Stabilitrak fails = 1080 through 4 lanes of traffic & rail guard

[DarkneSS]

Originally Posted by PQ

NO CAR will be perfectly planted and safe if you hit the right patch of water. Mine has gottena bit squirrely in the rain. I have 315s on the rear, but still. If the water gets enough road coverage and thick enough, you can lift at any moment.

Well of course not perfectly but "well" planted, yes.

Driving fast in the rain has been done for a very long time, there are many professional races that take place in rain. You just have to known how to handle yourself, and of course have good rubber on the ground. My P Zeros have plenty of tread left, I could imagine them sucking though as they lose it.

[PQ]

Originally Posted by DarkneSS

Well of course not perfectly but "well" planted, yes.

Driving fast in the rain has been done for a very long time, there are many professional races that take place in rain. You just have to known how to handle yourself, and of course have good rubber on the ground. My P Zeros have plenty of tread left, I could imagine them sucking though as they lose it.

Well planted is fair. But you have to know how to drive in those types of conditions. And the wet races have plenty of wrecks that would not otherwise be wrecks. AND they are all professional drivers.

But, you are right. You can maximize your chances with the right car and the right tires.

[DarkneSS]

Originally Posted by PQ

Well planted is fair. But you have to know how to drive in those types of conditions. And the wet races have plenty of wrecks that would not otherwise be wrecks. AND they are all professional drivers.

But, you are right. You can maximize your chances with the right car and the right tires.

That is true they do still wreck! lol Could be because they are racing and not trying to just get down the highway haha.


Anyways I do see how he could spin out at 50 but from experience thats going to require too much power and bad tires. The car fulfills the power part but tires? He says its brand new....

Im thinking his was going faster than 50, probably more around 70. Id bet for no reason he was in 4th gear as well. Probably stomped the gas too much and broke loose, the spinning tires made conditions perfect for hydro planning and thats what happened.

If youre in 6th or even 5th at around 50 mph you arent really making enough power to spin.


Ah well I still feel bad for the guy that really sucks but Im sure he learned.

[Steve Dallas]

Originally Posted by blizzpat

Why would you drive 70mph in the rain? When you start putting to much trust in your car and your own driving skills... that is when disaster happens.

If that's referring to me, it happens all the time around here and is generally quite safe to do so on the highway (driving at 70 in rain). Most rain around here is pretty light.

When I talk about hydroplaning at 70, it's pretty rare for that to happen. It could be raining lightly and a Storm drain gets plugged up and the edge of one of the lanes gets some standing water. So you're tooling along safely and all of a sudden WHOOOOOOSSSSHHHH as the water fills the left (or right) side wheelwells. If this happens, you really can only ride it out. You don't slam on the brakes, you don't jerk the wheel to the left or right. You let off on the gas, of course.

Now, I'm also here in Seattle, and if it was the rainstorm OP was referring to, it was raining pretty hard. There was standing water from the sheer volume of rain. I was on the freeway that day, and traffic was moving at 5-10 mph. Didn't have to worry about exceeding road conditions where I was. But, I would have gone slow, perhaps 30-40 with no issues. 50-60? Probably not.

[Steve Dallas]

Originally Posted by PQ

But, you are right. You can maximize your chances with the right car and the right tires.

This, this...so much this!

I did notice OP said he had 2 years on his tires. I don't know how many miles. I replaced my P-Zeros at about 16000 miles...probably could have hung on to them for another 2-3k at the track with no problems, but I was buying a friends P-Zero's with a second set of wheels in addition to replacing my current tires with really nice all weather tires.

I can't say enough about the Continental Extreme DWS tires I got for both rain & snow. Very sure-footed in the rain and snow.

I'm going to be swapping them out for the P-Zeros soon, probably after my trip on May 7th over the mountains to Winthrop.

[FastEddie]

This may be hilarious coming from me, but seriously don't be a dick to this guy. He's had enough.

[blizzpat]

Originally Posted by DarkneSS

Well of course not perfectly but "well" planted, yes.

Driving fast in the rain has been done for a very long time, there are many professional races that take place in rain. You just have to known how to handle yourself, and of course have good rubber on the ground. My P Zeros have plenty of tread left, I could imagine them sucking though as they lose it.

Exactly.... keywords: professional and race. Races do not have other people mindlessly driving around. Drive fast in the rain, lose control, go head into someone at 70mph....

