Car Flies Into Air After Hitting Runaway Tire On California Freeway [Video]
A vehicle went airborne after hitting a tire that popped off a pickup truck on a California freeway. The wild moment was captured by a Tesla dashcam.
The accident took place Thursday on the Ronald Reagan Freeway in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was filmed by the dashcam of a Tesla driver, who was driving behind the dark-colored Kia Soul before it got launched several feet off the roadway, KTLA reported.
The Tesla driver, Anoop Khatra, shared the video on Twitter and wrote, "Witnessed and recorded the most INSANE car crash yesterday, you can see Autopilot also swerve and avoid the rouge tire for me $TSLA."
The video has amassed more than 36 million views since it was shared on Friday.
The one-minute video shows the speeding Kia driving adjacent to a white pickup truck. Seconds later, the left-front tire of the pickup truck popped off and shot out in front of the Kia. The vehicle went airborne off the roadway as the tire struck the hatchback.
The car then flipped in the air before it landed on its roof. It went rolling multiple times before finally coming to a halt. The small car left a lot of debris across the freeway.
In the last few seconds of the video, the stray tire was seen rolling and striking the rear of the smashed vehicle.
Meanwhile, the pickup truck went rolling to the right shoulder of the freeway and eventually came to a halt.
"Been seeing a lot of comments about the truck fleeing but the pickup driver definitely stopped, and even came back running across the freeway to check on the Kia driver, they were very sincere and apologetic about everything," Khatra wrote.
Eyewitnesses said the driver was the only occupant in the crashed car. The person sustained minor injuries, California Highway Patrol told KABC.
"Surprisingly the driver of the Kia was actually able to walk away from this unharmed," Khatra added.
The identities of the drivers of both the pickup truck and Kia Soul remain unknown. Authorities believe the pickup truck's tire came loose due to sheared-off lug nuts.
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