Overturned HMMWV in NJ, stay safe folks

It looks like the front wheel popped off.

The geared hub is gone.

MV Overturns On New Jersey Turnpike...

MILITARY VEHICLE OVERTURNS ON NJ TURNPIKE IN SOUTH BRUNSWICK


Saw this on the TV news last night.

Thursday, April 14, 2016 11:25PM
SOUTH BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (WABC) --
Four Army Reserve soldiers were seriously injured Thursday when their Humvee overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike in South Brunswick.

The Humvee was part of a two vehicle caravan southbound. The other vehicle was not involved in the crash, and the servicemen in that vehicle pulled over to help.





A female soldier was most seriously hurt, she suffered an amputated leg.

Three other soldiers, all men, were trapped under the Humvee. The soldiers in the other vehicle, a pickup truck, jacked up the overturned Humvee to pull three of the soldiers out.

Here's a link to more of the story:

http://abc7ny.com/traffic/military-vehicle-overturns-on-nj-turnpike-in-south-brunswick/1291437/

Thoughts and prayers go out to the soldiers.

HMMWV Accident on NJ Turnpike - Again

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/04/1...vehicle-overturns-on-new-jersey-turnpike.html


Sad, but according to Fox the civilians did everything they could to get them out.

I don't see the wheel flange so preliminarily it looks like a spindle nut failure. Praying for the quick recovery of the Troops!

I retract my previous statement, this picture shows the entire geared hub missing.

swbradley1 said:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/04/1...vehicle-overturns-on-new-jersey-turnpike.html


Sad, but according to Fox the civilians did everything they could to get them out.

Click to expand...

I posted a similar thread at the same time as you posted this one. We must have been typing at the same time.

Maybe the mods can combine them.

Anyway... it's a sad story. Prayers out to all who were injured.

Video from chopper view:

https://youtu.be/lRii-y68Du4

More video footage from ABC 7 News:

https://youtu.be/10LX6Unz3JA

Another video post by ABC News:

https://youtu.be/bH3Y3LA7b0Y

I wish those soldiers all the best. I hope all the guys on here picking up those surplus HMMWVs pay close attention to this and not underestimated how inherently dangerous driving a HMMWV can be, especially at highway speeds. Godspeed to these soldiers and their recovery...

AZK9 said:

Maybe the mods can combine them.

Click to expand...

Done, you win.

Very sad. Hope they recover quickly.

HMMWV accident on NJ Turnpike

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/04/1...vehicle-overturns-on-new-jersey-turnpike.html

Looks like a wheel may have come off at speed. Prayers for their speedy recovery.

Please be careful out there, remember our MVs are not new trucks anymore, and some recent rebuilds have been suspect.

Is this a fluke mechanical failure or a maintenance deficiency? I'm just wondering why a military grade chassis would suffer a wheel/hub separation on pavement and if anyone else driving a humvee should park it until it goes through a mechanical autopsy. I don't own a Humvee, but I do drive my 5 ton once in a while, and I'm getting paranoid these things can fail at any moment. The fear is, if and when they fail, the damage they cause is cataclysmic. And I don't really know how to deal with this risk, short of not driving it or spending a ton of money on a mechanical inspection every 6 months.

Scary stuff.

Just looking at the lack of skid marks, it actually looks like this may be driver error (my estimate). From the photos and video that were made available, it looks like the HMMWV slid along the guardrail and before the driver was able to correct, the passenger side front tire caught one of the vertical uprights and the whole front hub was ripped off at the ball joints (the weakest part) - sending the wheel and hub down the embankment into the ditch):


The direction of the scrapes from the b-pillar, windshield, and driver's side of the vehicle on the road show the main direction of momentum of the vehicle, which tells me (admittedly an arm-chair accident reconstructionist at best) - the truck was travelling on the right shoulder, not in the right most lane of traffic. This supports the guardrail strike theory:


What is unfortunate is that it appears that once the weaker ball joints failed and the tire and hub separated from the suspension, the much stronger suspension wishbones caught the next vertical guardrail support and that seems to have caused the truck to spin 90 degrees to the right (from the occupant's view) - anyone who has seen crash videos can tell you the fastest way to get a 4x4 to roll is to get it moving sideways relative to its direction of travel. It looks like the HMMWV was using soft doors (not X-doors), and those don't have much if any structure when it keeps occupants contained in the protected space. I'm guessing that the unfortunate lady who lost her leg, had it flail out during the initial roll and the vehicle probably came down on her leg during the driver's side slide before it finally fell to its roof.

It pains me to think about her condition, and I hope she pulls through. My thoughts and prayers are with all of them, especially the lady reservist.

This is very sad. As a hmmwv owner I do my best to check everything before I take it out and when I return. I wonder if this is simply not enough. It makes me worry and would love to hear fellow hmmwv owners opinions. I would think the H1 would be just as susceptible to a wheel falling off as a hmmwv. Granted the H1 has some level of roll bar but I doubt it would have prevented much in an similar situation.