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by RosieGHM Jetpacker on May 10th, 2007

RosieGHM Jetpacker

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When your car starts to fishtail and go into a spin, exactly what steps should you take and in what sequence to regain control of the car to prevent rollovers?

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Answers. 5 helpful answers below.

  • by geek860 on May 10th, 2007

    geek860

    I'll respond to your comment first - do NOT turn off the ignition when you are starting to fishtail. Most cars nowadays have power steering and power brakes. When you turn off the car you lose the boost that these systems provide, making it harder to control the vehicle.

    I've only been in this situation once but it was on ice so I don't think it could've happened on a worse surface. First, don't panic. When you panic you make stupid, irrational decisions. Turn into the direction the car is sliding, but don't overcompensate - and ease off the steering as the tail end starts returning to the back of the vehicle. Remember to take your foot off the gas, since if you keep pressing it most likely the tires will spin, leading to even less traction. Apply light, steady pressure to the brakes. (If you have ABS, however, you can put the pedal to the floor.)

    As the tail end starts to recover (hopefully) ease off the steering and start steering straight again. If you keep steering hard, the tail will simply slide out the other way and you will have accomplished nothing. It's also how lots of these situations lead to crashes. When you recover, pull over, put the car in park, and give yourself a few minutes to collect your thoughts. Don't continue until you feel safe to do so.

    Another note to you: Rollovers are actually pretty hard to achieve. The vehicle needs to have a high centre of gravity (usually) and have a sudden decelleration at the lowest point of the vehicle. Inertia then carries the higher parts over, rolling it. An example would be a tahoe sliding into a curb at 30mph. The curb stops the tires, the body of the truck wants to keep going (inertia) and therefore the truck flips. So, this shouldn't be the first thing on your mind unless you are in an area (and going at a speed) where the vehicle could do such a thing.

    Hope this helps,
    Good luck

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  • by 8 Jan 2004-10 Dec 2009 on May 10th, 2007

    8 Jan 2004-10 Dec 2009

    First off, most cars are too low to roll over unless you jerk the wheel suddenly. Even most SUVs require a certain degree of ham-handedness to flip. But do NOT make any sudden movements. Stomping a pedal or jerking the wheel will hurt. That is what I mean by "ham-handedness".

    Every time my tail goes out on me (usually intentionally), I point the front wheels where I want to go and feather the gas pedal to control my rotation. Letting off the gas usually makes the drivewheels slow down, and on a FWD car that will get you killed though a RWD one will actually straighten out some... unless you slow down enough to break traction completely.Hence the feathering instead of letting off. The first time I let off completely was in a FWD and the only thing that kept the rear end behind me was freakish reflexes and dumb luck. The second time was in an RT4WD (freakish thing) and ended with me at a dead stop on the yellow line perpendicular to the road.

    Gentle counter-steer is the key. Just point the front tires down the road and try to either maintain speed or GENTLY decelerate. Whatever the car does, adjust to keep the tires pointed in the right direction.

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  • by Chosun One on May 10th, 2007

    Chosun One

    Turn towards the spin and do not brake hard.

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  • by Nelson L. Squeeko on May 10th, 2007

    Nelson L. Squeeko

    Turn into the spin, but finding the correct amount without over-compensating can be tricky. When I last lost control on ice, I over-compensated, reversed direction of skid, over-compensated again and put the car backwards, almost fully into the ditch. Would have been able to drive out if my tires weren't spinning in the snow.
    I guess I never will know if I really did over-compensate or I was "doomed" no matter what I did once my car started going sideways. Hard to tell with ice and balding all-season tires.

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  • by Tewpawn on February 15th, 2009

    Tewpawn

    Hey. That answer is great. but i have another method that works great for me.

    I have a ute and i love going bush bashing.... (doing what I dont do on roads) And usually that involves fishys ect.

    (BTw my car doesnt have ABS)

    When the fishy starts to get too big, what i usually do is tap the throttle when it gets to the peak of the swing, while having the wheel turning in the opposite direction. Like Nelson said, Dont over compensate.

    The worst thing to do (that i found out) Is put on the brakes (Remembering that i have no abs). The nest worse thing is panicing. That came with the brakes... and my god, it was scary. HAHA

    Anyways. I hope this has helped a little bit :)

    Ben

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