Driving on a highway doing approx. 50mph, I experienced a massive blowout of a tire on the left side of my 5th wheel trailer. I got it to the side of the road without issue. Reviewing the tire damage, the entire tread was completely ripped off. These tires came originally installed in on the 5th wheel I purchased new. The same day I drove it home, it caught a nail, and it slowly leaked out on our initial drive. Les Schwab tire repaired the tire (back in Sept 2021). It has been 3 years w/o any tire issues and we have put about 3500 miles on the tires. The tire was mailed back to the manufacturers rep per their request to review. The response back was that they saw it had previously been repaired, therefore their warranty is no longer valid. I am not in agreement. If their tire is so bad that a flat tire repair now makes their product unsafe, then they have a serious problem. I believe they are using a 3yr old repair as a scapegoat to get out of paying damages under Washington State (RCW 7.72.030(2)), "A product manufacturer is subject to strict liability to a claimant if the claimant's harm was proximately caused by the fact that the product was not reasonably safe in construction or not reasonably safe because it did not conform to the manufacturer's express warranty or to the implied warranties under Title 62A RCW." If their tire is not bad, why then hide behind the previous repair of a flat (3yr old) tire. I conclude that there is long history with this tire brand. The common theme is "China Bomb", meaning they don't just pop and go flat, they in fact literally blow up. This resulted in considerable amounts of damage, and the manufacturer is refusing to pay for it. Their tires should not be made available to the RV market as they are asking for a serious accident or worse to occur. The claims should be investigated. I've attached their assessment.
- NHTSA ID
- 11624605
- Incident
- Sep 2, 2024