If you spend enough time driving on a highway, you are sure to drive by the scattered pieces of a blown-out or fragments of a tire tread separation -- especially on the freeway -- from trucks and tractor trailers. A blowout occurs when a flat tire is so severely damaged that immediately loses all air pressure and causes a driver to lose control, which is why it is one of the top causes of car accidents. Most car accident lawyers know that catastrophic and fatal big rig truck accidents are often the result of a major tire blowout. Indeed, all of us have heard about defective tires in the news; but many of the tires, even though defectively designed, might not have blown out if they were properly inflated. This is no excuse for a tire manufacturer. As experienced car accident attorneys, we strongly encourage car owners to examine their own set of wheels, what brand are they and whether or not they are they safe to drive on. How can this safety check be done? Simple, take your car to a reputable tire dealer for inspection, rotation and maintenance. It is recommend that you perform daily checks of your tires, which could be as easy as looking if the wheels are properly inflated. Certainly, if the tire is soft or almost flat, we believe a car driver should be able to notice or feel it when driving, long before a dangerous car accident could occur.
What Causes Tire Blowouts That Create Car Accidents?
- Potholes
- Large cut that causes rapid air loss.
- Small puncture to the wheel that allows air loss slowly over time until the tire pressure fails.
- Overloading the car causes the tire to give way.