N4 Car bonnet blew off

elbyrneo

Was driving on N4 city centre direction near woodies DIY Lucan, at about 145pm today, near enough to 80kmph speed limit, in right overtaking lane, when wife panicked in passenger seat. I thought must be accident ahead but saw nothing initially until a car bonnet caught my eye, flying through the air.

My wife told me afterwards it came off the car directly in front of me and and went quite high in the air, but was caught in the wind and landed in the middle lane where fortunately there was a gap in traffic. Dread to think what might have happened had we hit it via windscreen (3 Kids in back). The driver cut across the 3 lanes and made it into the hard shoulder. I thought about stopping but i was sailing past by time I really realised what happened. I could see car safe in hard shoulder and the engine bay visible. The bonnet was in middle lane and cars were veering around it in my rear view mirror.

Wondering if the bonnet came off quick or could it have been obstructing view for a time. Guessing it was not closed properly and wind caught it, or faulty catch maybe??

Lucky it turned out ok.

bmwguy

Heard it happen once before to a friend of mine. It didn't fly off but lifted up obscuring his view completely, said it was scary but didn't have an accident. It was a faulty latch in his case. Can't remember the car type.

jimbis

I've seen plenty fly up and hit the windscreen but I've never seen one come clean off like you say. Must've been a scarey one for the driver.
I once done 2 laps of mondello with my bonnet 'popped' and only the safety catch holding it down, I was very lucky.

testarossa40

Never heard of N4 cars myself - Chinese?

coylemj

testarossa40 wrote: »

Never heard of N4 cars myself - Chinese?

Enfield Motors - they used to manufacture motor bikes under the brand Royal Enfield.

Del2005

testarossa40 wrote: »

Never heard of N4 cars myself - Chinese?

No Irish

http://m.n4cars.ie

bikemeath2017

Imaging u were on motor bike and that hit u by by world very lucky

pablo128

Probably a plastic bonnet. Metal ones normally don't detach from the car.

testarossa40

coylemj wrote: »

Enfield Motors - they used to manufacture motor bikes under the brand Royal Enfield.

Del2005 wrote: »

No Irish

http://m.n4cars.ie

Sheesh... What do I have to do to raise a laugh around here?

cml387

testarossa40 wrote: »

Sheesh... What do I have to do to raise a laugh around here?

A lot better than that.

pajo1981

testarossa40 wrote: »

Sheesh... What do I have to do to raise a laugh around here?

Be actually funny.

Seth Brundle

pablo128 wrote: »

Probably a plastic bonnet. Metal ones normally don't detach from the car.

99.9999999% of bonnets don't detach from a car!

iwillhtfu

Happened to me on a test drive.

Apparently the car battery was dead when I arrived so they arranged a jump start as I was waiting inside.

Anyway not long after, they pulled the car around and handed me the keys. Sales man in the back and off we go. Not even 200 metres down the road I spotted the hood flap a bit so pulled over and just as I was stopping up she came and shattered the windscreen and made ****e of bonnet/hinges/wipers/etc.

Sales man arranged for a pick up we just walked back to our car and left.

I got a call about 10 days later, all repairs have been completed and was I still interested? Took a pass

Before it's asked no I didn't notice as I got into the car it was parked in such a way that the doors were open and pointing out the exit.

cml387

I actually stopped opposite a car and wound down the window to point out that her bonnet was open. She looked a bit flustered and said thanks. Then I noticed a man sitting beside her with a clipboard. And we live on a known test route.

Obviously she was in the middle of her test ,having opened the bonnet before leaving to do the test part previously.

Oh dear. I hope she passed:o

Stallingrad

Saw it happen to a 2CV many moons ago, didn't think such a slow car with such curved bonnet could fold back on itself but there you go.

Four Phucs Ache

What car was it??

I passed a grey 3 series yesterday parked outside a house in monasterevin.


NO BONNET !!!!

pablo128

Four Phucs Ache wrote: »

What car was it??

I passed a grey 3 series yesterday parked outside a house in monasterevin.


NO BONNET !!!!

I drove a Fiesta with no bonnet past a speed check on the North road in Finglas, with 3 motorcycle gardai standing staring at me. They never came after me either. I had picked the car up in a premises about 500m before them, and only twigged there was no bonnet when I saw the washer jet hose flapping in the wind.

This was after I passed the gardai!:pac:

tc20

I had the bonnet lift on a Mini I was driving on the M50 a couple of years ago. Thankfully I was only doing about 50mph, and it didn't completely shear off, but it certainly gave the ticker some good bpm.

Truckermal

The sunroof blew of my 405 once and flew really high before smashing to pieces!

Nekarsulm

Possibly a modified car enthusiast, who had took off the hinges and fitted bonnet pins, to give it that "pit lane" race car look.

Worked with a guy about a decade ago who had a late 90s almera that had popped it's bonnet, it didn't come off though, did plenty visual damage.

IIRC a renault 4 bonnet was designed to stay closed by airflow alone should the catch fail, which it frequently did.

Cars have essentially two devices to keep the bonnet down so it's really strange to think of both failing.

Phenoxan

Got my car NCT'd a few weeks ago in Portlaoise. I sit quite low in my car and it has a high enough dash (Vectra) so I cannot see the bonnet usually. I was doing 120 down the motorway when i caught sight of my bonnet bouncing up and down in the wind. I stopped on the hard shoulder and the bonnet was not properly closed, it was only on the latch. Scary stuff.

Was my own fault for not checking it before I drove off.

eringobragh

Was it this lad by chance :pac:

Communicationb wrote: »

Well an update....

Had the thermostat and housing replaced 2 months ago and driving away happy out. Actually moved house the following week and was able to walk to work. Barely drove since...

On Friday noticed the temp gauge was creeping up again but staying at 3/4 level provided I kept the speed around 40mph. This was about 5 miles from home. Got home and decided not to drive for the rest of the weekend and take it straight to the garage this morning. Changed the oil, air filter and fuel filter on Saturday..nothing to do with temp. had planned it anyway,

Had to drive to a buddies last night and the temp gauge shot through the roof a mile from home (10.30 pm and pissing down rain)...I then decided to drive with bonet open but resting on lid to cool engine..(which actually stabilised the temp)..what a stupid thing to do...:(...after 30 seconds the bonet shot back against the windscreen and warped the hinges and a small crack on the screen. I shut the bonet and now it cant be opened...

Took it to garage this morning...mechanic said more than likely that the head gasket is gone. I guess it is the incident from January coming back to bite me. Looking at €1000 to €1200 to repair and the car cost me €980.00...:(..plus there is a brand new battery, new oil filter, air filter, and fuel filter just installed...

Am so ****ing depressed this morning....:(:(...but learning loads about car engines.

dieselbug

Augeo wrote: »

Worked with a guy about a decade ago who had a late 90s almera that had popped it's bonnet, it didn't come off though, did plenty visual damage.

IIRC a renault 4 bonnet was designed to stay closed by airflow alone should the catch fail, which it frequently did.





A Renault 4 bonnet closed towards the windscreen, like a Kangoo, so the hinged side would have to fail for it to pop up.