The interior belts of the tire blew out on the inside protected sidewall of the tire from the inside edge of the bottom of the tire all the way up the sidewall to about 1-2" from the rim. The tear in the edge of the bottom of the tire is under the tread (from inside out) and immediately in front of that tread, there is a missing chunk of tread. There is no evidence of puncture from the outside. I was driving on the Ms. River bridge in N.O. at the time. There was nothing visible in the road. About 1,000 cars rode directly behind me and none had tire failure. Police looked for debris in the road and found none. The only noise heard was the "pop" of the tire and immediate air deflation. I nearly lost control of the vehicle and hit the wall. I brought the tire back to the Firestone store where I was promptly told that there were never problems with Bridgestone tires and that "something cut that tire". how could something cut a tire under the tread and on the very edge of the bottom, with no evidence of external puncture and cause a tear all the way up the inside sidewall? I could see them telling me that I had hit a curb or something if the damage had been to the outside sidewall...but it was not...and I hit nothing. I have saved this tire for inspection. Since 1970, this is the 3D time I have been stuck w/Firestone/Bridgestone tires and the 3D time I've had problems. The first time, the car had a blowout when it was 2 wks old. The 2D time, 4 of the 5 tires were "out of round" and now this is the 3D incident. I've never had a problem with any other tire. Please help. Thanks.

- Gretna, LA, USA