Yet another tire blowout

[Scotttkd2]

@Scotttkd2 do you feel comfort steer helped or no?

Was the engine brake engaged, if so, do you think that made things more difficult?

I realize I won't have much time or want to take hands off wheel but if I could I'd turn off the engine brake and put comfort steer to max.

I did have engine brake on, no time to do anything but hang on for dear life. In all honesty, I think the electronics for the comfort steer were part of the casualties as I had zero control over direction and I planted both feet and was pulling as hard right as I could pull with ZERO effect. No SafeTPlus on this coach, I did have one on my previous RV. I haven't heard a definitive answer from anyone as to wether it would be compatible with comfort steer or not.
I had heard a steer tire blowout procedure is to accelerate not brake until control is restored, In my case I didn't immediately brake for that reason but as soon as I realized I wasn't in control and headed for the median I jumped into the brakes and pulled as hard right as I could manage. It felt like I was driving a jackhammer. The tow driver estimated if I had gone another 10-20 feet I would have rolled onto the driver side. We dodged a major bullet when I got out and discovered my right rear outside tire was no longer in contact with the ground. Hoping the shop and insurance adjuster can give me some idea what happened to it.

 

[Richpatty]

Glad everyone is ok!

My tires will be replaced next spring….and this convinces me to have Rettrobands installed. It should help with control and limit body damage.

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

I did have engine brake on, no time to do anything but hang on for dear life. In all honesty, I think the electronics for the comfort steer were part of the casualties as I had zero control over direction and I planted both feet and was pulling as hard right as I could pull with ZERO effect. No SafeTPlus on this coach, I did have one on my previous RV. I haven't heard a definitive answer from anyone as to wether it would be compatible with comfort steer or not.

I think this would have been my reaction as well. Glad you guys are ok.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Hearing that pulling hard right on the steering wheel had zero effect is quite concerning. If comfort drive is taken out and you then have to fight it and a coach that's headed for the median, sounds like something could use a little re-engineering.

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

My tires will be replaced next spring….and this convinces me to have Rettrobands installed. It should help with control and limit body damage.

We are having Retro Bands installed on new DSDP. Curious as to how these will help? Hopefully Keeps rim from digging in to road surface causing the sharp turning moment but probably won't keep tire debri from causing damage.
Hopefully we never find out..

 

[Neemer]

@Joe Hogan , not to say I’ve seen them all, but the pics I have seen of blowouts with Rettrobands the tire stays intact.

 

[Scotttkd2]

I appreciate the comments thus far, please keep in mind the shop has not started the investigation, so I am purely guessing based on my limited experience on what role comfort steer did or didn't play. Also I hadn't added yet that I have the Tyron bands (visible in the picture) that are supposed to be a Retro band type product, and they were sold to me by selling dealer as a safety mechanism for blowouts that were "supposed" to make controlling the vehicle possible in a blowout. Mine were a dismal failure in my opinion. Don't know if they just failed, were not installed correctly, etc?? I have seen the Retro Band video of a blowout at speed and the jackhammering at the steering wheel appears to be similar to my experience, but I was definitely not in control of the vehicle direction like the video shows. Also body damage was supposed to be minimized with the Tyron and that definitely didn't happen either. I too wonder about the design/engineering of putting all that flying rubber on any of the wheel wells in such close proximity to virtually unprotected critical components on the coach. I am kicking myself at not having the wire reinforced mud flaps attached around the electronics bay when I had the chance last Oct. I also wonder if the steps and door area would survive a front right blowout at speed.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I too wonder about the design/engineering of putting all that flying rubber on any of the wheel wells in such close proximity to virtually unprotected critical components on the coach. I am kicking myself at not having the wire reinforced mud flaps attached around the electronics bay when I had the chance last Oct. I also wonder if the steps and door area would survive a front right blowout at speed.

This does seem very highly suspect, almost as if it were planned obsolescence. I can't think of a single auto manufacturer that could get away with such a design yet coach manufacturers wanting 10-15x the money as a car seem to all be playing the same game. I cannot begin to articulate how PO'd I'd be to find such a dismal design after paying $50K+ for a motorhome. Just like houses are built, it seems effort is only made in how things look rather than the quality and function of things not readily visible. I mean, should you really have to invest in mudflaps to protect your coach just because the builders chose not to?

The Tyron bands sound like really, really expensive snake oil. This has all the makings of an NHTSA investigation.

 

[Joe Dutchstar]

Looks like you might have some recourse against Tryon Band or dealer who installed them or both.

 

[Scotttkd2]

Yeah, I have asked the insurance adjuster to look at the install, the pic looks like the band is installed at a pretty good angle, and the Tyron website shows them installed parallel to the rim. I dont know enough about the technology to know if that could have contributed or hindered anything or not. Just read through the Comfort Steer info elsewhere on the web and it indicates it is fully dependent on electrical power to the system and would have "shut off" and been manual steering if its power had been interrupted. That plus no steering help from the Tyron may be why I was unable to steer it.

 

[Scotttkd2]

BTW, the Comfort Steer info says SafeTPlus type steering stabilizer products are not recommended alongside Comfort Steer installs as they will fight over which system is in control.

 

[Headhunter]

That is definitely something to think about. If a blow out takes out the electronics it also wipes out your comfort steer, making it almost impossible to steer your coach. I remember reading some where that you couldn't put a Safety T Plus system with comfort steer on Newmars.

Hang in there Scott, you did really well in a very dangerous situation. I hope they can get your coach sorted out and put back together.

HH

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Comfort dive being completely dependent on electrical power with some (any at all) of the power wires or controls having been routed where damage and subsequent power disruption is possible if not probable is likely an illegal design. Something else that would never be allowed on the road if produced by any auto manufacturer. I smell two NHTSA investigations now brewing.

 

[Scotttkd2]

Should know some more tomorrow as the shop plans on getting it on a lift, and adjuster will be there but here is what I have been able to research so far. None of the videos/pics of installs of Tyron (or retro band for that matter) show the kind of tire damage or the jackhammering in the steering wheel I experienced. This leads me to think the culprit may be the tire. I was able to verify though the Tyron band had slipped out of position, so it's possible it contributed to the damage/loss of control, and was possibly not installed correctly in the first place. What was left of the tire stayed on the rim so that part may have worked but I had zero sidewall still attached to tread to drive on so no control ability as the videos of both products demonstrate. I will post what I find out. Am still shaking a little after seeing the post of the semi/RV collision on the 81 and how close we came to duplicating that.

 

[Richpatty]

Thanks for the continued updates! I am very interested in what you find out.