[BruceK]

My MINI was in a freak accident on the way home from work – a runaway truck tire hit me. I wasn’t injured, but my MINI didn’t fare as well.

I was in stop-and-go driving moving at about 10 mph in the inside lane of a 3-lane freeway heading northbound. Suddenly, a road wheel separated from a dually pickup truck (one rear axle with twin tires on each side) going about 50 mph in southbound lanes - the wheel had been mounted on the driver’s side in the rear. It only took perhaps a second for the wheel to bounce over the concrete median separating the northbound and southbound traffic and it headed straight for me. There was no time ( or space) to try to maneuver the car to avoid it. The pickup truck wheel must have weighed at least 125 lbs. and it hit my MINI traveling probably 45 mph. Add to that speed the 10-mph I was travelling and the result was an enormous force that hit the MINI in that one area. It struck my MINI on the driver’s side windshield just near the A-pillar and then bounced over my car. Immediately after the impact the MINI automatically put both windows down and may have turned on the flashers (or I may have done that – I can’t remember). Even though the hit involved the A-pillar, the curtain airbag housed within the pillar did not deploy – neither did any of the five other airbags in the car.

The accident resulted in glass flakes and fragments all over the interior and I was startled from the suddenness of it all. But I coasted the MINI up next to the concrete median and climbed out of the passenger door. From the outside I was able to see that the tire did more damage than I had envisioned. The wheel actually first hit the MINI just behind the left front headlight on top of the hood. The hood was crumpled on the ridge following the headlight right up to the windshield and there were actually rubber tire tracks on the hood leading up to the glass. The wheel impacted partially on the windshield and partially on the A-pillar. From the A-pillar over toward the center of the windshield about 12 inches of the glass was complete white from disintegrating. The glossy black plastic piece covering the A-pillar remained in place but there were tire tracks also visible on it. The sheet metal panel that holds the wiper arms between the hood and the windshield was damaged as was the side panel housing the chrome S grill and side repeater lamp. The MINI’s roof seemed to have suffered no damage at all.

I walked to the other cars involved in the accident that had pulled over to see how they fared. It turns out that after hitting me, the wheel then landed exactly in the middle of the roof of a new Toyota Camry Solara, which was following me. It smashed the Toyota’s roof down fully 18 inches before violently blowing out the car’s back window. Then the wheel bounced over the hood of a Chevy pickup striking the truck in the top middle of its windshield. It almost crashed though the windshield into the truck’s cabin, but it hit high enough instead to peel the truck’s roof sheet metal back leaving it 12 inches higher than normal before then grazing the roof top of the Ford Escort following the Chevy. Then the wheel landed on the hood of a Ford Bronco following the Escort, but fell off of the Bronco to the ground, all it’s energy spent. The good news is of course is that nobody was injured in any of the five vehicle cars the wheel hit.

The police told me that the truck that had lost the wheel finally stopped about a half mile down the freeway from where the accident occurred. I was also told that the truck’s brake drum was still attached to the wheel – adding probably at least 30 lbs. more to the weight of the wheel/tire combo and making it even more potentially deadly.

I am very, very impressed with the strength of the MINI’s A-pillar. That is one tough little car. When the wheel was heading toward me my first thought was a hope that it would bounce over and miss me. My second thought was remembering how spectators in at racing events are often killed by wheels flying through the air. I am very thankful not to have been injured.

The MINI was flatbed towed from the scene to the local bodyshop where the BMW dealer sends its cars. Tomorrow I’ll begin dealing with the insurance company and the bodyshop. I don’t know if the driver of the truck that lost the wheel was insured. It will be at least 6 months before there will be a local MINI dealer, the nearest one now is 400+ miles away, so I hope sourcing parts won’t be a problem.


13 September, edit:

I have now added a photo of the MINI's damage here at the top of the thread. Another photo appears later in this thread:

[kbgnat]

sorry to hear that, glad you are ok bud

[BigMack]

Glad you are OK.

[thegrommit]

My mouth was agape as your post went on. Glad to hear nobody was hurt, and good luck with the insurance company.

