Shocking moment car launched into the air after being hit by stray tyre caught on dashcam

'The most insane crash'

A car was launched several feet into the air on a motorway after a tyre came loose and rolled under it.

The terrifying scene was caught on a Tesla's dashcam on Thursday and has been viewed millions of times since being posted on social media.

The footage shows the exact moment the Kia Soul was sent flying on a freeway in Chatsworth, Los Angeles.

In the clip, the Kia is seen speeding down the motorway as it prepares to overtake a truck in the right lane. But, just as it pulls up beside the pickup, its left tyre comes loose and shoots out directly under its front wheels.

The driver has no time to react, and probably didn't even see the wheel come free. The car is then catapulted into the air, flips over on its nose, and slides on its roof before coming to a stop in an upright position, leaving debris scattered across the motorway.

The pickup can then be seen driving slowly on three wheels as it pulls out to the far-right of the motorway. The stray wheel then finally appears to bounce out from under the Kia.

A spokesperson from the California Highway Patrol later confirmed the Kia diver only suffered minor injuries in the dramatic crash.

Anoop Khatra uploaded the footage of the accident to Twitter on Saturday where it has since gone viral - racking up over 14.7million views and 96k likes.

In a caption, he wrote: He wrote: "Witnessed and recorded the most insane crash yesterday, you can see Autopilot also swerve and avoid the rouge tire for me."

Anoop later commented, clarifying that the pickup truck did not flee the scene, saying: "The pickup driver definitely stopped, and even came back running across the free way to check on the Kia driver, they were very sincere and apologetic about everything."

He wrote: "Insane footage. I'm glad to hear the driver of the Kia walked away from it. Scary that things like this can happen at any moment - no matter how defensive your own driving is".