Back around '99 my wife and I were on a Florida interstate cruising along in a rental and we noticed the odor of something burning. The first thing I thought of was maybe an electrical problem with the van, then soon realized it was the smell of burning rubber. Luckily I had slowed down some while trying to figure out the cause.
We found the smell was from the tractor trailer rig I had been close to and on the left rear of, as it immediately exploded both left rear trailer tires on the forward axle. That thing looked like it left the ground when it exploded and then started swaying. I figured it had been running a flat that was catching on fire and the tire next to it gave up.
I zig-zagged all over to miss large flying chunks of tires.
It all probably happened in under 30 seconds.
In the summer of '05 we were traveling I-40 cross country and when we smelled the same thing again. I backed off and sure enough it happened to a truck in the distance ahead of us.
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