Loss of Control Accidents


There is much debate over why so many loss of control accidents, with many varying opinions from experts and the public.

 But what if we take everything out of the equation but the car? The most common scenario involving loss of control is a vehicle traveling on an icy road and a front wheel coming into contact with a ridge of slush or hard snow and the vehicle starting to pivot out of control. We know the point at which the vehicle will start to pivot and that is when one front wheel has more traction than both rear wheels combined. 67% front weight to 33% rear weight.

    To understand how a vehicle will get to this point we need to understand that upon impact with the slush or snow weight is shifted to the front of the vehicle making the front of the vehicle heavier and the rear of the vehicle lighter. The calculation for weight shift is (G force, percentage weight of the car x height of centre of gravity) divided by the wheelbase. So a half G force on an average car is (50x20”) /110” =9% weight transfer.

    This means a 50/50 balanced vehicle with an encountered force of 50% of the weight of the vehicle (.5G) will transfer 9% of its weight with a resulting weight ratio of 50+9 / 50-9 or 59/41.

     So to reach 67/33 the following forces have to be present to destabilize vehicles with  the following weight ratios;

1. 50/50 --.95G              2. 55/45 --.70G

 3. 60/40 --.42G          4. 63/37 --.26G

5. 64/36 --.19G              6. 65/35 --.11G

7. 66/34 --.06G



This is a static calculation, not taking into effect wind or slope of the road surface and the fact that on a front wheel drive, a slowing force on one front wheel causes a speed up effect on the opposite wheel. So the force required to destabilize will be less than what is shown.

 How does this translate to accidents.  Here are the lists of vehicles put out by The Institute for Highway Safety , best and worst for 2014 and I have added in the weight ratios.

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