No driver likes to have a flat tyre. What happens if you drive on a flat tire? It can make sharp piece of glass or metal rips through the sidewall or tread, or if it is punctured by a nail.
Tire leaks can also occur from general wear and tear. Whatever the cause, a flat tyre can turn a simple drive into a headache-filled experience.
You might be tempted to drive on the flat tyre if you’re almost home or near some other service location, especially if the leak is slow.
Article Summary
What Happens If You Drive on a Flat Tire?
Driving on a flat tyre will cause substantial damage to your vehicle and could result in danger to you and your passengers.
Loss of Control and Stability
One of the greatest immediate dangers of driving on a flat tyre is a decrease in vehicle stability and control. Tyres are designed to elevate the weight of your vehicle equally, allowing for appropriate traction and stability. A flat will disrupt that equilibrium, pull your vehicle to its side – the side of the flat.
This causes the car to pull to one side, and at higher speeds or especially on turns, this pull can be dramatic and all-at-once. The driver must constantly correct for it, which can be tiring, and more importantly makes you more likely to overcorrect the pull and spin out of control.
Reduced Braking Efficiency
Another obvious safety factor while driving on under inflated or flat tyres is significant reduction in brake performance. Tires play the key role in vehicle’s braking system as they provide the needed friction to slow down and stop your vehicle.
A flat tire has much less surfaces contracting the road that means much less friction which brings for you longer stopping distances.
Less braking power places greater emphasis on having sharp reflexes in emergencies, when that one extra foot of stopping distance can be the difference between avoiding a crash entirely or becoming a serious accident.
Increased Risk of Accidents
The loss of steer-ability, StabiliTrak and braking makes you 10 times as likely to crash you’re much less able to avoid an obstacle suddenly in your way, lane-keep when you want to, and react appropriately to changes in the traffic in front. And you’re putting others at risk too, such as other drivers, cyclists and especially pedestrians.
Damage To the Wheel
By driving on a flat tyre, you are damaging your wheel rim very severely, usually beyond repair. The problem with a flat tyre is that the wheels have to support the full weight of the vehicle, and the wheel rim is not designed to support this weight or to actually touch the ground.
As you drive, the tyre slowly grinds and crunches against the road, and the rim against the tyre, possibly bending, cracking or chipping. You might not even be able to see any surface damage, but you still risk compromising the structural integrity of the wheel, which can and will later leak air or fail completely.
Potential Wheel Misalignment
A flat tyre is also a common reason for wheel misalignment as the uneven distribution of weight and stress can cause the wheels to become out of tolerance. Wheel misalignment occurs when the wheels have become misaligned in space with one being tilted outward in relation to the other one, or they are not perpendicular to the ground or parallel to one another as originally designed.
Once a vehicle’s wheels are out of alignment, the resulting problems can be endless such as uneven tyre wear, poor fuel mileage and poor handling.
Tire Destruction
The most obvious effect of driving on a flat is the physical destruction of the tyre itself. As you drive, the sidewall of the tyre is repeatedly flexed and warmed as the rim bumps along the ground.
If the tyre is strong enough and contains enough air, heat will dissipate, allowing the tyre to survive the effort of getting the car home, at least sometimes. But often the stress and weight of the load can cause the tyre to shred long before you ever get to the tire-shop.
Irreparable Damage to the Tire Structure
In fact, even if that sidewall doesn’t shread, the tyre’s carcass, including its belts and plies, will also be permanently damaged by driving on it while flat. This damage isn’t always evident from the outside, but renders the tyre unfit for future use.
Suspension System Stress
The suspension, together with the tires inflated to the proper pressure, is designed to absorb shocks by the tires; when you drive on a flat tire, the suspension has to do the job of a flat tire while at the same time trying to maintain the same ride quality, which results in undue stress being placed on many parts.
This extra strain can cause premature wearing and potential failure of suspension parts like shocks, struts and coil and leaf springs, leading to a bill that’s not only costly but potentially rather unsafe, if you’re unfortunate enough not to spot the problem.
Potential Damage To Brake Components
Besides putting undue stress on the wheel and suspension, the flat tyre will also impact your vehicle’s braking components. Your vehicle’s brake rotor can be damaged if the wobbling wheel is rubbing on its surface or if your vehicle is being pulled in one direction.
Increased Fuel Consumption
Running on a flat tyre causes you to use more fuel than normal. Here’s why: Driving on a flat tyre increases fuel consumption because: Your vehicle is less stable when one wheel isn’t working properly and so your grip on the road is not as good, so you drive less efficiently.
- Higher rolling resistance: A flat tire generates more friction, taking more energy to sustain the same speed.
- Strain on the engine: The engine has to work harder to make up for the extra drag and uneven load distribution.
- Aerodynamic inefficiency: A flat tire can disrupt your vehicle’s aerodynamics, creating more air resistance.
Legal and Safety Concerns
It is certainly dangerous to drive on a flat tyre — but it is also usually illegal. This perhaps-surprising fact follows from the most states’ laws that vehicles must be in a safe operable condition, including the tyres. Driving on a visibly flattened tyre will probably result in a fine or citation.
Furthermore, if your flat gets you driving erratically, you might be pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving, then you’d face the legal headache of that.
Liability in Case of Accidents
Drive on that flat tyre, however, and, should you cause an accident, your share of causation could render you liable for any damage or injuries that might result. Insurers might also allege that your decision to drive while knowing that your tyre wasn’t up to standard proves that you were negligent in the operation of your vehicle in an unsafe manner.
This can result in your carrier denying coverage and leaving you with joint-and-several liability for the bills.
Safety While Driving With A Flat Tire
If you get a flat tyre while driving, the first and most important thing to do is to reduce your speed and find a safe place to pull over. Try your best to find a flat surface with as little traffic as possible. If it’s a highway, try to make it to the next exit. It’s not safe to change your tyre on the shoulder of the highway.
- Turn on your hazard lights once you stop. This will warn other drivers of your predicament.
- Using a Spare Tire or Calling for Assistance
After safely pulling over, assess your options
Keep in mind, though, that changing your own tyre can be challenging and involves a level of risk. If you have the spare tyre and the necessary tools, you intend to do the job yourself, and you’re doing it in a safe place, go ahead. Use common sense and stick to the recommended tire-changing processes.
If you don’t have a spare, are not carrying a jack or lug wrench, or don’t feel comfortable changing the tire yourself, call for roadside assistance. Your insurance company may provide this service, or you can contact a local towing company.
When a tyre goes flat on a car equipped with run-flat tyres or a tyre repair kit, the tank should be filled to capacity, and the vehicle driven to a tyre facility in a Plan A or Plan B situation, and then taken off the road until the tyre repair or tyre replacement has been completed.
Mind the need to wait for help instead of driving on a flat tyre.
Staying Safe
When your vehicle has a flat tire, your immediate urge might be to continue your drive to your destination or to the nearest garage in order to replace it. Typically, one’s life is more important than a tire, and fixing or replacing your tire quickly at your destination will save you money in both fuel and replacement costs.
Due to the immediate nature of this decision, many people involved in road mishaps can be attributed to driving with a flat tire. I disagree with the statement that you should continue driving with a flat tire simply because you will suffer financially, putting your safety and the safety of others in jeopardy should something go wrong.
A quick stop, no matter what day or time it may be, will not only save you money in repairs, but will also ensure that others are not injured as a result of your dangerous decision making.
