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When you purchase tires, you assume that they’ll last for quite some time with the proper care. You wouldn’t think that new tires could blow after only a few thousand miles of wear, but that’s exactly what is happening with Goodyear’s G159 275/70 tire and it’s leaving consumers confused and in grave danger.

Rick Morrison, a tire defect attorney and a member of the Advocate Law Group network has seen the consequences of this defective tire first hand and provided us with an overview of the law regarding tire defects. “When you look at the law, each one of our states has its own different laws which govern its product liability claims. They’re all pretty similar. Essentially, you have to prove that a product is defective or unreasonably dangerous, whether it is a tire, an SUV, etc. You have to prove that, by design or manufacture, it does not meet the consumer’s expectations or it’s just not safe for its intended use.”

No warning signs

There are often warning signs that a product may be defective which allow consumers the opportunity to correct the defect before serious injury occurs. We asked Morrison if the Goodyear G159 shows any warning signs. Emphatically, he responded, “No. None whatsoever. A lot of the bad tires, or a lot of the tires that have experienced problems that my firm has litigated and have actually had problems with for quite some time, really didn’t exhibit any problems. In fact, there’s absolutely no warning whatsoever that you might have a problem.”

Belt Tread Separation

There are several ways that a tire can fail because of a defect. Morrison continued. “Probably the most dangerous, most prevalent and probably the one that’s going to cause the most harm – that is the ability to control and a loss of control and subsequent injuries – is what’s called a belt tread separation.

That’s when the belt tread actually just comes apart and that causes the tire to basically come apart and then makes a lot of vehicles like SUVs and recreation vehicles very hard to control. In fact, it becomes almost impossible to control and may result in injury, property damage, severe injuries and even death.”

Goodyear has not recalled this tire and has actually responded to customer complaints by saying that drivers are at fault for over or under inflating these tires that are used on large motor homes. Consumers who have purchased these tires should be very careful and contact an experienced attorney if they have been the victim of an accident.