticed was that all my warning lights - ABS, VCD, TPMS, brake, car with the squiggly line (I don't know what that one is for) were on while I was trying to slow.

 

Lol sorry but that is ******* crazy man

 

On the positive side, you are ok and no one got hurt but it's really weird that the tire came off like it. Hope all works out for you- you can always replace / repair the car.

 

holy smokes, u went over the bridge like that?! wowzers! sorry for your accident.

btw, do you know of any good autobody shops in the philly area?

 

I was driving slowly across the bridge and didn't even notice or could tell that something was wrong with it.

I called AAA and they said they would pick it up but i had to pay for mileage after 3 miles. while waiting for them I called Infiniti to ask why this would have happened and they told me I was covered under infiniti. They picked it up and drove it to their place in Prospect Park. They do work on Audi, Porsche and Infiniti so im comfortable with them.

 

Thanks for the thoughts. I am sore though. I was standing on the brake with both feet at the impact so I tweaked it. Thank god the wife had some percocets left over from her nose surgery!

 

Wow, crazy stuff and funny/lucky that the other driver bounced.

 

What the hell? good that it's not worse than it is man. That's the strangest this I've seen so far regarding our cars. Wow!

 

Glad you're ok.. what tires were you on and how old are they?

 

Stock OEM tires with 14.5k on them.

 

WOWZERS - that is crazy. I suspect that the tire went flat and after running it low eventually cut through the side wall and as it shreaded took out the brakes...

Glad you are OK - bummer about the car but as they say, cars are more easily repairable than people!

Did you try down shifting or the emergency brake to help slow/stop the car?

Most concerning is --> WHY DIDN'T THE AIRBAG DEPLOY? A front impact like that likjely should have triggered it, no?

 

wtf?????

 

You need the bumper to crumple more for teh airbags to go off. The bumper near the headlights looks like it hasnt even poped out which show more damage.