Insurance company If said in a press release on Tuesday that every year it receives four to five cars with severe body damage due to wheels becoming loose due to traffic.
Car owners are now asked to remember to retighten wheel nuts or bolts every 10-30 kilometers after changing the car's wheel.
This also applies if the wheel is changed in a tire shop or hotel, even if the bolts are attached to the machines.
These accidents usually happen around the time people change tires from winter tires to summer tires – or vice versa. The reason is that slight vibrations cause the nuts to move if they are not tightened tightly enough.
– It is just a coincidence that people do not suffer serious injuries when the steering wheel comes off at high speed. If a car suddenly loses a wheel at 80-90 kilometers per hour, it is easy to imagine the consequences, says If communications director Sigmund Clements.
The number of drivers who suffer from loose wheel nuts on their car is higher than what is reported to insurance companies.
Fortunately, most people discover that there is a serious problem with the car before an accident occurs. The most common way to detect loose wheel nuts is to hear a strange sound while driving. In some cases, you may also feel that the car is a bit unstable and that there is “something” when you turn the steering wheel. After that, he says, it piles up.
That's why it's important to retighten the wheel with a wheel wrench when you drive the car a few miles after changing the wheel, the communications director stresses.
– Today, there are already cars that come without a wheel wrench or wheel hub, but it is very important that you buy them and keep the wheel hub in the car. Sigmund Clements says in his book If: The cost of a single-wheel crossover starts from a hundred and above.
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