Arrive Alive

Dangers of Worn Shock Absorbers

Dangers of Worn Shock AbsorbersWhen last did you check them? Do you even know where they are on your vehicle and what they actually do? Don't feel bad, very few people know much about shock absorbers or dampers as they should be called as they dampen out the excessive spring movement. Without shocks, you would not be able to keep your car on the road and would spend a great deal of time pacifying carsick passengers.

A shock absorber's main function is to prevent excessive spring movement and in so doing keep the car's tyres in contact with the road enabling you to keep control of it. Because of this, it is a safety-critical item, but most people are not aware that it is.

Because shocks are generally unseen items and they wear down so slowly that drivers grow accustomed to the ride and amend their style of driving to compensate for it, shocks are not replaced when they should be and 1 in 4 cars on our roads are driven with worn shocks! Not only are worn shocks life-threatening, but they can also cause costly repairs and maintenance on your vehicles.

If you are running a vehicle that is doing fairly high mileage, not replacing worn shocks will cost you a lot more money by having to replace worn tyres that have only lasted 25 000km, or mountings, tie-rod ends and ball joints that have all been damaged by the excessive spring movement.

The Dangers

  • Poor Road Holding: Worn shocks are unable to keep the tyre in contact with the road or even out excessive spring movement and the car becomes more difficult to control on the road and a danger to the driver, passenger and other road users.
  • Worn Tyres: With the worn shock not being able to keep the tyre in contact with the road, it bounces on the road causing worn flat spots on the tyre which reduces the life of the tyre by a huge margin - expensive.
  • Poor Braking: When a car brakes with worn shocks the tyres tend to bounce causing the tyre to lose contact with the road and extending the stopping distance by an extra 2.6m from 80km/h in the dry! This could be the difference between hitting someone or not. ABS braking systems are even more affected.
  • Aquaplaning: Normally this happens when there is some water on the road and your car's tyres are worn, as you go over the film of water the tyre lifts off the road and you have a complete loss of control. The same thing can happen if you have worn shocks - Even if your tyres are in good condition!
  • Component Wear: Due to the extra movement of the suspension with worn shocks this causes other suspension and steering components to wear out quicker - expensive.
  • Headlight Dazzle: Your car will bounce more causing the headlights to blind oncoming traffic - dangerous.
  • Fatigue: With the long distances we have to travel in South Africa it's easy to tire on long journeys, this is made worse when your car's shocks are worn as you now have to concentrate more on keeping the car on the road (even if you are not aware that you are doing it), this tires you more easily - dangerous.

Travel safely, and have your shocks checked every 20,000 km.

Tyndall Shock Absorbers

Also View

Vehicle Suspension and Safety on the Road

Shock Absorbers and Safety on the Road

Shock Absorbers and Safe Driving

Wheel Balance, Wheel Alignment and Safe Driving

Loading...

Search Road Safety Articles

Latest Pages

Safely Driving and Operating Forklifts

Safely Driving and Operating Forklifts

In recent years we shared several incidents from emergency medical services where people were injured in incidents involving forklifts. These included road crashes, rollovers as well as accidents in the loading of these vehicles. Reports also included crush injuries to those operating the forklift

Read More

56 Fatalities in a Year - The Demise of Motorbike Delivery Riders

56 Fatalities in a Year - The Demise of Motorbike Delivery Riders

The rise of online shopping has led to the demise of delivery riders countrywide in South Africa. At what point will South Africans rise, have a conscience and say that the death of a human being is not worth the cost of an on-time delivery? When I was 9 years old, I climbed out of a wrecked car and

Read More

Safety on the Road to Sports Stadiums

Safety on the Road to Sports Stadiums

Introduction South Africa is experiencing a huge inflow of visitors to sports events. The country has been recognized as an excellent host nation for sports events, and international competitions in cricket, rugby and football are attracting many of these visitors. We have experienced amazing interest

Read More

License / Learner Applications

License / Learner Applications

This was a pass rate of 39.3%. * There had been 1.95 million applications for learners’ licenses of which 1.074 million had been issued or a pass rate of just more than 55%. Reasons for so many failures Asked why there was such a high failure rate and such a long waiting period for licenses,

Read More

Standard Operating Procedures for Arrest and Detention

Standard Operating Procedures for Arrest and Detention

Background Emanating from various consultative sessions which primarily aimed at reducing the number of incidence of civil claims through sustainable professional practice. Therefore, this necessitated Division: Visible Policing to develop a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for arrest and detention. A

Read More

Pedestrian safety from snakes and snake bites

Pedestrian safety from snakes and snake bites

Article & photos by Robert McKenzie, KZN Emergency Medical Services Media Liaison Officer INTRODUCTION South Africa has several endemic snake species. Just mentioning the word snake is enough to send cold chills down most people’s backs. Despite, most people having a phobia for snakes.

Read More

Load More Pages

Partners

View All