Are You Driving On "New" Tires That Can Kill You?
Would it surprise you that purchasing “new” tires for your car or truck from major retailers, like Sears and Wal-Mart, may place you and your family in danger? It shouldn’t, because even if a tire looks new and has good tread depth it may in fact have been manufactured many years prior to your purchase. And tires that are more than 6 years old, even if never driven one mile, are much more susceptible to suddenly coming apart on the road. There are thousands of consumer complaints online, and hundreds of lawsuits filed across the country, regarding “new” tires which were, in fact, manufactured many years ago resulting in the tires literally falling apart and causing catastrophic damage both to the vehicle and its passengers.
A tire’s biggest foes are heat and oxygen. Over time, heat and oxygen break down a tire’s internal adhesive bond between the various layers of the tire’s internal laminate structure. This phenomenon is known as thermo-oxidative degradation. Thus, tires older than 6 years have been exposed to prolonged heat and oxygen, causing the tire to become a safety risk. Indeed, the safety research firm, Safety Research & Strategies, Inc. ("SRS"), has linked 50 serious accidents and 37 fatalities to older tires. Sean Kane, who runs SRS, asserts that, "The factor that linked them all together is the tires were all six years old or older and, in most cases, were unused or barely used, and had more than ample tread depth on them, and no visible appearance of any problem." From the outside, tires may look perfectly fine, but Kane says as tires age, they start to break down on the inside, and that can cause them to suddenly come apart on the road. "The tread will peel off like a banana, and that's what can cause a crash," he observes. Kane wants tire companies to stamp an expiration date on their tires so consumers know to get rid of them after six years.
In any event, there is a way to determine the age of many tires. A code printed on the side of all tires, called the DOT number, has three or four numbers. If those numbers are, for example, 0, 3 and 6, it would mean the tire was made in the third week of either 1986 or 1996. For tires made in 2000 and beyond, consumers should look at the last four numbers. If they are 0, 3, 0, 1 it would mean the tire was made in the third week of 2001.
If you, one of your family members, or friends have been injured by a tread separation on a tire, please contact us to discuss your legal options.