Flooded ford, where do we stand?

[Abaker Mk2]

Just had this pop up on my feed (Flooded ford) which got me thinking where do we stand with driving through a ford?
Well the manual shows the traction motor has an IP67 rating which is basically waterproof!
No need to fear them then but wouldn’t race through. I cannot speak for the other components in the car.

 

[Vipar]

I regularly drove my Mitsubushi outlander through the food at Aylesbury near Brands Hatch. It washed the grime off and suffered no problems

 

[m4rmite]

Where do we stand? In the shallow end.
I doubt your insurer would agree ploughing through 3 feet of water is good for anything other then a boat.

But it would be good to go through rufford ford, just to disappoint the crowd.

 

[N2STY]

It will probably cope better than some ice cars

 

[Alb]

Once I started watching I couldn't stop

 

[Kithmo]

From the manual:
Driving through Water
Avoid driving through floods after heavy rain, which may
lead to serious damage to the vehicle.

 

[Abaker Mk2]

From the manual:
Driving through Water
Avoid driving through floods after heavy rain, which may
lead to serious damage to the vehicle.

Thanks for that Kithmo, which page did you find that?

 

[N2STY]

Thanks for that Kithmo, which page did you find that?

166

 

[Proteus123]

Where do we stand? In the shallow end.
I doubt your insurer would agree ploughing through 3 feet of water is good for anything other then a boat.

But it would be good to go through rufford ford, just to disappoint the crowd.

Happy to film you trying, live nearby. Suggest you wear waders to keep your feet dry when you need to wade out of the ford unless you leave it till the summertime.

 

[m4rmite]

Happy to film you trying, live nearby. Suggest you wear waders to keep your feet dry when you need to wade out of the ford unless you leave it till the summertime.

Wife's car it is then

 

[awbugritt]

I regularly drove my Mitsubushi outlander through the food at Aylesbury near Brands Hatch. It washed the grime off and suffered no

I regularly drove my Mitsubushi outlander through the food at Aylesbury near Brands Hatch. It washed the grime off and suffered no problems

Was it mostly fruit then?

 

[Vipar]

Good spot. Food

 

[emmrecs]

@Abaker Mk2

Thanks for the link to the video!

What may not be apparent from it is that this ford is situated directly adjacent to a Country Park. Hence the (relatively) large number of fascinated onlookers; it's a rather well-known "local amusement"!

Just for the record; I have driven through it at times when there is almost NO water at all present. Which possibly accounts for the fact that quite a large number of drivers fail to realise the water can be a whole lot deeper than they think!

 

[Susanna]

What surprised me, on watching the videos, was that despite seeing vehicles up ahead in trouble, motorists continued to plough through! Why would you do that? Also, some of the drivers seemed to think that if they tried to speed through, they’d get away with it. Madness

 

[Robf]

I believe the correct way is to be just fast enough to keep a small bow wave at the front. In a geared car, 1st gear to keep pressures up (allegedly). In an electric car,...find another route (although given the seals it should be better, but I was brought up that water and electrics make poor bedfellows).

 

[awbugritt]

Boats=water.Cars=land. Simples

 

[Kithmo]

I believe the correct way is to be just fast enough to keep a small bow wave at the front. In a geared car, 1st gear to keep pressures up (allegedly). In an electric car,...find another route (although given the seals it should be better, but I was brought up that water and electrics make poor bedfellows).

I would avoid anything deeper than the tyre sidewalls, even in an ICE car.
Be aware, some ICE cars have air intake ducting that dips down before it comes up to the top of the engine bay, this dip has drain holes in the bottom where water can get sucked in if submerged.

 

[Alb]

As soon as you can no longer see the road surface there is a risk as you no longer know what you are actually driving over.

 

[Frogprints]

Just had this pop up on my feed (Flooded ford) which got me thinking where do we stand with driving through a ford?
Well the manual shows the traction motor has an IP67 rating which is basically waterproof!
No need to fear them then but wouldn’t race through. I cannot speak for the other components in the car.

A word of caution. I bought a written off Nissan E-nv200 van which had been driven through a flood, no problem with the water but there was a submerged invisible rock which punctured the battery case and caused the insurance write off. Happy ending for me, I bought it after the battery had dried out and was fitted into a new case, made a very nice, but short range campervan

 

[awbugritt]

With any flood, particularly a fast flowing one, it's remarkable how little depth is required to float/carry away the largest of vehicles.