Quote:
Originally Posted by trikkonceptz
On those statements I have to say that tires do not cause rollovers, drivers do.
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Unless tires are manufactured with defects, like the Firestone recal, a tire won't fail, it will blow out due to a puncture, but tires do not fail. Obviously some may think I am wrong, but site situations when tires can fail where their maintenance and or abuse is not a factor.
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Tire failure (particularly rear tire failure) on high center of gravity vehicles are much more likely to cause rollovers no matter who is driving. Big SUVs and 15 passenger church vans have gotten most of the press from horrific multiple death accidents from rollovers caused by rear tire failure at highway speed. Such vehicles are much more likely to get sideways and 'trip' when rims dig in at an angle after tire failure.
One cannot say that the tire failure is 100% to blame for causing such accidents but one can say the tire failure was the major cause in many cases.
I have seen a fair number of tires fail in service that were properly installed and cared for. Tread separation, belt shift, sidewall tumors, and carcass failure - mostly on cheaper offshore (Chinese and Korean made tires seem to be the worst) product but sometimes on major name brand stuff like Goodyear, Bridgestone, General and Firestone. I have obseved an upswing in failure in the last 3-4 years in particular as those aforementioned cheap offshore tires flood the market, creating downward pricing pressure on the rest of the market that is balancing out with increased material and energy costs.
Tires don't let go nearly as often as they did in the 'good old days' but they *do* still fail. To believe otherwise is naive at best.