Does having AWD make a tire blowout at high speed any safer?
In 30 years of driving I have experienced my first tire blowout at high speed. It happened last month while driving in the left lane of a crowded California freeway, at around 70 mph. The vehicle was a FWD Chevy Corcsica. Tires were Bridgestones, almost new.
Just before it happened I stopped to refuel at a gas station and upon leaving I noticed a strange but barely audible click coming from the front wheel-well. I stopped to investigate but found nothing, so decided to proceed. The sound seemed to have gone away but within minutes after re-accelerating to highway speed my front left tire blew-out badly. It must have been a nail or something similar stuck in the tire and making a strange noise. Once it got logded deeper into the rubber it became silent (?).
The whole experience was scary but the car went straight and I never lost control of it. The last few moments before I came to a full stop were extremely unpleasant and dangerous as the partially separated tire somehow managed to get stuck perpendicularly on the tire rim. This caused the whole vehicle to start bouncing violently before it stopped. Apart from the destroyed tire rim and my shaken nerves there was no damage.
I was very lucky. First, not to have panicked, not to have slammed on the brakes etc., and second not to have someone accidentally hit me from behind.
M.J.