Following on from the earlier discussion about that tragic accident in Italy 
and the possible technical failures that could have caused it.

I can confirm first hand that when the steering breaks the vehicle returns to 
the straight on position as long as it is moving forwards.

I reversed out of a parking space earlier  on to the road and started to go 
forward when there was a snap noise and the steering wheel was just going 
round without doing anything, I was doing about 25ish mph down a very steep 
Cornish hill. the car straightened out by its self, luckily I didn't hit 
anyone or anything, bit scarey though.

The track rod end had failed at the steering drop arm and the rod was 
scraping the road, I pushed it back into place and secured it  with a cable 
tie to get me the few hundred yards to home.

Now comes the hour or so groveling in the road with a club hammer.

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

"nik.morgan"  wrote in message 
news:0001HW.C4E2CA2A020DD76CF02845B0@free.teranews.com...
> Following on from the earlier discussion about that tragic accident in 
> Italy
> and the possible technical failures that could have caused it.
>
> I can confirm first hand that when the steering breaks the vehicle returns 
> to
> the straight on position as long as it is moving forwards.
>
> I reversed out of a parking space earlier  on to the road and started to 
> go
> forward when there was a snap noise and the steering wheel was just going
> round without doing anything, I was doing about 25ish mph down a very 
> steep
> Cornish hill. the car straightened out by its self, luckily I didn't hit
> anyone or anything, bit scarey though.
>
> The track rod end had failed at the steering drop arm and the rod was
> scraping the road, I pushed it back into place and secured it  with a 
> cable
> tie to get me the few hundred yards to home.
>
> Now comes the hour or so groveling in the road with a club hammer.

Yes, similar experience here. When I spun a Xantia a few years back and 
smashed the steering rack off it's mountings, I luckily ended up pointing 
the right way. The steering wheel moved but had no effect (I found out 
100yds later when I tried to turn) but it was quite happy to go straight on

Mike P

nik.morgan  gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying:

> Following on from the earlier discussion about that tragic accident in
> Italy and the possible technical failures that could have caused it.
> 
> I can confirm first hand that when the steering breaks the vehicle
> returns to the straight on position as long as it is moving forwards.

If the track rod fails, yes, it will do - the caster in the geometry will 
ensure that.

But if the upper or lower arm or balljoint broke, all bets would most 
definitely be off.

In article , 
nik.morgan says...
> Following on from the earlier discussion about that tragic accident in Italy 
> and the possible technical failures that could have caused it.
> 
> I can confirm first hand that when the steering breaks the vehicle returns to 
> the straight on position as long as it is moving forwards.
> 
Unless it's a Volvo FM cabbed vehicle where the steering breakage can 
be the UJ in the column seizing.


-- 
Conor

I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't 
looking good either. - Scott Adams

On Sep 2, 10:52 am, Adrian  wrote:
> nik.morgan  gurgled happily, sounding much like
> they were saying:
>
> > Following on from the earlier discussion about that tragic accident in
> > Italy and the possible technical failures that could have caused it.
>
> > I can confirm first hand that when the steering breaks the vehicle
> > returns to the straight on position as long as it is moving forwards.
>
> If the track rod fails, yes, it will do - the caster in the geometry will
> ensure that.
>
> But if the upper or lower arm or balljoint broke, all bets would most
> definitely be off.

Just think of the fun to come when steer by wire becomes commonplace -
the computer has a glitch and suddenly the wheels turn 90 degrees and
you're rolling. Yeah yeah I know , they're supposed to have multiple
redundancies built in - thats fine for a new vehicle but now imagine
something thats been treated like a POS for 10 years and hasn't been
serviced properly since it was bought.

B2003

nik.morgan wrote:

> Following on from the earlier discussion about that tragic accident in
> Italy and the possible technical failures that could have caused it.
> 
> I can confirm first hand that when the steering breaks the vehicle returns
> to the straight on position as long as it is moving forwards.
> 
> I reversed out of a parking space earlier  on to the road and started to
> go forward when there was a snap noise and the steering wheel was just
> going round without doing anything, I was doing about 25ish mph down a
> very steep Cornish hill. the car straightened out by its self, luckily I
> didn't hit anyone or anything, bit scarey though.

Things could get a bit hairy at higher speeds though. Years back I had a van
on a rigid bar tow that snapped a track rod which resulted in the van
trying to go anywhere but straight until I got the speed down. Best I could
figure as a reason was wheel shimmy on the side that broke the track rod;
by the time I'd stopped that wheel had toed out to the steering lock stop
and left rubber on the road.