- Auto Accident Injury
- Auto Deaths
- Back Injuries
- Brain Injury
- Car Accident Injury
- Catastrophic Injury
- Closed Head Injury
- Design Manufacturing
- Fuel Fed Fire Injury
- Head Injuries
- Occupant Ejections
- Paralysis
- Paraplegia
- Quadriplegia
- Roof Crush Injury
- Seat Belt Injuries
- Tempered Glass
- Tire Blow Out Injury
- Trailer Sway
- Traumatic Head Injury
Defective tires
Defective tires can pose a major risk of serious injury and even death to those involved in accidents related to fire failure. Many vehicle owners will drive hundreds of thousands of miles in their car with no tire problems, though tire blow outs and other failures are not uncommon. When blow outs and other tire related accidents occur, defective tires may be to blame.
Defective tires have become a well known problem since the major Ford/Firestone tire recalls of the 1990s, however tread separation problems are not new. Most tires in production today are steel belted radial tires which are significantly safer than the bias-ply tires of old. However, the most common cause of defective tires today is tread separation.
While steel belted tires are effective at providing impact and puncture resistance, tread separation is common. In the process of manufacturing any steel belted radial tire, the rubber of the tire must be adhered to the steel belts. Steel and rubber do not adhere to each other very well, so manufacturers use brass to fix the two materials together. The problem with brass is that it can break down quickly and easily. Tread separation can be a result of design and manufacturing defects related to this feature of steel belted radial tires. Tread separation is often traced to poor bonding or adhesion during tire production and overall design problems that lead to defective tires.
Though tread separation in defective tires does not always result in a serious accident, a sudden tire failure can cause a loss of vehicle control. Once a driver loses control of a vehicle because of defective tires, the vehicle may collide with other vehicles or fixed objects or rollover on itself. Accidents involving defective tires can be particularly dangerous when a vehicle is traveling at freeway speeds. Defective tires can also be more dangerous when installed on vehicles which have a higher center of gravity.
Defective tires installed on sports utility vehicles (SUVs) can be particularly dangerous because of their higher center of gravity. When tread separation occurs and causes an accident in an SUV, these vehicles have a higher propensity to rollover. A rollover accident poses serious risks of causing catastrophic or fatal injuries to those involved due to the risk of getting crushed or propelled from a vehicle during such an accident.
Though there have been a series of major tire recalls throughout the last decade, the biggest of all occurred in 2000. In August of that year Bridgestone/Firestone issued the recall of 6.5 million defective tires, most of which had been installed on the Ford Explorer. Prior to the recall of these defective tires, several people died in accidents caused by defective tires. This was not the last recall of defective tires. In 2004 this same tire company issued a recall of nearly 300,000 tires sold with the Ford Excursion after five people died in accidents involving these defective tires. If you would like to learn more about defective tires, please contact us to speak with a qualified and experienced attorney who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
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