Tire Defects Can Cause Deadly North Carolina Traffic Crashes

January 31, 2011, by Michael A. DeMayo

Our Charlotte, North Carolina car accident lawyers also represent clients who were injured in car crashes because of auto defects. Tire failure is a common auto defect that can cause serious injuries.

A tire defect can cause a driver to lose control of the vehicle, resulting in a collision with another auto or a single-vehicle crash that can even turn into a deadly rollover accident. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 8,000 US traffic crashes resulting in catastrophic injuries or deaths are a result of tire failures.

Common Types of Tire Defects:
Tread separation: Commonly associated with steel belted radial tires, tread separation can cause tire blowouts.

Multi-Piece Rim Failure: Safety administrators have tired banning tires with multi-piece rim parts without success.

Bead Failures: Weak bead wiring can cause an explosion if the tire is overfilled.

Sidewall Failures: Also known as zipper failures, this type of failure can cause serious injury to a person inflating the tire or to those around him/her at the time.

Tire defect lawsuits have resulted in huge verdicts against manufacturers. Just recently, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the $32.2 million blow out verdict against Goodyear over the deaths of three people in Moab, Utah in 2004. Seven others sustained injuries.

Goodyear had argued that it did not get due process because the judge that had presided over the civil case wouldn’t let the tire manufacturer defend itself in the civil case after determining that Goodyear’s attorneys had acted in bad faith. The jury was then instructed to issue a verdict, which the Nevada Supreme Court upheld. It now is refusing to reconsider its ruling.

Your Charlotte, North Carolina auto products liability law firm should know how to gather and present the evidence in your case to prove that a tire defect caused your accident. While some tire failures occur because of wear and tear or poor maintenance, some are a result of design and manufacturing defects.

$32 million judgment against Goodyear in fatal crash upheld, Las Vegas Sun, July 2, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Safety Recalls, NHTSA

The Center for Auto Safety