Wheels of Fortuner: Toyota Fortuner stuck in mud: Rescue Mission

It is cool to drive-in with a big SUV, drive off track ahead of other cars and park it stylishly. But then such an attempt turned into a nightmare for the owners of this white Toyota Fortuner this afternoon, at MMSC (Madras Motor Sports Club) grounds.

As the Volkswagen Polo Cup race was getting a bit boring, spectators got interested in the action happening on the other side of the track. Majority of them turned and watched the rescue attempts of Toyota Fortuner, an ordeal that lasted for about an hour in total.

Apparently, when the owner of the SUV decided to go home, their massive full time four wheel drive beast just refused to budge. Proud of its 4 wheel drive, drivers were confident of its ability to rescue itself from what appeared to be a minor issue- a bit of watery mud around the wheels.

When initial few attempts didn’t yield any results and only resulted in sinking the wheels deeper, it was time to call for help. A few people, who were wearing Volkswagen T-shirts and looked authoritative, offered advise on which direction to steer and what to do. That, combined with manual pushing, didn’t move the car out. Another person- may be a VW official or an event management company person wearing event T-shirt, offered to try. His attempts too failed.

Watch the 5 minute video below, which serves as part 1

After above attempts, they started calling for help (to push the car). Many of the people around didn’t care to respond. Only one or two came forward. They made an attempt to find out driver of a truck that was parked nearby. He couldn’t be found.

Next they deflated the tyres a bit, by removing air. This was sensible part and a good move. Solid items like wooden planks and such stuff were pushed beneath the wheels, to provide it with firm grip… By this time, majority of the spectators who came to see Polo Cup race, had turned 180 degrees and were enjoying the off road event. As one Toyota eventually got out of the mud, another toyota got trapped in it nearby (watch last few seconds of below video for Toyota Qualis’s trapped wheels. May be the redbull can on top of it might help)

In a subsequent move, the person who was driving fortuner got into a Mitsubishi Pajero, drove it around the mud track and drove away (I felt he is trying to convince the spectators that he knows how to drive 4WD SUV, or may be he was friend of Fortuner guy)

Why did I prefer to make a video instead of helping them out? Well, I didn’ have any magic wand to get that beast out. Even I would have attempted same thing which they eventually did and got the car out. Later I went down and inspected the track. Below is the mark left by the wheels of Fortuner.

Peter Van Geit, founder of Chennai Trekkers Club often goes on off roading trips with his Fortuner. Do Check his albums for nice pics.

Here’re some tips from my experience and understanding, to get your vehicle out of tricky situations like this:

• Identify a direction and stick to it: Study the situation and identify if its better to drive in reverse or forward. Once you decide which direction is best, stick to it. Trying few minutes in reverse and another few minutes in forward direction will only push the car deeper
• If its not working in initial 2 minutes, don’t keep trying the same for 10 minutes. You’ll sink it deeper. As soon as you get a feeling that its trapped, go for supportive measures
• Reduce load- ask people to get down, remove heavy cargo if any
• Maintain momentum where possible. On longer paths, do sustain your speeds. Its easier to clear off a bad patch at high speeds.
• Provide good support to the wheels. That should do the trick.

PS: To the Toyota Engineer in Japan who might be watching this: Please please don’t commit suicide. There’s nothing wrong with the car you’ve designed and built.

Disclaimer: This post just shares observations made at a public place and is for information purposes only and doesn’t intent to make fun of any brand or individual

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