How To Safely Tackle Steering Failure?


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Friends,

I had escaped very narrowly last week, when I was travelling in my Ritz on a village side road. A tractor was coming opposite to me and some how I have sensed bit early that the tractor is moving little abnormally to right and left, so I kept my self little away from it to my extreme of the left side road. The tractor guys seems to be lost control on steering as it failed and there was a turn towards my car and same time I turned my car more left side and the tractor crossed me and then immediately it went to its left and collided with a culvert and collapsed. However the driver sensed it quickly and jumped out of it and was not injured at all and complete tractor engine crashed.

I stopped my car in few meters away from the spot and noticed driver is safe, so continued my journey as I was in a hurry, but was really wondering, what happens if something like this happens in a good speed. what could be the alternative to this, is there any safety equipment to save from this situation as we talk about many safety equipment on the forum like ABS, Airbags and others.

In case of a brake failure, you have some chance of controlling it with bringing down the vehicle to lower gears and control its speed provided you are not in a thick traffic and on a clear road, but in case of a steering failure, what could be done as the response time will be very less.
 
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Re: What is the safety alternate for steering failure ??

Lucky you,but honestly I don't think there is anything that can be done to prevent such a thing from happening other than not driving.
 
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Re: What is the safety alternate for steering failure ??

Friends,

I had escaped very narrowly last week, when I was travelling in my Ritz on a village side road. A tractor was coming opposite to me and some how I have sensed bit early that the tractor is moving little abnormally to right and left, so I kept my self little away from it to my extreme of the left side road. The tractor guys seems to be lost control on steering as it failed and there was a turn towards my car and same time I turned my car more left side and the tractor crossed me and then immediately it went to its left and collided with a culvert and collapsed. However the driver sensed it quickly and jumped out of it and was not injured at all and complete tractor engine crashed.

I stopped my car in few meters away from the spot and noticed driver is safe, so continued my journey as I was in a hurry, but was really wondering, what happens if something like this happens in a good speed. what could be the alternative to this, is there any safety equipment to save from this situation as we talk about many safety equipment on the forum like ABS, Airbags and others.

In case of a brake failure, you have some chance of controlling it with bringing down the vehicle to lower gears and control its speed provided you are not in a thick traffic and on a clear road, but in case of a steering failure, what could be done as the response time will be very less.
At low speeds even in the event of brake failure or steering failure, there is some scope for survival provided the road on which you are going is clear. If this were to happen at high speeds, it boils down to your tryst with destiny.
 
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Re: What is the safety alternate for steering failure ??

Sirji its a good question, glad your ritz escaped !

Basically the heart of the steering is the tie rod (assuming typical rack and pinion arrangement) - tie rod failures do happen but are rare in the scheme of things and usually there are plenty of signs, the issue is most likely the ignorant tractor driver ignored all those signs. The first sign is steering noise/stiffness/play, also you will have alignment issues, tire wear and steering vibrations potentially - only when you ignore all these signs can a catastrophe happen - there is always some abuse or ignorance associated with such failures, tie rods are built strongly generally and is also a component which wears with time, every time you go fast over a pot hole there will be some tie rod wear as well. So when its time to replace them do not compromise - every component has a life time.

Btw the more common failure is power steering in modern vehicles and the easiest way to know is the steering will get harder with time - vehicles with power steering can be driven with the power steering having failed for several hundred kms as well(i had to do it once to reach nearest service station) - just that it will be too hard and your turning circle will be similar to boeing 747!

We had to once maneuver a jeep for 30 kms without steering as the joints had broken - unforgettable ride of my life!:tongue: - As the song lyrics go "Jaana tha Japan pahuch gaye Chin samaj gaye na"!
 
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Dear RK,

Thank god. Escaped from the tractor with your careful driving.

As you might aware, but i am posting few checks to identify the power steering failure symptoms for the benefit of TAI members.

Feeling little hardness while turning the power string while driving: In general, we are able to steer the steering with a bit of effort. If you found steering hardness increased day by day it is the first symptom of power steering failure.

Check for any Oil leaks when the car parked in for long durations: If you found any oil leakage below the parked car you have to make sure whether it is power steering oil or any other issue(anyhow we need to handle it too).
The power steering fluid color should be in red/pink if it is in normal.
Check the power steering oil color and if it looks blackish it is the time for oil replacement avoid any issues.

We need to follow the below steps in case of unexpected power steering failure.

Need to switch on the hazard lights, apply the horn couple of times to get the other drivers attention to get your path have more clearance.

It is very hard to move the steering once the power steering was failed. Try to move to the side of the road slowly and stop the car aside.

Call for the roadside assistance or your reliable mechanic if any to resolve the issue.

Regards,
Kiran
 
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What is steering failure? If you mean steering assist failure it's not a big deal you just need more effort.
 

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