Texas Personal Injury Lawyer: Accidents Due to Defective Tires

The horrific accidents involving Firestone tires and the Ford Explorer brought the issue of defective tires as a serious safety hazard to the forefront of the media. But it was nothing new - tire companies have produced defective tires since the time of Henry Ford. Defects in design, production, and repair can lead to a much higher rate of failure, leading in turn to car crashes including deadly rollovers.

As many as 8,000 traffic accidents per year in the U.S. are due to or made worse by defective tires. As surprising as it may seem, the U.S. may have the worst tires in the world in terms of safety.

Steel-belted tires are the most popular tires in the country today. Almost all tire separations are a result of improper design and manufacturing of steel belts and rubber treads. Rubber and metal do not naturally stick together, so complicated chemical processes must be developed to help keep the steel belts and rubber in one piece. There are several things that can go wrong during manufacturing such as too much moisture in the plant, fine layers of rust on the steel, past-dated glue, grease getting into the tires, wrong temperature in the plant, even garbage from workers falling onto the assembly line.

Some tires have a nylon layer that separate the steel from the rubber, a design advancement that does reduce the chance of tire separation. The Firestone tires cited in the hundreds of lawsuits did not have this nylon layer, and many tires manufactured even today still do not include a nylon layer in its design despite the increased safety it provides.

Why are Tires Still Defective?

Even after billions of dollars in lawsuits, tire companies still do not do everything they can to make their tires safer, or to recall their tires faster when problems do arise. This is because many manufacturers work on a basis of "acceptable risk" which means that if you are hurt in an accident due to defective tires, the cost of settling with you is less than making the changes that could have prevented the accident in the first place. In fact, many victims of tire separation accidents never get a penny because they don't fully understand their right to proper compensation for medical bills, lost work, and mental suffering, or because they are not properly represented.

If you or a loved one have been injured or killed in an auto accident and you suspect defective tires to be at least partially to blame, contact Jim S. Adler & Associates. We have over 30 years of experience in personal injury litigation, and we have fought against many large corporations in court on behalf of our clients. We can help you get the compensation you deserve to meet your long-term financial needs, and let you get on with your life.

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