Mahindra Thar Nearly Swept Away While Crossing A River (Video)
Videos of rugged SUVs attempting risky stunts like water-crossing and climbing atop boulders often gather massive viewership online. Some drivers, however, go overboard and push their vehicles beyond safe levels, eventually ending up in mishaps or close calls. A video that has surfaced on YouTube shows a miraculous save after a Mahindra Thar attempted an insanely dangerous ( equally dumb) river-crossing.
The video opens by showing the turbulent river. It isn’t too wide but seems quite deep. Strong currents can be seen in it. The Thar is seen entering the stream rather aggressively. In another second or so, its wheels plunge into the water column. It looks like the driver wasn’t expecting the stream to be so deep.
As it continued to wade further, the height of the water column increased. The strong currents further made the wheels lose traction. Soon, the Thar almost started to float away.
This was in fact, a very dangerous point. Anything could have happened to the vehicle and its occupant then. The vehicle struggled, but continued to move forward, taking an angular path. The wheels have some amount of traction, as it doesn’t completely float away.
Somehow, the Thar manages to make it to the other side. But the videos clearly shows water levels reaching above its bonnet at some point in time. The strong currents will have made water enter its engine bay as well.
The engine, though did not stall during the river crossing, should have sucked water in. This would likely cause major issues in the future. As can be seen in the video, this Thar doesn’t have a snorkel.
First, the driver here was quite gutsy to have attempted this crossing. The act was also reckless and beyond the vehicle's capabilities. More than skill, it is sheer luck that he made it to the other side, unhurt. If the currents were slightly stronger, the SUV would have floated away, leading to a major mishap.
Before attempting water fording, it is critical to have a proper idea of the water body and its depth and the actual capabilities- wading depth in particular- of your vehicle.
The wading depth is the maximum height of the water body that a vehicle can safely pass through without damaging its powertrain components or electrical systems. The 3-door Thar featured in this video has a water wading capacity of 650mm.
To make you understand better, the water level should never reach above the grille. The air intake mechanism for engine-breathing sits behind the front grille. This consists of an air filter box and a rectangular opening connected to it.
This sucks in air, filters it, and passes it into the engine, which needs it for effective combustion. If the water reaches above it, or if it lashes against it, the chances of water entering the engine become extremely high.
If this happens, things can get really messy. It will then compromise the combustion process and eventually lead to the engine getting stalled. The pistons may seize, bringing about a condition called ‘Hydrostatic Lock’. Water, especially polluted water, can also damage a vehicle’s electrical systems and even lead to corrosion of components in the long run.
In this case, the currents in the water body posed more risk than the depth. The weather in general was hostile. It isn’t advisable to do waterfording in a turbulent stream. The buoyant forces and those exerted by the current can easily make the vehicle lose traction and float away. A recovery could then be extremely difficult, if not impossible.