When a tire suddenly loses air pressure the vehicle will veer in what direction?

Answer 1

It depends. For example, if the right-front tire were to do this, the vehicle will want to veer to the right because of the increased drag on that corner. Conversely, if the BRAKE is applied after deflation occurs then the vehicle will veer to the left because the left- front tire will now have more drag (on the road surface) than the deflated right-front. In the rear the effect is not as severe because the two front tires have quite a bit of grip and it's hard for a deflated rear to create enough drag for the vehicle to veer dramatically. What DOES happen in the rear though can be disastrous. Let's say the left rear were to collapse suddenly. Most drivers aren't prepared for this situation (sudden, slight pull to the left and overwhelming fear of an accident) and over-correct to the right. The collapse of the left rear redistributes the vehicle's weight on the remaining three tires. Most of the weight now resides on the left-front and right-rear tires. This causes the vehicle bite HARD when steered right due to the increased traction at the left-front tire. Often this causes the vehicle to "trip" itself. This means it steers so hard to the right that the vehicles momentum forward actually "trips" it over the left-front tire as well as the left rear which, by now, will usually be digging its wheel edge into the road since the flattened tire has most-likely been pushed off the wheel. Hope this helps and wasn't too much of a ramble:)