Sidewall Failure General Grabber HTS60 A/S 275/60R20

[Calvin H-C]

My wife experienced a blowout this past weekend with the left rear tire while on a highway. The vehicle was safely brought to a stop and eventually we got roadside assistance (a whole other story in itself).

All damage to the tire was sidewall related. All tread surface was perfectly fine. The tires were properly inflated and only had 7500 km (4600 miles) on them.

A little research revealed that this type of tire had a major recall several years back due to overcuring that resulted in weak sidewalls, though it does not appear this size was involved in the recall.

My wife is extremely concerned that there may be a problem with the other tires that will eventually repeat what happened this last weekend. At this point, the dealership will be replacing the one tire and there's some minor damage to the body at the front of the wheel well that will have to be dealt with.

We have filed an incident report with Transport Canada so this can be looked at, and the dealership is aware of this and knows we have to keep the damaged tire in case TC needs access to it.

One thing that just occurred to us was the question of whether a tire can be weakened by being exposed to higher than normal temperatures. For instance, with all the wildfires affecting many areas, if a vehicle is not taken out by fire, can exposure to a fairly close fire for a fair bit of time weaken the sidewalls exposed?

This question came up in the context to the F150 Lightning fire in Ford's holding lot back in February. My wife's Lightning had a blend date of January 22 and was likely in that lot at that time.

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[CdnCGM23]

Hmmm same blend date as mine

 

[RickLightning]

There is no way that the tire is going to suffer from exposure to wildfire heat and the rest of the plastic and rubber on the vehicle doesn't also have melt. Was your truck parked feet away from a massive fire?

 

[Maquis]

About the only things that can cause sidewall failure are punctures, manufacturing defects, excessive heat, or overload. Most excessive heat failures are traced to under inflation, but modern TPMSs mitigate much of that.

 

[Calvin H-C]

There is no way that the tire is going to suffer from exposure to wildfire heat and the rest of the plastic and rubber on the vehicle doesn't also have melt. Was your truck parked feet away from a massive fire?

I can't say for sure, but it was built a couple of weeks before the truck caught fire in the holding lot, and wasn't on its way to the dealership for another two months.

While this is just speculation, it is a possibility it could have been parked nearby and in a way that only one tire was directly exposed to enough heat to have an effect. The vehicle remained with Ford long enough that any other heat damage to plastic and rubber parts could be replaced.

I have no way of knowing if this was a contributing factor at this point. If @Ford Motor Company keeps records of where vehicles were in the holding lot (I doubt they would, who would keep that sort of detail?), it potentially could eliminate this as a contributing factor.

If any other vehicles needed some work after the fireb I suppose Ford has records about what was done to what vehicle, but I doubt that would be made public without a court order. Besides the truck with the fire, one on each side of it were write-offs, but I'm guessing that the next vehicles beyond those were not in a delivery-ready state when the fire was put out.

About the only things that can cause sidewall failure are punctures, manufacturing defects, excessive heat, or overload. Most excessive heat failures are traced to under inflation, but modern TPMSs mitigate much of that.

Punctures: not likely as there was absolutely no damage to the tread surface anywhere on the tire. If you ignore the sidewalls and only look at the tread, you would think you are looking at a new tire. As for a puncture or slash to the sidewall, I could see that an incomplete slash could leave the tire on the brink of this occurrence, even if the opportunity to do that was some 30-40 miles back. We'll have go over the tire with a fine tooth comb to see if there's any signs of this (a clean cut somewhere amongst all the rough tears would suggest vandalism), but I'm not so sure such evidence could have survived bringing the vehicle to stop at a safe location.


Manufacturing defects: a possibility, though we're hoping it is a one-off defect if this is the case. Driving around with three other tires with close serial numbers is a bit worrisome. We filed a report with TC (the federal government department who investigates and can issue recalls if needed) and will have to see what happens from that.

Excessive heat or overload: the tires were checked with a gauge a few weeks beforehand to ensure they were 42 PSI when cold. Weather was a bit cooler the night of the event than when last gauge-checked, but the TPMSs were reporting 38 and 39 for the other tires - a little low, but not excessive. The bed was empty and there were three passengers and the driver in the cab.

This all could be attributed to bad luck on our part. I'm just looking at what possible causes exist and see if there's a reasonable way to eliminate any of them.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I have no way of knowing if this was a contributing factor at this point. If @Ford Motor Company keeps records of where vehicles were in the holding lot (I doubt they would, who would keep that sort of detail?), it potentially could eliminate this as a contributing factor.

