Driving through flood water is never a good idea. Flood waters can damage more than infrastructure and land, they can also do immense damage to your car. While driving in flood water is dangerous for your own safety and life, it is also dangerous for your vehicle.
Vehicle damage
Mechanical parts of your car can be easily damaged by water. Combustion systems can be destroyed, transmission lubrication can be spoiled, and electrical systems can be damaged. If flood water, or any water, reaches the lower levels of your doors, there’s a large chance your vehicle has been permanently damaged.
In the event of this happening, it’s important to contact your car insurer to deem whether the car can be serviced and saved or categorised as a write off. Saving and servicing a car damaged by flood waters can be very expensive. This service involves checking key safety components such as steering and breaks. All fluids will need to be drained and replaced, and all ventilation systems rid of debris. Spark plugs generally need to be removed to drain fluid, and transmissions must be checked. There is also a chance that your wheel bearings may be affected if they were in flood waters for a long time.
Salt flood water is even more damaging to a car. The presence of salt means that there is a high chance of rust. If your car passes through salt water, but not enough to reach lower levels of doors, it’s important to at least rinse it off. This will remove the salt from underneath your car before it can cause corrosion and damage.
Dangerous driving
Living in Australia, we have all heard the phrase “if it’s flooded, forget it”. However, every flood season, reports still fill our TV screen of people driving through flood waters and running into trouble. Sadly, flood waters still claim lives of motorists every year. But why are flood waters so dangerous to drive through?
The first reason is hidden debris. A lot of the time, flood waters are muddy and murky. This limits visibility and means there is a high chance of your vehicle hitting something hidden beneath the water. This low visibility also means that it can be difficult to ascertain how deep the flood waters are. Even shallow flood waters can pack a punch and sweep away a car in an instant.
Aquaplaning is another danger of flood waters. A car can aquaplane in as little as 0.3cm of water. This means that your car loses traction with the road due to the water. This loss of traction results in loss of steering control and fishtailing or drifting. If this can occur in only 0.3cm of water, you can image what deeper waters can do. Typically, a car will lose power within water deeper than 15cm. This is as water enters the exhaust and can even cause the car to float when waters reach 30cm. Losing power is dangerous in terms of control, but also for escaping the vehicle in the event of an emergency. Electronic windows and locking make a car stuck in flood waters almost impossible to escape. As the vehicle shuts off, so do these systems.
If you see flood waters, the safest option is to turn around and find another route. If there is no other route, try and change your plans or wait out the water. Flood waters are never worth driving in. If you find yourself stuck in flood waters, contact authorities or your State Emergency Service.
For post-flood car inspections or repairs, contact your nearest Auto Leaders location.
