Flat Tire Issue/Concern - Spare Tire Installation

[securityguy]

So...I just got off the phone with the Ford Hybrid Customer Service Team inquiring about the "donut". What they shared was the following:

 

1. Do NOT recommend the installation of a donut in the Fusion Hybrid

2. Not about weight or mileage but is a SAFETY issue

3. In a rear-end collision the donut could become dislodged or repositioned due to body damage and can cause severe damage to the trunk mounted battery pack

4. Places all vehicles occupants at a much higher risk of injury

 

I, for one, fully comprehend the reason that many of you are going the donut route. For me, personally, vehicle SAFETY is my main priority so I am buying an 18oz bottle of SLIME that has no adverse effect on the TPMS sensor and will effectively seal the tire for several hundred miles of operation. Seems to be the most logical choice IMPO. Not telling anyone what to do with their cars but ensuring that you are all well educated on why there is no donut and the ramifications to installing one.

[murphy]

It seems to me there would be the same risk with a couple of hard shell suitcases in the trunk.

[securityguy]

I believe that a tire mounted to a steel wheel would be far more intrusive but I get your point...I just don't agree unless the suitcases are loaded with bricks or heavy steel.

[murphy]

How about my steel Craftsman toolbox loaded with tempered steel tools?

 

The car was not crash tested with a spare in the wheel well. There is no way they would ever approve something they did not test.

It's much easier to just say "don't do it".

[securityguy]

Good point...and don't disagree but, for me, not going to take that risk. SLIME it is.

[md13ffhguy]

This point has been brought up before. Personally, I'm not that afraid of a flat. If it happens, it happens. Also, I don't think a new TPMS sensor is too expensive. I'm fine with the Ford solution.

[securityguy]

Me either...interestingly enough I have had one flat my entire life and that was over 25 years ago. Watch me get one driving to work tomorrow :headspin:

[mwr]

Soon after I got my spare, I got a split/cut in the sidewall and had to use the spare. No :"slime" or whatever would have worked. No way I'm going without a spare.

[md13ffhguy]

Many years ago, I was driving on an old, narrow road near my home, and there was a tree stump right up against my side of the road. There was no shoulder at all. It was not cut even with the ground, but rather about two inches above the height of the road. Of course, another car was coming in the opposite direction as I passed, so I squeezed close to my side of the road. I was probably going no more than 30, when suddenly, Bam, Bam!

 

I didn't know what I had hit, but I immediately stopped, and heard the end of a loud hiss, as the last amount of remaining air left both of my passenger side tires. I had pinched the sidewalls between that stump and my rims, and destroyed both tires! Needless to say, I didn't have two spares, so that was a bummer of a day! Worst part was the tires were expensive, low profile type, and only had a few thousand miles on them...

[Waldo]

How about my steel Craftsman toolbox loaded with tempered steel tools?

 

The car was not crash tested with a spare in the wheel well. There is no way they would ever approve something they did not test.

It's much easier to just say "don't do it".

 

Of course it was tested with the spare, Ford and everyone else runs all their crash simulations on the computer simulators first and they certainly would run all kinds of conditions with and without the spare. They also test with luggage and other items in the trunk; there are very specific requirements that must be met in regards to how much load from luggage the rear seats must be able to handle.

 

But in the FFH, the luggage and the spare tire do not present the same load cases. The luggage slides across the top of the floor and into the HVB. But the spare gets pushed directly in the vertical wall of the tire tub. Since this wall is the same metal as the floor, pushing this wall forward pushes the floor forward. That floor is what the HVB attaches to, so in essence the spare tire could pull the floor right out from underneath the HVB. Your luggage isn't going to do that.

 

That being said, I still have the donut in mine, because with only 200 miles on my FFH I blew out a tire and wheel that no amount of slime would have fixed.

[Cobra348]

 

... <edit out> ... That being said, I still have the donut in mine, because with only 200 miles on my FFH I blew out a tire and wheel that no amount of slime would have fixed.

Within the last 4 years both my son and I have had sidewall or bead/rim leaks that slime/goo/fix-a-flt could not fix. Mounting the donut that came in the car, got us to the shop for replacements quite nicely. Construction areas (active or recently finished) can have debris that kicks up and slices the sidewall. Last year alone I drove through several of these areas on I-81, I-77 and I-26 simply going from NY to FL.

 

I am willing to take the risk and have a donut in the car. Oh, and to whomever stated sensors aren't that expensive ... $66 for a Fiesta replacement (installed - $50 or so for the part). Go check Ford Parts catalog and see what they are ... Fiestas are about $95-98 for valve, cap and sensor the last I looked.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Cobra348