Cars Spotted Dead on The Roadside

[walterjay]

Just came back from a 2,200 mile road trip. My wife and I decided to catalog all of the dead cars that we see on the roadside. Buzzing down the interstate if I could not correctly identify the model I simply list the make or style. Here is the list:

FORD:
Ford-1
Pickup-1
Taurus-3
Van-2
Crown Vic-1
Focus-2
Explorer-1
F-150-1
Edge-1
Total Ford Products: 13

TOYOTA
Camry-2
Corolla-2
Avalon-1
Highlander-1
Cars-3
Total Toyota products: 9

CHEVY
Pickups-2
Silverado 1500-1
S-10-2
Cruz-2
Tahoe-1
Total Chevy products: 8

NISSAN
Rogue-2
Altima-2
Sentra-1
Total Nissan products: 5

HONDA
Accord-3
CRV-1
Total Honda products: 4

HYUNDAI
Elantra-2
SantaFe-1
Total Hyundai products: 3

GMC PICKUPS
Pickups-2
Total GMC products: 2

DODGE PICKUPS
2500-1
1500-1
Total Dodge Pickup products: 2

KIA
Sportage-1
Soul-1
Total Kia Products: 2

VW
Passat-2
Total VW products: 2

BMW
BMW coupes-2
Total BMW products: 2

LEXUS
Lexus coops-2
Total Lexus products: 2

MAZDA
Mazda cars-2
Total Mazda products: 2

CADILLAC - 1

JEEP - 1

VOLVO WAGON - 1

MERCEDES COUPE - 1

MITSUBISHI - 1

MERCURY GRAND MARQUIS - 1

CHRYSLER SEBRING - 1

FIAT - 1

A total of 64 dead cars. There were four or five completely unidentifiable which are not included in the list. South Carolina had the most on the roadside.

 

[Passport1]

Misread this. Relieved it wasn't about roadkill.

 

[dishdude]

Looks like

Found
On
Road
Dead

lives up to it's acronym

Just kidding....plenty of reasons a vehicle ends up on the side of the road.

 

[macarose]

Phew!!!

No Daewoos. Their record of exceptional long-term reliability is still unblemished!

Do the WOO!!!

 

[Trav]

I have seen 2 dead Tesla on the side of the road in the last month and we don't have a lot of them around here, one was blocking traffic.

 

[brianl703]

This may just be the result of a state that just doesn't care about removing broken down cars from the Interstate in a timely manner.

When I drove to Chicago and back last year, I don't recall seeing any. That was a 1500 mile round trip. But most of it was on the PA/OH/IN tollroads, and I don't think they tolerate broken down vehicles left on the shoulder.

 

[walterjay]

I did not include cars with flat tires or people still in them. Just plain dead.

 

[dishdude]

I did not include cars with flat tires or people still in them. Just plain dead.

If the tire on the passenger side is flat it's tough to see when you're flying by at highway speeds. Could be out of gas as well.

 

[Oillover]

Phew!!!

No Daewoos. Their record of exceptional long-term reliability is still unblemished!

Do the WOO!!!

No DeLoreans or Lada's either!

 

[joekingcorvette]

No EV's hahaha.

 

[eljefino]

I remember a warm spring morning when on a four hour drive I saw six discrete Taurus/ Sables broken down. No other vehicle, just those two. Some venting steam.

Their cooling systems left something to be desired.

 

[Hermann]

I remember a warm spring morning when on a four hour drive I saw six discrete Taurus/ Sables broken down. No other vehicle, just those two. Some venting steam.

Their cooling systems left something to be desired.

I'll vouch for that. Had a very iffy performing cooling system on a 1994 Vulcan V-6. Stop leak worked pretty well. Leaked a pint a week, Not into the oil though, it was always down also. A real lemon at 77K. My last used vehicle. Went away in May of 2000 when the A/C failed. Thank God I was financially stable by that point in my life. No more other people's problems.

 

[walterjay]

I had a Sable. Blown head gasket leaking into engine.

 

[ecotourist]

This spring we took a 4,100 km (2560 miles) trip through western Canada. At least 70% was on 4 lane (or greater) highways, the rest was on 2 lanes.

Neither of us remembers seeing any dead cars. I suppose we could have missed one here or there but, even assuming you have a higher traffic volume, the difference seems quite remarkable.

 

[Malo83]

No Buicks.

 

[CR94]

Looks like

Found
On
Road
Dead

lives up to it's acronym
...

Tied by GM, though...
No Chrysler products except the Dodge (includes Ram?) pickups is strange.

 

[dishdude]

Tied by GM, though...
No Chrysler products except the Dodge (includes Ram?) pickups is strange.

If you add Lexus in with Toyota they tie GM...and two were S-10s...they haven't made those for 20 years!

Not at all surprised by the lack of Mopars, check my avatar

 

[SC Maintenance]

Thanks for sharing.

I see a lot of cars here on the side of the road missing a wheel. How do you loose a wheel? I am not talking about something sitting on a jack, but on the pavement without a wheel. Broken lugs, overtightened lugs, loose lugs? What?

The other day I say a guy with I think it was a old Accord up on a jack with the lugs off, but he was trying to pry the wheel off it looked like. Possibly seized onto the hub centric bearing - don't know?

Seems like South Carolina is plagued by wheel problems.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I wonder how many of them had simply run out of gas? I'm constantly seeing cars on the side of the road, and someone walking either to or from with a gas can in hand.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I remember back in the mid 80s, I always saw two types of cars broken down on the side of the road like clockwork. Olds Detla 88s (the old school huge ones) and Ford LTDs (the Fords were always burned to the ground).