[chiph]

Holy Cow!

Glad you're all right. You're probably still a little shaken up -- I know I would be if a tire & wheel came out of nowhere like that & landed on my car.

Well, talk to your insurance company (they'll probably be involved even if the other guy pays), and don't accept anything less than the best treatment from them.

Chip H.

[Fifth Gear Racing]

Wow that is crazy. Glad to here that you are ok and all the other drivers are too. I wonder how it managed to come loose of the truck in the first place. I hope your mini has a speedy recovery and looks brand new.

[minimum_wage]

Bruce,
I've been reading your posts for over a year. They seem to get more and more interesting. After this one I'm not sure what you're going to write about next.

-Dan

P.S. I got to drive my Mini at Lime Rock Labor Day and I'm telling every one I meet.

[rich]

OMG Bruce, that's freaky, scary & so unlucky

Great news you & no one else hurt. Dreadful shame your MINI is battered, but the car did well to protect you

Good luck with the insurance & repairs...

[noahe]

Bruce, what a terrible story... It really seems like there are too many injured or totaled MINI's on this site, within a relatively short time-frame. Yours is one of the few unavoidable stories. So very glad that no one was hurt.

From your recount, the truck that lost the dualie was in disrepair? I mean for a wheel and drum to seperate from the axle... I hear of this happening far too often on tractor trailers, but a big 'ol truck is pretty dangerous too. I wish there were more safety certifications performed, than just the basic one, when a vehicle sells. Maybe that would have an effect.

Try to relax, sleep well, and don't fret. You didn't cause it. You couldn't have done anything to prevent it. Truly, you were in an 'accident'.

Sorry to hear all of this. Hope the distance-from-the-dealer thing can be easily enough overcome. Best of luck.

Regards,
/\/oah.

[ezrally]

Good to see you are OK. Maybe with some room you could have avoided the tire/wheel/drum.
Your original Mini wouldn't have fared as well. Sounds like its repairable with the roof being undamaged.
Good luck

[Wynn]

Bruce,

The other guy could not have been more fortunate, first that no one was injured despite all the collisions, and second that of all the millions of people in the world he might have hit first, he hit you. Your admirable calm and thoughtful demeanor probably saved lives today, and certainly saved people a lot of anger, fear, and frustration.

It doesn't seem fair, though, that this freak accident should afflict the car for which you care so meticulously, but it seems fortunate, in some sense, that it turned out the way it did. Someone else might have swerved, on a busy freeway. Almost anyone else might have thrown a fit on the scene.

Bless you for your kindness, and sense of perspective. We should all be reminded to behave this way when we have accidents and other challenges of our own.

Sincerely,
wynn

[Smile4MINI]

Truly AMAZING story! I had to read it twice, glued to the screen. I'm so glad you and the other impact victims are okay! Just...WOW.

Andrea

[Daktaklakpak]

Wow, is all I can say. But there’s been one thing that I’ve noticed in the other MINI crashes is that the airbags aren't deploying. I'm just hoping it’s just the crazy circumstances and not some kind of defect.

[Mike Clarke]

Amazing story Bruce, glad to hear that you and the other drivers were not hurt.
If the truck was defective then I hope you and your insurance company sue the tits off the owner.
Good luck with the repairs, hope you are back in the MINI soon
Mike

[Sejanus]

Very freaky indeed. Glad to hear that you are ok.

[Paul]

Bet that was a buttock clenching moment seeing that wheel come flying straight at you!

Glad everyone seems OK, and the fact you didn't get hurt seems to be an indication the airbags were not needed in that impact anyway.

[smiffy]

Bloody hell At least no one was injured thats the main thing

[EBMCS03]

YIKES!! thats scary! crazy... i'm sorry to hear but glad to hear that u are ok and that no one was hurt.

[ScottG]

Glad you are okay!
Crazy ass story. Could have been a lot worse if you were moving faster. Hope your Mini gets some mighty TLC.
-scott

[Ady]

Bruce, you are one lucky guy, and its good that MINI protected you well.

Ady (R50)