Auto Accident Lawsuits
Defective tires typically appear to be in good condition, and often fail after very little mileage. Tire failure can result in a blowout, causing the vehicle to go out of control or roll.
Tread separation
One of the most common failures that occur in defective tires is tread separation. Tread separation can occur for many reasons including:
- Too much weight
- Inadequate gum strips
- Age
Rotten spares
The Firestone recall of 2000 is well known, but many people don’t realize that they are still driving around on those defective tires. Even worse, the tires are now very aged and ready to blowout. During there initial recall there was a shortage of replacement tires. Many of the shops performing the replacements “solved” this problem by replacing only the four in-use tires and leaving the defective spares to be replaced at a later date. Most of those spares were never replaced, and now are the cause of more and more accidents.
Even spares which were not defective when they were manufactured may be defective by the time they are used. Tires age and degrade even when they are not in use. Spares which have not been used will appear to be in good shape, even if they are ready to blow. Compounding the problem is the fact that the manufacturing date on tires in America is written in a code that the average consumer cannot interpret. So, drivers have no way of knowing how old their tires are without consulting a repair shop.
RV tires
The Goodyear G159 275/70 22.5 tire installed on RVs from 1995 or 1996 through 2004, even though it was not designed or tested for use on RVs. Goodyear recommended the tire for use on RVs and manufacturers followed that recommendation. The tires cannot handle that much weight. The overload creates too much stress and heat and the result is tire separation. Recall and replacement programs have been very limited and the tires are still on thousands of RVs.
Tires from China
Most recently tires made by the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company in China have been found to be defective. These tires are sold in the U.S. for use on light trucks, SUVs and vans. Again, the problem is tread separation. The tires are made with insufficient gum strips used to hold the tire together. These tires were distributed by Foreign Tire Sales. Brand names include Compass, YKS, and Westlake.
Injuries
Tire failure can cause some of the worst type of accidents, including rollovers. Rollovers, while being very rare, are the one type of accident responsible for the most fatalities. Injuries caused by defective tires include but are not limited to:
- Brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Neck fractures
- Paralysis
- Broken or fractured bones
- Internal injuries
- Lacerations
- Suffocation
- Coma
- Death
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident caused by defective tires, contact an experienced defective vehicle attorney today.
