You are driving along that familiar bit of road you take to work or a drive to clear your mind. You suddenly notice the pothole which wasn’t there the last time you drove on this road. It’s too late, the only thing you can do is clench your derrière, bite your lips, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. And then WHAM! You stop immediately afterwards to assess the damage. If you are lucky, the pothole only contributed to a gut-wrenching sound effect, but it could have done any of the following:
- Caused a punctured tyre
- Caused a misaligned tyre
- Cracked the spring or broken the shock absorber
- Buckled or bent the wheel
- Damaged the alloy wheel
- Damaged the exhaust pipe or catalytic converter
- Caused a bulge on the tyre sidewall
- Broken the power steering system
- Caused the hubcap to fly off into the distance
The damage could cost you as little as a mild bout of panic or over Rs 1 lakh in just parts!
While the various expressways are devoid of this phenomenon, you will have to keep an eye out for the sudden emergence of a pothole on every other type of road in India. Apparently, this issue is a major problem for motorists in the UK too. Skoda UK recently published a press release claiming that a new feature of the Skoda Connect system can warn drivers of upcoming potholes and prevent damage.
All new Skoda cars sold in the UK are fitted with ‘Local Hazard Information Service’ which uses sensors in each car to judge the road condition. Using accelerometers, ABS data, and friction sensors (part of the traction control system), the system identifies when a car has been driven over a pothole, correlates it with GPS data, and then collates the information in a centralised system which can be accessed by other Skoda/Volkswagen Group cars. When a car approaches a mapped pothole, the infotainment system throws up a warning. The system is automatically updated, so the chances of errors or redundant data are low.
Sure, there could be roads in India which would bamboozle such a system considering there may be more potholes than actual patches of tarmac on it, but better safe than sorry, right? Owners of Skoda cars in India such as the Octavia and the Superb with respective ground clearances of 137mm and 156mm could benefit greatly from this system. And though other cars in the stable offer more than 180mm of ground clearance, potholes can damage the nice-looking alloy wheels that many of these cars are offered with. So, Skoda India, when will you introduce the ‘Local Hazard Information Service’ in India?
Photo of damaged wheel courtesy mikkelz on flickr