What Are The Top Causes of Tire Blowouts?
Tire blowouts are extremely dangerous and happen due to a range of causes that may or may not be maintenance issues that the owner is responsible for. If you have been in an accident caused by a tire blowout that you believe someone else is to blame for, then we can help you understand your rights and options as a victim of a personal injury. If we are able to prove that someone else is to blame — whether another driver, a mechanic, a trucking company or anyone else who failed their duty of care to keep you safe — then we will fight to get fair compensation for you so that you are not financially responsible for the outcome of their actions.
Navigating a personal injury case is complicated, and the stress can have a serious adverse impact on your recovery process. When there is a personal injury attorney representing your case, you can free yourself of these stressors, and instead focus on making a successful recovery without worrying about ongoing paperwork, negotiations, and fighting to be treated fairly by the insurance company.
Read more below about the top causes of tire blowouts and how you can do your part in keeping to roads safe by avoiding these mistakes. Contact Fasig | Brooks now for a free consultation if you have been in an accident so that we can help you understand your rights and options.
Common Causes of Tire Blowouts
The following are a few of the most common causes of tire blowouts, but there are many other ways that these dangerous situations can happen as well.
Improper Tire Pressure
Tire pressure is one of the main culprits of a blowout, but while over-inflation is certainly a threat, the more common pressure issue is an underinflated tire. When a tire does not have enough air pressure in it, the tire walls flex out and bulge, which leads to a buildup of heat. This heat causes the tire to continue to warp until the rubber breaks its contact with the rim. This can also happen if the tire is too low and the driver hits a hard bump.
Of course, over-inflation is also a risk that can lead to a blowout, but if you keep your tires inflated to the manufacturer’s recommendation, this is far less of a risk.
Manufacturer Defects
Tires undergo extensive quality control reviews before they are released for purchase, but this does not mean that a tire may have a major defect that is missed during this process. In these instances, there may be a weak spot in the tire wall that, when the tire is heated in your travels, causes a blowout or the tread to separate from the rest of the tire.
If you suspect that the manufacturer is responsible for your blowout, you will want to be in touch with a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible – before making contact with the manufacturer or distributor. This way, we will be able to review our side of the case before anything else and can make the first contact with all of the relevant information at our hands.
Punctures
Many people may be driving around every day with a slow leak, not realizing that there is something like a nail or a screw that has punched straight through the tread and is lodged in the tire. Many of these punctures cause a slow but noticeable leak in the tire pressure that the owner will need to take a closer look to discover the cause. However, there are other punctures that cause the tire to rapidly lose all air pressure by opening a large enough hole in the rubber.
Punctures happen in all sorts of driving conditions, but if you had a blowout from a puncture while traveling through a work or construction zone, the construction company managing the work may be responsible for the resulting accident. This is not always certain, though, so we will need to take a closer look to be certain.
Worn Treads
The treads on your tire are designed to keep the rest of your tire separate from puncture hazards like glass, nails, and other sharp objects. A worn tread will lead to a noticeable loss of traction and grip on the road that can lead to a skidding accident but can also lead to a blowout if you run over a sharp object and it hits a thin area on your tread. Tires must be replaced when the tread is 2/32” deep, and a failure to do so creates a dangerous situation for everyone on the road.
In some instances, people may opt to have their tires re-treaded instead of replacing them. Retreads have gotten a bad reputation, but repeated studies have found that they are no less dangerous than tires without replacement treads.
