Runaway Truck Wheel Sends Kia Soul Flying off the Highway

Poor soul. Screenshot: @Anoop_Khatra (Twitter)

There’s nothing that makes you appreciate the advances in car safety tech like a horrifying crash that everyone walks away from. Case in point: this shocking incident that saw a Kia Soul flip into the air and roll onto its roof, all because of a rogue truck wheel.

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First reported by Motor1, the crash occurred on Friday along a stretch of the 118 Freeway near Los Angeles, California. In the incident, a black Kia Soul was preparing to pass a white Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.

Just as the Kia was lining up for the pass, the front left wheel on the Chevy came loose. The Kia then hit the wheel and was launched into the air. In a video of the crash, which was recorded on the cameras on a following Tesla, the car flies well above the roofline of the passing Chevy, meaning it made it at least six feet into the air — probably much more as the truck in the video appears to be lifted.

After reaching that altitude, the car then flips onto its hood, before bouncing back onto its now crumpled wheels.

The Kia then grinds to a halt, before the runaway wheel that caused the incident comes barreling back into frame and strikes the car once again. The truck, meanwhile, gradually slows to a halt on the side of the road. All this happens in a matter of seconds.

The whole crash was captured and shared to Twitter by user @Anoop_Khatra. After sharing the footage, they revealed that “Surprisingly, the driver of the Kia was actually able to walk away from this unharmed.”

Despite that reassuring revelation, there are few details on how the whole thing happened in the first place. It definitely looks like an aftermarket modification, and some Twitter users have suggested that it was probably a wheel spacer or lug nut that failed and set the truck’s wheel free.