Out of sight, but still deadly
TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
Regular safety checks under the hood and under the carriage can prevent costly, and often dangerous, mechanical failure.
The young driver said she didn't have a spare – which is a must on any car that doesn't have run-flat tires – and that she was waiting for her mother to show up. When she arrived, her mother told me the car did indeed have a spare, but that she didn't know how to change it.
While I didn't have a problem with her plan of leaving the car at my house until her husband could come by later in the afternoon, it just seemed easier to change the tire for her.
But once the wheel was off, it was obvious the problem went well beyond that. A badly rotted shock absorber had come loose from its mount and moved sideways, and the dislocated spring rubbing against the inside of the tire had worn a hole through the sidewall.
As inconvenient as the flat tire was, its timing was fortunate; the daughter had planned to take the car on a long highway trip in a few days, and what was just an inconvenience at 50 km/h on my road could have been potentially deadly on the 401.
The 10-year-old car was deceptive: the body looked fine, which was probably why no one thought to question the undercarriage. Unlike some more safety-minded jurisdictions, Ontario demands that we regularly sniff for tailpipe emissions, but unless the car is sold, its mechanical fitness is never questioned unless it gets so bad that it's blatantly obvious to a cop looking at it on the street.
If it hadn't broken down where it did, this particular car would probably have escaped detection until the back end came apart at highway speeds.
Even though it isn't mandatory, getting your vehicle safety-checked on a regular basis is important. Not only does Ontario have a love affair with road salt, which eats away at vital components under the car, but thanks to air conditioning and stereos, many of us drive with the windows closed and the tunes cranked, and so we don't hear the squeaks and creaks that can indicate problems such as worn brakes.
And money can be tight, which means many people don't bother with small problems until they grow into large ones. Most $1,000 brake jobs don't happen overnight; they result from drivers not replacing brake pads when it would have cost only a fraction of that.
Cars and tires are built better than they ever were, but there's a limit to how much use a component can take before it fails. Regular checkups will spot softened heater hoses before they crack, detect leaking radiators before you lose all your coolant, and identify worn steering components that can break while you're moving.
Have you ever seen a car stranded with one front wheel bent sideways? That's the result of a worn ball joint left in long enough that it finally broke in half under the strain.
You may be a good driver, but you're only as safe as the condition of your car and, sadly, many people drastically underestimate the importance of mechanical safety.
I once saw a woman carefully strap her infant into her child seat, after refusing to repair the vehicle's marginal brakes; I guess a part that's out of sight is out of mind.
The young woman who broke down on my road had fortune on her side that day. The next driver on the highway may not be so lucky.
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