Tips to help you drive safely through flooded roads

The following tips will help you drive safely when forced to go through flooded streets or roads.

The rainy season has come and having to drive through flooded roads is something that many people living in big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, etc. are quite familiar with.

In these cases, for high-chassis vehicles (SUVs, pickup trucks) it is not too worrying, but for low-chassis vehicles (sedans, hatchbacks) this is quite dangerous. Because there are many cases of vehicles being seriously damaged because the driver tried to cross flooded roads.

In cases of flooding more than 25cm, you should not try to drive through.

Therefore, car technical experts always advise you to avoid flooded streets if possible. If you have to go through, make sure the water level is safe enough for your car.

Experts also advise that you should only go through flooded areas no more than 25 cm (not exceeding the center of the wheel) because this is the water level considered safe for car models. Otherwise, wait for the water to recede and do not "recklessly" rush through.

If the water level is safe, stay calm when driving through flooded roads. Keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front because it helps you observe the front and easily handle situations that arise to avoid unnecessary collisions.

In addition, when going through flooded roads, you should keep the throttle steady and choose a low gear. If it is a manual transmission, you should use gears 1-2. As for automatic or semi-automatic transmission, you should shift to D1 or switch to manual mode and use gears 1-2.

In case your car suddenly stops in a flooded area, stay calm, do not restart it, but call for help.

In particular, you should not accelerate and then drive when going through flooded roads. Because that will be very dangerous, accelerating in flooded roads will cause water to overflow the radiator grille, pour into the air intake, causing the engine to stall or worse, water hammer. In addition, when suddenly accelerating, the engine speed will increase, if water gets in, it will cause the water hammer phenomenon to be stronger, leading to a bent connecting rod, possibly breaking the connecting rod and destroying the engine.

At the same time, when going through a flooded road, you should also pay attention to vehicles going in the same or opposite direction because it can create waves, causing water to rise and flood into the air intake, into the engine air filter and cause hydrostatic shock...

In addition, when driving through flooded areas, you should turn off all unnecessary auxiliary equipment such as: air conditioning system, sound system... to reduce the load on the engine.

In case your car suddenly stops in the middle of a flooded area, stay calm, do not restart it but call for help. Trying to restart it in this situation can cause more damage to your car.

You should also note that if the water level outside the car is higher than the car door step, you should not open the door. Otherwise, when you open the door, water will flood into the car, causing damage to the electrical system, equipment and car floor…/.

According to VOV