If you or someone you love was hurt in an accident caused by a defective tire or tire blowout, contact a tire injury lawyer at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys as soon as possible.
Experienced Product Liability Lawyers:
Daniel Munley was named “Lawyer of the Year, Product Liability Litigation-Plaintiffs,” for the Allentown Metro Area, Best Lawyers, 2020, and Marion Munley earned that designation in 2017 and 2019. Let our experienced product liability lawyers review your case for free. There is no fee to hire our truck accident lawyer unless we win your case.
Defective Tires Cause Car and Truck Accidents
Millions of unsafe tires have been recalled, but countless others remain on the road. Badly maintained and defective tires can cause serious and even fatal car and truck accidents.
A tire may look simple, but in fact it is a complex structure with multiple components. If one or more of those components fails, or is poorly made, your car won’t drive safely. Depending on the cause of the tire failure, you maybe able to bring a claim against the driver, transportation company, or the manufacturer who made and sold the tire.
Tire Blowouts and Other Tire Defects
The most common type of tire defect is a blowout. A blowout is often accompanied by a loud bang as the tire explodes, causing the vehicle to abruptly jerk and pull to one side. Often, this will cause the driver of the vehicle to lose control and crash, putting not only the vehicle’s occupants but also other drivers on the road in danger. At highway speeds, these kinds of accidents can be catastrophic.
Conditions that can cause a tire blowout include:
- Underinflation – Low tire pressure puts a strain on your tires and can ultimately lead to a blowout or tire failure.
- Overloading – If a truck or vehicle is overloaded it can put excessive stress on the tires and result in a blowout.
- Excessive wear and tear – Continuing to drive on worn out or expired tires is dangerous.
- Tread separation – A flaw in tire design or construction can cause the tread to separate from the rest of the tire and result in a blowout.
Tractor trailers and large trucks are especially prone to tire blowouts. You have likely seen shreds of black rubber debris scattered along the highway; these “road gators” are the remnants of a truck tire blowout. The time between May and October is known as “blowout season,” because heat increases the chance of a blowout.
Other common types of tire defects include:
- Tire failure
- Tread-bare or bald tires
- Neglected maintenance
- Expired tires sold as new
Poor maintenance and inspection
Tire failure can result from negligent maintenance and/or vehicle inspection. If you were hurt because another driver negligently failed to maintain the safety of their vehicle, or a transportation company failed to conduct proper inspections, you may be able to hold them accountable for their recklessness.
Defective product
Drivers rely on tire manufacturers to ensure their products are safe and free of dangerous defect. If a retailer falsely sells expired tires as new, or a manufacturer allows a defective product to go to market, the consequences for innocent people can be devastating. When companies put consumers at risk, they must be held responsible.
What to do if you were hurt in a tire accident
After a crash caused by a defective tire, there are a few steps you can take to protect your own interests. First, make every attempt to ensure the tire is not repaired, destroyed or discarded. Document everything, including photographs of the vehicle(s) involved, witness statements, police incident report number, and any related medical treatment or missed time from work. Most importantly, contact a lawyer who can advise you and fight on your behalf. Tire cases can be very complex, so it is critical that you choose a lawyer with extensive experience in product liability as well as auto and truck accident cases.
Time is of the essence. Our legal team is ready to help you today. The lawyers at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys have earned national recognition for their multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts and for their dedication to fighting for the injured. As your representatives, we will take care of every aspect of your case from start to finish, so that you can recover from your injuries and move on with your life. First, we will meet with you to learn about what happened and answer any questions you may have. Then, if you wish to move forward, we will get to work right away consulting with experts and investigators to determine the exact cause of your accident and who is responsible. Throughout the legal process, you will have access to your lawyer and paralegal for any additional help you may need during this time.
The initial consultation is absolutely free, and there is never a charge for our services unless we win your case. Call today.
Big Rig Tire Blowouts
According to the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Economics and Industry Data Report, there are 36 million registered eighteen-wheelers in the United States. Those trucks use more than 650 million tires to transport a total of 22.98 trillion pounds of freight across the country each year.
