Tire Blowout Accident Print
A tire blowout involving personal injury is initiated by the rapid loss of air pressure in a vehicle's tire. Having a tire blow out on the vehicle you're driving or riding in is a frightening experience — tire blowout injuries and deaths number in the thousands each year in the United States. Tire blowouts may be caused by any number of things. For instance, a vehicle does not need to hit a nail, be traveling at high speed, or be on hot pavement to have a tire blow out. Tires sometime blow out with no immediately apparent cause, or due to multiple causes.

Tire Blowouts and Rollover Risk

When a tire blows out on a fast-moving vehicle, it can be difficult or impossible for the driver to maintain control of the vehicle. If it's a rear tire that blows out while the vehicle is moving at high speed, the vehicle may "yaw;" that is, the rear of the vehicle may swing around, becoming perpendicular to the direction in which the vehicle was moving. The sideways motion of the vehicle often results in the tire separating from the rim it's attached to, and as the rim hits the road, the vehicle can be propelled into a roll. This is likely to result in a tire blowout injury.

Rollovers also occur when a tire blows out, the driver loses control, and the vehicle leaves the road and hits a different surface such as dirt or grass. The vehicle "trips" on the new surface and rolls over and may cause serious tire blowout injuries.

Avoiding a Tire Blowout Personal Injury

Some tire blowout injuries can be avoided. Tire blowouts are often the result of:

  • Underinflated tires. Inadequate air pressure allows a tire to flex beyond its elastic limits until it overheats, making the tire's rubber lose its bond to the fabric and steel cord reinforcement inside the tire. In a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) survey, 30% of the cars and light trucks on the road had at least one tire that was underinflated by at least 8 psi.
  • Overloading the vehicle
  • Impact damage (immediate or delayed, depending on severity of the impact); an example is hitting a curb at high speed
  • A significant cut or puncture of the tire from something on the road
  • An unnoticed small puncture that makes the tire lose air slowly over time until the tire blows out

If you've experienced a tire blowout injury and want to find out more about your legal rights, contact the Kuvara Law Firm to discuss your case. Our attorneys have decades of combined experience representing people who have been injured in vehicle accidents, and we can assess your circumstances and help you determine a course of action. Our offices for personal injury are located in San Jose, Salinas, San Rafael, Walnut Creek, San Francisco, Fresno, Oakland.