I see people driving upwards of 80mph here in Panama in pouring rain in little Toyota Sentras and Yaris.. I get the HELL out of the way and wait for the inevitable.... You would be amazed how many life threatening accidents occur here in the rain due to morons thinking they can drive as fast as they can and push their car to the limit with other people around.

[heRS]

Originally Posted by Shadowmind

Evening everyone...

I totalled my 2010 tonight. Not a happy camper as its one of the first VINs.

It was pouring cats and dogs this evening on the ride home. I was fighting the car at 50 mph to keep it in a straight line the whole way home, then BAM... Orange lights, Service Stabilitrak, and I go immediately into a fishtail through 4 lanes of traffic doing 3, 360s. I am extremely lucky to be alive... Im baffled how I managed to spin between a heavy load of traffic doing 50...

Now... I have always been affraid of this beast in rain. Its never, ever felt safe to drive in heavy rainpours, and tonight, I was sweating bullets the whole way home because I just felt something was going to happen. But I did not expect this...

So here's my questions for the group...

1) Do you all think GM will accept this is a manufature defect? Will be under warrenty? Will they replace the totaled car?
2) Should I just go through my insurance and have the two of them duke it out?
3) Has anyone else had issues with their stablitrak/traction control "not working" and making them fishtail all the time?
4) Tires... Yes I still had the Pirrelli's on the car from when I bought it 2 years ago. Is anyone else seeing an abnormal wear and tear on their tires after 2 years of normal driving?

Body hurts, head hurts, but sadly... my heart is broken... I really loved that car. :(

I'm sorry you wrecked your car, that blows big time. However... it's your fault, not GMs. You live in Seattle. It rains there a lot. You hydroplaned, and freaked, and crashed. You should have powered down a bit regardless of how fast "traffic" was moving. Overdriving the Conditions: lesson learned, bet you don't do that again!

[EMB135Driver]

I'm Glad the OP is ok, but I gotta say the chances of GM giving you a new car are 0.....what if you took your car out in a blizzard and totaled it...would you expect a new car becaus the Stabilitrak failed (and it doesn't sound like it did....sounds like it was being pushed to the max). Be thankful for insurance and your health, and move forward.

I can't read through this whole thread, but did anyone happen to catch if a Crazy Old Man was seen immediately before the accident?

[20Camaro11]

Originally Posted by EMB135Driver

I can't read through this whole thread, but did anyone happen to catch if a Crazy Old Man was seen immediately before the accident?

It was a little old lady on the way back from the grocery store!

[OUTATIME]

Besides the fact he asked for a new car from GM . . . why the hell are you bashing this guy?

He had a "Service Stabilitrack" message -> this means a system failed on his car. The system isn't designed to correct every mistake you make, but it will at least minimize the chances of you losing control.

Had it not failed, he COULD (not would) have made it home, while still struggling to keep the wheels straight. I think people need to lay off of him, and GM at least should look at his case of why it failed.

[1966goat]

I don't think we need to lay off. I think a lot of these guys on this forum need to learn how to drive cars without relying on technology. I drive my TA with the TCS off all the time in any weather. No problem. My friend and I drive our 400-500+ hp 66 & 71 muscle cars with none of these fancy systems in rain and have never had a problem.

[blizzpat]

Originally Posted by OUTATIME

Besides the fact he asked for a new car from GM . . . why the hell are you bashing this guy?

He had a "Service Stabilitrack" message -> this means a system failed on his car. The system isn't designed to correct every mistake you make, but it will at least minimize the chances of you losing control.

Had it not failed, he COULD (not would) have made it home, while still struggling to keep the wheels straight. I think people need to lay off of him, and GM at least should look at his case of why it failed.

Stabilitrak needs to have contact with the asphalt to work. When you hydroplane there is no contact. The guy was driving too fast for the conditions. Thank god he is okay and he did not kill anyone. People need to learn to drive and stop relying on technology for everything.

[Trevorw24]

Originally Posted by heRS

I'm sorry you wrecked your car, that blows big time. However... it's your fault, not GMs. You live in Seattle. It rains there a lot. You hydroplaned, and freaked, and crashed. You should have powered down a bit regardless of how fast "traffic" was moving. Overdriving the Conditions: lesson learned, bet you don't do that again!

You don't sound sorry, dang that's straight forward.

To the OP, sorry for your loss, I can't imagine the pain.