A Kia Soul driver from Los Angeles was very lucky to walk away from this frightening crash.
The Kia was overtaking traffic from the fast lane when suddenly the front left wheel came off a pick-up truck and hurtled straight towards the compact SUV, causing it to launch high into the air and flip before landing on its wheels again.
Dashcam footage of the crash (embedded below) was posted on Twitter by a Tesla driver with the username Anoop, who also praised his car’s Autopilot system for swerving to avoid the tyre.
Witnessed and recorded the most INSANE car crash yesterday, you can see Autopilot also swerve and avoid the rouge tire for me $TSLA pic.twitter.com/csMh2nbRNX
— Anoop (@Anoop_Khatra) March 25, 2023
Despite how severe this accident looks in the footage, the driver of the Kia Soul was able to walk away unharmed, according to the Tesla driver, which is certainly a testament to the safety credentials of this vehicle.
While some commenters accused the truck driver of fleeing, Anoop later confirmed in the comments section that the driver did stop, and came running across the freeway to check on the Kia driver. They were “very sincere and apologetic” about everything.
Some viewers also commented about the ‘cheekiness’ of the tyre, which came rolling along the highway to hit the Kia a second time after it had landed on its wheels.
It’s not known why the bakkie lost its wheel, but some viewers speculated that a wheel spacer was to blame. This is an accessory that gives a wide-body look to a vehicle by widening the track. But ultimately the insurance companies will need to work that one out.
We’re just glad the occupants of all vehicles came off unscathed, as things could have been a lot worse.