RWD Worries

[stoopid]

my daughter had a 2022 stinger g1. She was going 50 in the light rain and it hydroplaned on the interstate into a wall!! Totaled her car!! Air bag came out bloody nose bruised arm. No other cars involved and no ticket! She did nothing wrong! She had heard of the hydroplaning from the sales person who said do not go over 50 if it’s raining and she didn’t! Thank you Jesus my girl is here Be safe and don’t drive on the rain period! They need to re-design this car because of that!

Glad she's okay. The car did not create this accident, so there's nothing to fix or recall. And there's a lot of questions that would need to be answered for me to accept this story as accurate based on some of those details.

I only post this to counter the "this car is dangerous, beware" sentiment. This car is owned and used daily by thousands of people in more adverse conditions than 50PMH highway light rain hydroplaning. If anything, this car excels at being pointed in a direction and maintaining that course. If your daughter has some dash cam footage and/or wouldn't mind some formal questioning I'd be happy to get the complete story for you.

 

[Snicklefritz]

No car going 50 mph will hydroplane unless it drives into a puddle. That isn't the fault of the car but might be the fault of the highway department. you can't see such puddles necessarily even after hitting them. but just rain in a road sheeting off will not cause hydroplaning.

 

[bfglitch]

A couple months ago I was driving in some pretty heavy rain at night, right side of the car hit some deeper water than the left which I didn't see. Speed limit was 55 and was probably doing right about that +-5mph. Had my PS4 summers on at the time and only had about 4k-5k miles on them. Didn't hydroplane but the car definitely tried to pull pretty hard to the right due to the deep water on that side and put up a big spray of water. I'm sure if I jerked the wheel or slammed on the brakes, things might have taken a fairly nasty turn for the worse.

That said, the car didn't handle any differently than my previous car (Scion xB) would have handled at that speed and in that situation with all season tires. I highly doubt the Stinger is any more dangerous in rainy conditions than any other car considering the car really has nothing to do with how easily it will hydroplane. Hydroplaning usually happens when several conditions are met. Driving through a puddle at speeds that your tires cannot channel the water out fast enough either because your tires are worn or bald or you're just going way too fast for the conditions. Also, as taught when you first learn how to drive, don't slam on your brakes or hit the gas while hydroplaning and avoid making any major moves with the steering wheel. I've driven through numerous fairly deep puddles of water at or near highway speeds and never once hydroplaned off the road.

 

[RM7]

Needs to be a significant depth of standing water and distance to break traction and lose control. You can and will lose control earlier in the wet, but that's basic exceeding of the tire grip, which happens at a lower limit in wet.

 

[Ks1965]

hydroplaned at 50mph in light rain with skinny stinger tires?

That doesn't really add up to me. I had 305 goodyear SC3s that would hydroplane pretty easily, but still not at 50mph or light rain. I'm not sure outside of racing slicks that's even possible, unless you hit a big and relatively deep standing water puddle/stream over the road. Glad you are ok.

 

[Ks1965]

Yes you shouldn’t think that is would happen but it did!

 

[vipeboy2000]

Yes you shouldn’t think that is would happen but it did!

Ouch, glad she is ok. The car did it's job protecting the occupant! I've definitely experienced a terrifying hydroplaning experience in our 525i wagon, hit a long stretch of water that was about an inch deep but couldn't tell it was that deep until you were in it in the evening next to a concrete barrier in atl, thankfully no one was around and after a few fishtails I was able to keep from spinning out or hitting the wall!


It might have been light rain but if the road wasn't draining properly or there was a burst of heavier rain right before, it doesn't take much to have enough water to float on..

About how many miles were on the stinger / awd rwd?

on the stinger front, it is by far one of the best cars i've had for resisting hydroplaning. However, i'll caveat that by saying it's most likely since it's got the skinniest front tire of any other car i've had.. My bmw's with 245 width front tires especially my 6 cylinder one that wasn't as heavy as the 540 would hydroplane easier. My best overall vehicle in resisting hydroplaning was my old suburban with skinny 235 tires.. I definitely noticed the decrease in speed/depth needed to hydroplane once i upgraded to 285's on it.
Depending on what she was driving before, any car with a staggered tire setup has a higher probability to hydroplane as well since the rear tires are wider than the "track" the front tires are making in the rain , wider tires in the back, less weight in the back = more boaty floaty on the water.. Another factor is, the car feels very stable so the driver doesn't realize that perhaps the water is as deep as it is until too late unlike on my old subaru, i felt like it is floating constantly so you were just forced to go slower.

 

[Snicklefritz]

more on this, it is mathematics which I stink at but I know the factors involved. the heavier the vehicle weight and the narrower the tires the higher speed required to reach hydroplane point in a given depth of water. stinger is a relatively heavy car and on square 225s it will be better in the wet as a heavier awd than a lighter rwd on staggered tires, the rear will break loose sooner than the front, which is what you want if your going to break loose at all, but all you can do then is counter steer with no throttle or brake and ride it out and hopefully not spin out. that this happened in a stinger has nothing to do with it.

 

[JSolo]

my daughter had a 2022 stinger g1. She was going 50 in the light rain and it hydroplaned on the interstate into a wall!! Totaled her car!! Air bag came out bloody nose bruised arm. No other cars involved and no ticket! She did nothing wrong! She had heard of the hydroplaning from the sales person who said do not go over 50 if it’s raining and she didn’t! Thank you Jesus my girl is here Be safe and don’t drive on the rain period! They need to re-design this car because of that!

Many years ago I wrecked my camaro in similar manner.

It had just stopped raining but the roads were still wet. I was coming off the highway and either hit a slick spot or my foot engaged the clutch a bit too abruptly. Next thing I know the car is rotating down the road (pivoting around the Y axis). A guard rail brought the car to rest. First the pass rear corner (maybe it was the driver side, don't remember) hit, then the pass front corner. Steering wheel bent into the shape of a potato chip. My injuries was a bump on the head - no airbags went off.

I blame this entirely on driver error and crappy goodyear rsa tires.

If the car had the crappy bridgestone re97-as02 I can understand. I got rid of those within a few weeks of buying my car. Have the gtline with the tires in the sig. Have driven through torrential downpours at highway speeds without issues.