Question: what do to when hydroplaning?

[Thai]

Hey all,

Yesterday, while driving on the highway in light rain (huge shower in morning prior to my drive), my MDX hit a fairly large water puddle on road (at point of road dipping down). I can feel MDX starting to rotate slightly and hydroplaning. Fortunately (someone looking out for me from up there?), i did not panic. I had both hands on steering wheel and gripped it tighter. My dash light was flashing...i did not look down from road but i am sure that it was my stability control light going crazy. I can feel my car cutting power as stability control trying to help. As my MDX rotated slightly right, i firmly turned steering wheel in opposite to the same degree of car rotation. I can feel that my MDX was getting back under control as water splashed on both sides of my car! My MDX came under control a split second later...and i came away impress with my MDX. (It has SH-AWD.)

So, I have a question for you all...during this whole time, i kept my foot on the GAS pedal. As i regained control, i actually (stupidly?) pushed gas pedal harder ever so slightly. My RPM went up to 4000 at one point near the end of hydroplaning...but car still felt sluggish...so, i ASSUME that i was still slipping and that i was overpowering the stability control's de-throttling effort (since RPM went up).

The reason i did that (foot on gas pedal) was probably because of my years of off-roading and thus (stupidly?) i am so damn used to powering out of a mud-hole! Also, in the distant past when stability control first came out, IF you take your foot of gas pedal, stability control stops working. So, my thought process is to never let go of gas pedal and let the stability system do its thing and i do the steering to tell the system where the car needs to go. This is MY rationale.

In my situation, what would YOU do?

1. Same thing as me...keep pushing gas pedal.

2. Slam on brakes.

3. Take foot of gas pedal and cruise.

4. Slowly apply brakes.

BTW, this is a serious question...because i would like to know what to do next time...and rationale behind it.

Footnote: I think that modern cars, such as my MDX (i think), when you apply the brakes, stability control remains intact by braking the non-slipping wheel(s) to keep you pointing in the right direction...but i am "old-school" and not sure if that works...so, gas pedal happy i am.

 

[Antman]

Foot off all pedals and cruise.

Take all possible demands off the tires (braking/acceleration) and let them sort it out, lol.

 

[volkinator]

I know on older vehicles (no traction/stability control) the procedure is let off gas, don't hit brake, and coast it out. By gradually slowing down that way, you'll sink back through the water and regain contact with the ground. I'm not very familiar with how the systems interact on newer cars, but I'm pretty sure they rely on wheels being in contact with the ground in order to 'straighten' out the vehicle. So if you're suspended by water, the systems will try and fail to self righten. Follow up question, would it possibly be worse for the traction control to take over, what would happen if it's in the middle of stopping one tire to straighten out, and the car contacts the ground? I'm thinking that would have more negative effects. Or am I just over analyzing it? I like this question!

 

[RedSled]

I personally let off the gas, but keep my foot on the pedal to feather the gas if needed. If you hit the brakes hard, your gone, if you gas hard, your gone. Higher speed = more hydroplane.

 

[85straight]

Keep off gas and brake. Maintain steady and slow counter steering. Let the car and more importantly the tires do the work. Im fortunate to have training of sorts in this situation on a closed coarse with dry and wet surfaces

 

[mjohns2]

First time it ever happened to me, I slammed on the brakes and right before coming to a complete stop I tapped a highway patrol vehicle.

Second time, I took my foot off the gas and let it cruise. Eventually the wheels caught traction and I was able to keep going.


MJ

 

[1engineer]

Take foot off all pedals. Relax hands on steering wheel. Do not countersteer until you feel resistance in steering wheel. Why? In a full slide with no resistance you have no clue what angle your tires are at. Once you feel feedback in wheel then you can steer into the slide a bit. Last thing: If you tried everything and you know you are going to crash, at the last instant remove hands from wheel. This will help keep from breaking arm, hand, dislocating shoulder or other injury caused by wheel whipping around with your hand on it. Best position for hands at time of impact are beside your head.

 

[Thai]

Great responses!!!

 

[02SE]

Foot off all pedals and cruise.

Take all possible demands off the tires (braking/acceleration) and let them sort it out, lol.

This.

