Tire Defects

The safety of cars and trucks on our roads and highways today is built on a foundation that starts with a fundamental trust that automotive tires are properly designed and manufactured and are not unnecessarily dangerous.

On almost a weekly basis in the United States, federal regulators are forced to announce a new round of recalls for tires that are defective as a result of negligent design and manufacturing processes. In fact, millions of tires that remain in use on U.S. roads today are defective and dangerous because tire companies perform the absolute minimum to alert the public about known hazardous tire defects. When tire manufacturers are made aware of their defective products, too often they implement delay tactics to avoid recalls. It typically takes numerous injury accidents, complaints and lawsuits before tire companies will acknowledge safety shortcomings in their products. As a result, tens of thousands of people suffer serious and often fatal injuries every year in car and truck crashes caused be defective steel-belted radial tires.

The process of designing and manufacturing automotive tires is complex, and tire companies must be diligent along all steps in the design and manufacturing process to ensure that products are not dangerous. Too often, profit-driven manufacturers, suppliers and retailers fail in their obligations to identify and correct defective tires. Improperly designed or manufactured tires, shoddy repairs and general negligence by tire companies and retailers can result in tire tread separation and tire blowouts, sudden and traumatic events that can cause a vehicle to lose control and roll over. One of the leading causes of tire failure is tread separation and delamination, in which the tire’s inner steel belt separates from the rubber, leading to sudden loss of pressure, high-speed tire blowouts, rollovers and catastrophic loss of control. While high-profile tread separation problems have been linked to companies like Bridgestone-Firestone and Michelin, virtually every tire manufacturer in the U.S. has experienced tread separation problems, which are typically caused by improper design and manufacturing, as well as improper repairs and installation.

Tire bead and zipper failure often occurs during the installation and inflation process, resulting in sudden explosions. Design defects including weftless bead configurations that are not thick enough can cause a tire to rupture and explode during the mounting process. Under some circumstances, modern steel-belted radial tires can rupture during low-pressure inflation if a splice of a bead wire becomes impeded during inflation. Explosions caused by tire bead and zipper failure are known to cause serious injuries, including amputation of limbs, disfiguring facial injuries and head trauma.

When regulations, recalls and fines fail to spur change by negligent tire manufacturers and automakers, Houston tire-defect lawyers at Farrar & Ball have the expertise and ability to take an aggressive stand against tire manufacturers and force them to take responsibility for injuries caused by their defective tire products.

When tire companies produce improperly designed and manufactured products, they can be held responsible for the injuries and damages they cause. Tire defect litigation is complicated and requires a legal team with technical and practical experience and an ability to take an aggressive stance that holds manufacturers of defective tires accountable for the injuries and suffering that their negligence has caused.

Farrar & Ball’s tire defect lawyers have successfully filed and prosecuted injury lawsuits against some of the largest global tire manufacturers. Experience matters in this kind of litigation. Our lawyers have deep knowledge of the design and engineering processes used to manufacture today’s steel-belted radial tires. In addition, our lawyers have developed a model for tire litigation that involves identifying every responsible party and relentlessly pursuing information to uncover exactly what happened, who was at fault and why. Our quest for justice on behalf of those injured by defective tires has taken us around the globe to uncover incriminating documents that expose tire manufacturing negligence. Our work has resulted in record verdicts and safer products on our roads today. Contact Farrar & Ball for more information about tire defect lawsuits.