What caused an accident. Broken half-shaft?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Looking at the crazy angle of that strut I’d still think it was the bottom joint that gave way.....something let go at the bottom of the suspension wishbone.
John

On my car, the drive shaft is only retained in the gearbox by a spring C, in a groove on the end of the shaft. A good tug on the end and out it comes. The drive shafts have even been known to come out enough not to drive, without dropping.

 

[Burnerman]

Aye, these circlips are called 'snap rings'.....good locators in both the gearbox end and to secure the CV to the driveshaft too - makes for an easy boot change.
I've known two cars where the splines on the CV to hub have stripped (both Peugeot 306's coincidentally) and when they came to me the driveshaft nuts were both tight so I haven't a clue what happened there. You can imagine the fun on releasing the large nut to replace them
I've never seen a snapped driveshaft or one that has become disconnected when the bottom joint is intact.
Had a few snapped half shafts though.....generally where people put a 1600 lump into their Mk1 Escorts but kept the 1300 axle. Snapped like carrots they were but they did remain captive within the axle housing.
John

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I've never seen a snapped driveshaft or one that has become disconnected when the bottom joint is intact.

Nor I.

Had a few snapped half shafts though.....generally where people put a 1600 lump into their Mk1 Escorts but kept the 1300 axle. Snapped like carrots they were but they did remain captive within the axle housing.

Oh, I managed that with an original 1300, I suspected it may have been faulty.

 

[Avocet]

Can the OP take a decent resolution photo of the fracture surface on the snapped shaft and post it up? We might be able to get clues from that. I've certainly seen a snapped Civic driveshaft before now (and indeed, a Nissan one). Sadly, the Nissan one was part of a fatal accident.

 

[markH70]

Unfortunately I can't take any more pics. I went over to the place where it was recovered to empty my personal stuff. I wanted to take some more but they wouldn't let me. They said that as it was recovered by the police, photographs were not allowed???

I think whatever it was that broke allowed the NSF wheel to move independantly of the steering and unfortunately it wandered to the left and impacted the OSR wheel of the punto.

 

[Avocet]

Unfortunately I can't take any more pics. I went over to the place where it was recovered to empty my personal stuff. I wanted to take some more but they wouldn't let me. They said that as it was recovered by the police, photographs were not allowed???

I think whatever it was that broke allowed the NSF wheel to move independantly of the steering and unfortunately it wandered to the left and impacted the OSR wheel of the punto.

I had something similar from the salvage yard that recovered my wife's old X-Trail after a crash. In fact, I had to bring a copper with me to remove personal effects, or they wouldn't even let me near it, never mind take photos! That was an accident where significant injuries and a court case were involved though. I take it you don't still have the piece of driveshaft? I have a good metallurgist friend who does a lot of accident investigation work. It's quite interesting.

Your earlier photo showed the bottom front balljoint had separated from the front upright. I can't see in enough detail, but I'd probably be concentrating on that area, rather than the driveshaft, as a potential cause.

 

[markH70]

I mentioned the drive shaft as this was the piece I described on page 1 which was lying in the road. Someone picked it up and said "Half shaft broke". I guess if the ball joint went first, allowing the wheel to move left under its own steam..... impact with the other cars rear wheel and then that caused the car to nearly roll. Is that making sense???

 

[sxturbo]

is it even remotely possible that an error in judgement was made?

its unlikely the driveshaft would cause the car to flip, its not rear wheel drive and the front UJ wouldn't fail allowing the driveshaft to dig into the road causing the car to flip.

a fwd car the shaft just isn't in the right direction to cause a flip, and if it were to break it would not cause the ball joints to fail, all that would happen is you would lose drive (non lsd box) and there would be an all mighty racket where the shaft is hitting things. the drive shaft wouldn't dig into the ground, especially with the vehicle in a forward momentum, the aluminium gearbox casing wouldn't last long either.

the ball joint could fail, though its quite the coincidence.

what's the insurance / police say about it? i imagine they are doing their own investigations.

 

[markH70]

If I had made an error and clipped the corner of the parked vehicle then the first impact would have been my front wing on the other rear wing, neither of which show any damage. The first impact was wheel to wheel which is a physical impossibility unless one or the other was seriously out of position.

 

[sxturbo]

If I had made an error and clipped the corner of the parked vehicle then the first impact would have been my front wing on the other rear wing, neither of which show any damage. The first impact was wheel to wheel which is a physical impossibility unless one or the other was seriously out of position.

That's not a given...

This is a case in point, no damage to the Yaris, nor the land rover (until it was on it roof)

https://jalopnik.com/land-rover-discovery-sport-rolls-over-after-hitting-toy-1848269325

 

[gman76]

Here's another one - minor damage to the Golf.

 

[foxhole]

I had an accident a couple of nights ago and what happened is a complete mystery to me. I was driving down a local road and needed to pass a parked car, so I pulled out. There was a car approaching but there was PLENTY of time to complete the manouver.

As I was just about to pass the parked car, there was a huge BANG, and the next instant I was on 2 wheels (it almost rolled), slewing across the road and into a garden wall on the other side. Fortunately the airbags went off and I managed to get out of the car, albeit with a hell of a thump on my chest from the airbag.

My first thought was that I must have clipped the rear offside corner of the parked car, but that would not explain why the car went up on 2 wheel (I wasn't speeding). There was no damage to the offside rear of the parked car, and no damage to my nearside front wing. The impact seemed to be "Wheel to Wheel".

My nearside front suspension was completely collapsed, wheel completely off and someone picked up a broken part which they said was the half-shaft.

The parked car ended up with both front wheels on the pavement and the offside rear wheel sticking out about 6 inches.

I really don't think I was driving badly and looking back it seemed I was driving normally and within an instant there was the huge bang and my car was on 2 wheels......

Any explainations what would cause this?????

You probably hit out turned wheel of parked vehicle, [tyre to tyre creates a huge bounce] had someone hit my golf wheel, virtually no damage but put them on the roof of their car.[Drunk female].
This means you miss-judged the distance however well you thought your driving.

 

[markH70]

Except the impact was my front wheel to his rear.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Occasionally I find myself watching those YouTube videos of UK dashcams, it's extraordinary how many accidents occur (or specifically could easily have been avoided) by the drivers with the dashcams who come a cropper and yet they scream blue murder at those whom they perceive as having been in the wrong.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Occasionally I find myself watching those YouTube videos of UK dashcams, it's extraordinary how many accidents occur (or specifically could easily have been avoided) by the drivers with the dashcams who come a cropper and yet they scream blue murder at those whom they perceive as having been in the wrong.

Yep, my right of way so I will keep going irrespective.