The sheer scale of the trucking industry means that big rig tire blowouts are inevitable and capable of causing serious accidents when they occur. Every fifteen minutes, someone is killed or seriously injured in an accident involving a tractor-trailers, and there are 500,000 serious collisions involving semis in the United States every year. Big rig tire blowouts cause more than 25,000 of those accidents.
Why Are Big Rig Tire Blowouts So Problematic?
A typical tractor-trailer weighs 80,000 pounds and requires several hundred feet of distance in order to come to a complete stop. When a semi operator loses control of a truck of that size, extensive damage and injury is likely to occur. Blowouts can cause big rigs to overturn, collide with one or more vehicles, or crash into a highway median, road sign, or other roadside structures. Motor-vehicle operators positioned behind and on either side of a semi with an exploding tire are in particularly precarious positions. In the aftermath of a blowout, the rubber remnants of the truck’s tire or its commercial cargo can spill out onto the road and create hazards for unsuspecting drivers. The accidents resulting from big rig tire blowouts further cause extensive injuries, damages, or even death.
Specifically, those who are involved in such collisions may suffer from the following:
- Damage to property
- Permanent injuries and disabilities
- Psychological and emotional difficulties
- Inability to work or maintain regular, full-time employment
- Unexpected costs
- Death
Tractor-trailers are larger and are more difficult to maneuver than other trucks, and the catastrophic consequences that big rig tire blowout accidents are magnified as well. If you or someone you love was in an accident, contact the experienced truck litigation team at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys today to see how we can fight for you!
What Causes Big Rig Tire Blowouts?
Big rig tire blowouts are not like ordinary flat tires. A blowout is the sudden rupture or bursting of a truck tire. It can be caused by several different factors, including:
- Improper Tire Inflation: Over and underinflation of tires is a leading cause of blowouts. An overinflated tire may contain so much internal pressure that the weight of the truck’s load causes the tire to explode. When a tire is underinflated, heat fills the empty space inside the tire, which causes the air to expand. That expansion then causes the tire to rupture. Truck drivers must monitor tire inflation levels to ensure that there are no leaks and that all tires have proper air pressure.
- Failure to Perform Required Inspections: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires regular pre-trip, end-of-day, and post-trip tire inspections. A trucker who does not perform the required inspections cannot mitigate against any risks, including those likely to contribute to tire blowouts.
- Failure to Perform Required Maintenance and Repairs: Blowouts are frequently caused by truckers’ failures to repair and replace faulty tires. These procedures are critical for ensuring that tractor-trailers are in compliance with all applicable safety regulations mandated by the FMCSA and Department of Transportation. The failure to perform such maintenance causes tires and other truck parts to deteriorate at an accelerated pace.
- Manufacturing Errors: Defective tires may rupture for a number of reasons. They may be defective because they do not adhere to the guidelines set forth by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). They may unevenly wear or contain low or uneven tire tread. Defective tires may create imbalances that cause the weight of a truck’s load to be dangerously redistributed such that a given tire bears more pressure than it can handle.
- Speeding: The dangers posed by defective tires are magnified by a truck driver’s failure to adhere to speed limits.
- Highway Hazards: A properly manufactured, installed, and maintained tire can rupture due to contact with potholes, uneven pavement, curbs, or debris.
- Installation Errors: A tire that is not properly installed can create the same kinds of problems caused by defective tires. The rubbing, wobbling, or uneven wearing that results from an improperly installed tire can cause that tire to explode.
- Inclement Weather: Hazardous weather conditions such as rain, snow, hail, and ice can also cause tires to explode.
- Overloaded Tractor-Trailers: An overloaded semi puts increased stress on its tires. If the pressure exceeds the limits that the tires were designed to withstand, a blowout can result.
Do You Know Someone Who Was in a Truck Accident?
Our truck litigation team has spent decades fighting for accident victims and their families. Don’t take on the truck and insurance companies alone. Schedule your free consultation to learn more about our proven results and see how Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys can help you recovery for your losses, pain, and suffering today.
