This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
I was driving home from work and felt a rumble in the car, like the tires were out of balance. I checked the tires at a gas station before leaving and all looked fine. The rumbling got worse over the course of the drive down 95 South in Massachusetts, until I got off 95 S and was on the exit ramp for 295 South when I felt and heard what sounded like a tire blow out. I instantly slowed down and got as far to the right as I could. Another motorist had stopped in front of me that had seen the whole thing. He got out made sure I was alright and whether or not I had aaa (which I had) and he told me that my wheel rolled off into the woods. And sure enough I looked at the right front tire and the car was riding on the rotor, with some damage to the wheel well and the passenger door opens with difficulty. Upon inspection of the rotor, all 5 of the studs had sheared off and the lugs were gone. Aaa and the mechanics at meinikee had never seen anything like that. After retrieving the wheel, inspection showed that none of the holes in the rim had been ovaled. I had the right front tire changed by town fair tire two months prior and it was suspected that the lugs were either loose or overtightened, however town fair tire is looking the other way because I had driven 8,000 miles since the tire was changed. Everyone that looked at the wheel thought that it didn't make sense because usually with loose lugs one or two of the lugs linger behind, not in this case. Meinikee was able to salvage the whole wheel and only had to replace the hub assembly costing $311, not including body damage. The whole thing seems suspicious, since there should no way that all 5 of the studs should have sheared off simultaneously without some sort help from either human error on the lugs or a factory defect.
This is the second vehicle that has had a blow out with the Bridgestone turanza P215/65 R15 95T. I called a local Bridgestone-Firestone dealer and all they said was that it wasn't on the list. The first vehicle was a 1997 Dodge Intrepid VIN [xxx] and it had the passenger front tire blow. It did $1940. Worth of damage. All I'm asking is since it isn't on the "list" maybe it should be. The top of the tire separated completely and damaged the front quarter panel along with the bumper, etc. Luckily there were no injuries or fatalities. I have since gone with a different tire and not Bridgestone-Firestone. (dot number: Dnc508 ? tiresize: P215/65 R1). Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Warwick, RI, USA