If a tire blows out you should…?
- Apply heavy braking
- Keep your foot on the brake and steer to the left
- Keep your foot on brake and steer to the right
- Take your foot off the gas pedal and steer the vehicle firmly in the direction you want to go ✓
Answer: D. Take your foot off the gas pedal and steer the vehicle firmly in the direction you want to go
Take your foot off the gas pedal and steer firmly in the direction you want the vehicle to go.
Why this is the answer
On a blowout, the handbook's first concern is keeping control. It says to hold the wheel firmly, avoid sudden braking because that can cost you steering control, and ease off the accelerator so the car slows gradually. Only after the car has slowed should you brake gently. It also says to steer where you want the vehicle to go. Taking your foot off the gas and steering firmly fits those steps; heavy or held braking does not, and the passages do not support steering left or right by default.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Apply heavy braking — Heavy braking goes against the handbook's warning not to brake suddenly, because it can make you lose steering control.
- B. Keep your foot on the brake and steer to the left — Keeping your foot on the brake and steering left ignores the instruction to ease off the accelerator and steer in the direction you want to go; nothing in the passage says to steer left.
- C. Keep your foot on brake and steer to the right — Keeping your foot on the brake and steering right also goes against easing off the accelerator, and the handbook does not say to steer right as a blowout response.
Remember it
If a tire blows, think: grip the wheel, ease off the gas, then steer where you want to go.