1997 Cadillac Seville SLS from North America - Comments

I want to report an incident that I had not heard anything about until after my accident.

On July 1, 2007, I had a hydroplane accident. That is to say it was raining heavily and I ran upon a layer of water, which caused my 97 Seville SLS to spin out. The vehicle crossed into the oncoming lane and and spun out.

I realized I could not control it and put my head down and closed my eyes. I wanted to protect my neck so I closed my eyes and yelled "In the Name of Jesus!" When the car came to a stop, I was in the ditch on my original side of the road and had torn down the fence to someone's pasture.

I realized I had escaped what could have be instant death, several ways. I missed all oncoming traffic. I missed the drain pipe and passed over the top and off to the side of it. I missed a metal fence and hit the barbed wire fence instead. And finally I stopped several feet prior to the telephone pole.

When I was looking to purchase a replacement car, as it was totalled, (http://www.intellichoice.com/) I found a note that the 96 and 97 Seville SLS had a design flaw which made driving on slippery and wet surfaces a problem. and that the problem was being corrected in the 1998 models. I don't know how Intellichoice found out, but I would think if they know, the manufacturer knows.

Hydro-planing is not a defect of your car it is a defect of your driving. You must have been driving too fast in the conditions. You should never drive at any rate of speed through a large puddle as you can hydro-plane as you now well know. This can happen with any car, not just a Seville. A smaller, lighter car would be even more susceptible.

The first reply is correct, any car can hydroplane under conditions of driving too fast through standing water or heavy rain. It also depends on the depth of tread on your tires, which is up to you to check. Don't people recall the biggest rule for driving, which is "Reduce speed in adverse driving conditions." Sorry, but your spin-out was your own fault. You should be thankful that you didn't kill anybody in oncoming traffic due to your own negligence.

If the police had been on the scene, they would have cited you for "Driving too fast for conditions." If anyone had been injured, you would have been at fault.