Car Insurance

[powerdesal]

Surely that's why you have a warning triangle positioned some many yards upstream of your break down together with your own hazard warning lights. Agreed it's not quite the same but.........

[EuroTrash]

Well a google trawl of the French auto forums shows almost unanimous agreement that a motorist shouldn't ever change a wheel on the motorway, in fact some say you shouldn't even place the warning triangle as it's too dangerous to walk on the hardshoulder. Advice is to get yourself behind the barrier and stay there, apparently research has shown the average time a person survives outside of a car on motorways is 20 mins. Just about gives you time to change a wheel and set off again - but that's average.

The reader comments after this article are pretty much unanimous

http://www.midilibre.fr/2011/09/08/mort-fauche-sur-l-autoroute-par-un-camion,384061.php

"Il est rappelé, en cas d'incident ou de panne, qu'il faut impérativement se placer derrière la barrière de sécurité. Sachant que la durée de survie moyenne sur une bande d'arrêt d'urgence est de 20 minutes."

[AnOther]

[quote user="PaulT"]In the back of my car is a torque wrench so as to tighten the nuts correctly[/quote]It it makes you feel happy then fine but it's completely unnecessary.

The spec for every car is different but when was the last time you saw a tyre fitter look up the specific torque setting for your cars wheel nuts - never is when !

[quote user="EuroTrash"]the average time a person survives outside of a car on motorways is 20 mins.[/quote]What a ridiculous alleged 'statistic' but if it's even a minuscule fraction of the truth it's a shocking indictment of the average French driver.

[PaulT]

Er no Ernie, fastenings have torque settings for a reason hence, when I change wheels then I torque them correctly.

As for tyre fitters there are one or two independents who do use torque wrenches and not airguns. When I have new tyres fitted when I get home I always jack up the car, undo the nuts and then use the torque wrench so that they are tighten to what the manufacturer specifies..

[AnOther]

You may believe that Paul and if it makes you fell happy that's fine but if it is so important how do you explain the fact that none of my wheels has ever come undone or fallen off ?

I'm talking nearly 50 years of driving untold 100's of thousands of miles in many different cars and if wheel nut torque were as critical as they make out then surely in all that time and distance at least ONE wheel nut would have come loose don't you think ?

Manufacturers have to say something about wheel nut torque settings to prevent idiots from putting them on barely finger tight or wringing them off and the settings they quote will likely be the be the spec. for the particular thread size, pitch, and material regardless of the actual application.

[powerdesal]

PaulT,

May I suggest that you undo the nuts BEFORE jacking up the car, it tends to make life easier :-)

(ps. not a serious comment - Happy Easter )

[Chancer]

My pal who has worked on the autoroutes for Sanef for 20+ years must either be very lucky or only work one minute per year.

The second is a distinct possibility [:D]

French statistics eh! There is only one thing funnier than them, thats the 60 million Muppets who blindly believe them and anything a TV presenter, politician or other "expert" says with a voice of authority.

I can no longer have the TV on when I eat my meals because of the rubbish they spout so frequently, I was beginning to lose weight as most of the food was getting spat out [:P]