A coast, a plug … and fifty broken down cars in the same place

Last weekend was probably a pleasure for any of the vacationers who took the road. But a fortiori, even less for many motorists in the A75. A surreal scene took place in the Héraultin Pas-de-l’Escalette, about 70 km north of Montpellier. Widely disseminated on social networks, we see dozens of immobilized vehicles, one behind the other, on the aisle. On Tiktok, a driver even speaks of “Valley of the breakdown” to describe this line of open hood cars. Faced with the magnitude of the situation, four troubleshooting companies were called in emergency, including those which were no on penalty.

Contaminated fuel?

So quickly contaminated fuel rumors have circulatedit is not. According to France 3 Occitanie, it all started around 6:30 am with an electrical supply failure in the Pas-de-l’escalette tunnel. Traffic has been reduced to a track, quickly causing traffic jam in this 7 % slope portion. Result : Long minutes to move forward. And clutches that are put to the test. “The cars were all behind the other and the engines overheated,” said a convenience store.

The clutch on the front line

According to a mechanic interviewed, almost 90 % of the breakdowns observed that day were linked to burnt clutches. “In the climb, motorists went from the 1st to the 2nd of constantly”she summarizes. In total, fifty cars were towed. The incident was resolved in the early afternoon, but he probably left a bitter memory to many vacationers.

Let us still recall some principles of use to avoid using the clutch system prematurely: do not leave your left foot rests on the clutch pedal, do not “wax” the clutch with unnecessarily idle (we start and start, or wait). Obviously, it is sometimes easier to say than to do in a traffic jam, especially in a sloping place. Let’s also hope for all these motorists that the bill will not increase by an engine steering wheel which would also have taken lead in the wing.