Beyond that I'd suggest taking some driving schools that teach proper driving technique under a variety of conditions, in vehicles that don't have all of the current safety-nannies operating.

All of the current handling safety-nannies exist because very few drivers know how to control a car, in low traction conditions.

Learn how to control a car that has no safety-nannies operating, under all conditions, and you'll be a better driver.

 

[philsey]

It's interesting how many posted exactly the same (correct) answer that [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] put up in post #2.

Further, you were driving too fast for conditions, and I'd suggest you check the tread depth on those tires.

 

[Thai]

It's interesting how many posted exactly the same (correct) answer that [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] put up in post #2.

Further, you were driving too fast for conditions, and I'd suggest you check the tread depth on those tires.

Yup, you are correct. I was definitely going faster than i should. Weather was clearing but definitely was my fault. Fortunately, it looks like the system bailed out an ignorant driver (me).

 

[BettysNephew]

Happened once in my Corvette (really wide tires but good tread). Shifted to neutral and did very deliberate steering inputs until it regained traction. Don't know if this was the best way but it worked for me.

 

[ridefast]

Foot off pedals while keeping alert.

I will say that ive been impressed with my michelin ltx ms2's on wet highways. A lot less hydroplaining than the wranglers that my 4runner came with.

 

[UnderFire]

I always let the tires sort themselves out by giving no input on the gas or brake, and feel out the steering to keep the wheels pointed straight, hydroplaning doesn't scare me at all since it's kind of a regular occurance around here.

 

[LandCruiser]

Stomp on gas, bite down on cigar, fire up Immigrant Song, execute perfect 180, jump out while truck is still spinning, walk over and piss in the puddle to show it who's boss.

 

[1engineer]

Stomp on gas, bite down on cigar, fire up Immigrant Song, execute perfect 180, jump out while truck is still spinning, walk over and piss in the puddle to show it who's boss.

Awwwwww-wah-awwwwwwwww-wai!

 

[TechWrench]

One thing not mentioned, so far, is the conditions which caused hydroplaning in first place. Conditions can dictate appropriate reaction to situation. The initial poster is talking about running from a normal wet road surface into a standing water puddle of short duration. If not for the puddle, he probably wouldn't have had a problem. Prior to hitting puddle, his road speed may have been Ok for just a wet road condition. The obvious reaction should have been, if you see the puddle in time, to slow down as quickly as possible before the puddle, but just before you hit the puddle, release brake and coast through it until you exit other side. The only issue would be if the puddle is in the middle of a curve. The hydroplaning effect would lessen ones ability to steer, and could force the vehicle to the outside of the curve before you exit the puddle. When the vehicle exits the puddle, if the wheels are turned too much, it could cause the vehicle to suddenly veer in the direction the wheels are turned as the front wheels regain traction.

If the entire road surface is covered with enough water to cause tires to lift, then, as others have said, releasing all pedals, and holding on until vehicle slows enough to regain traction is the best option. AS above, if the loss of traction occurs during a curve, the vehicle may drift to the outside of the turn, and trying to turn the wheels further to compensate, may result in a rapid turn and possible loss of control as the wheels regain traction. And again, if you realize the road surface is covered with enough water to possible cause the tires to lift, slowing down before it happens is the best preventive option.

Because of the many varied possibilities, ones reaction to each situation could be different. There is no one correct reaction for all situations.

 

[Brique]

Let go of all vehicle controls and sing "Jesus Take the Wheel."

Carrie laid out the instructions pretty clearly in that song. I don't understand all the confusion here.

 

[Natey]

The Scandinavian Flick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANlVlMnuhdI

 

[Thai]

So, from reading various sources on the net, it looks like my ignorance was fixed by the system (stability control). When a car loses traction or directional stability, the gas pedal becomes irrelevant in most cases because the stability system takes over. So, in essence, for a second there, the system made the gas pedal non-functional while it de-throttles me and braking the spinning/slipping wheel(s). Near the end, it did allow me to use the gas pedal (thus RPMs going up), but at that time it was allowing only the wheel(s) with traction (or some degree of traction relative to the others) to have power/torque going to it...and wheel(s) that would allow me to go in the direction of where the steering wheel is pointing.

I was very impress with the stability system +/- SH-AWD of my MDX. But i will continue to do more research and update this thread.