They might keep data in the production logs for replacement of damaged parts while in storage.

 

[Maquis]

I can't say for sure, but it was built a couple of weeks before the truck caught fire in the holding lot, and wasn't on its way to the dealership for another two months.

While this is just speculation, it is a possibility it could have been parked nearby and in a way that only one tire was directly exposed to enough heat to have an effect. The vehicle remained with Ford long enough that any other heat damage to plastic and rubber parts could be replaced.

I have no way of knowing if this was a contributing factor at this point. If @Ford Motor Company keeps records of where vehicles were in the holding lot (I doubt they would, who would keep that sort of detail?), it potentially could eliminate this as a contributing factor.

If any other vehicles needed some work after the fireb I suppose Ford has records about what was done to what vehicle, but I doubt that would be made public without a court order. Besides the truck with the fire, one on each side of it were write-offs, but I'm guessing that the next vehicles beyond those were not in a delivery-ready state when the fire was put out.



Punctures: not likely as there was absolutely no damage to the tread surface anywhere on the tire. If you ignore the sidewalls and only look at the tread, you would think you are looking at a new tire. As for a puncture or slash to the sidewall, I could see that an incomplete slash could leave the tire on the brink of this occurrence, even if the opportunity to do that was some 30-40 miles back. We'll have go over the tire with a fine tooth comb to see if there's any signs of this (a clean cut somewhere amongst all the rough tears would suggest vandalism), but I'm not so sure such evidence could have survived bringing the vehicle to stop at a safe location.


Manufacturing defects: a possibility, though we're hoping it is a one-off defect if this is the case. Driving around with three other tires with close serial numbers is a bit worrisome. We filed a report with TC (the federal government department who investigates and can issue recalls if needed) and will have to see what happens from that.

Excessive heat or overload: the tires were checked with a gauge a few weeks beforehand to ensure they were 42 PSI when cold. Weather was a bit cooler the night of the event than when last gauge-checked, but the TPMSs were reporting 38 and 39 for the other tires - a little low, but not excessive. The bed was empty and there were three passengers and the driver in the cab.

This all could be attributed to bad luck on our part. I'm just looking at what possible causes exist and see if there's a reasonable way to eliminate any of them.

I’d think if your truck was exposed to enough heat to damage a tire, there would be other damage, such as paint. Of course, that could have been repaired prior to shipment.

 

[Calvin H-C]

I’d think if your truck was exposed to enough heat to damage a tire, there would be other damage, such as paint. Of course, that could have been repaired prior to shipment.

My point exactly - almost three months is plenty of time to do any needed repairs.

 

[Heliian]

No, a fire close enough to damage a tire is going to burn the rest of the vehicle.

Also, after a blowout, the sidewall is going to be destroyed by the rim. Finding the actual cause is difficult.

Road hazards are the most common, could have hit a pothole or other debris causing the blowout.

Tire failures are rare these days but still happen.

 

[Lytning]

I have had several different brands of tires (including Michelin and Goodyear) fail with what seemed to be one-off sidewall manufacturing defects. Sometimes I would see a bulge in the sidewall, and sometimes not.

 

[Calvin H-C]

I have had several different brands of tires (including Michelin and Goodyear) fail with what seemed to be one-off sidewall manufacturing defects. Sometimes I would see a bulge in the sidewall, and sometimes not.

I'm figuring that a one-off defect is the fault in this case. Just asking the questions to eliminate other explanations.

Out of curiosity, what was the incident you had with the least miles on the tire, and how many miles approximately?

 

[Pioneer74]

Not a Lightning tire, but here is a picture of a defective tire I had on my Focus. Tires had less than a thousand miles on them. I know the pressure was good because I constantly check it, and my TPMS light wasn't on.

I found the tread section. It rolled past me as I slowed down on the interstate. There were no punctures or deformities I could find.

 

[jerock]

I’ve investigated many car fires as a fire investigator. If the tire had fire damage enough to compromise the sidewall it would be visually evident looking at the exterior of the tire.

 

[Calvin H-C]

Road hazards are the most common, could have hit a pothole or other debris causing the blowout.

Besides hitting a pothole, what sort of road hazard can damage the sidewall and leave the entire tread without even a blemish?

This occurred on a busy highway while travelling at 60 mph, so the entire sidewall was destroyed by the rim while getting the vehicle to a safe stop in a safe place.

I can see hitting a pothole can put stresses on the sidewalls that can exceed what they're designed for, but doing so at 60 mph is not likely to be an honorable occurrence. There was nothing out of the ordinary until the alert indicating an 11 PSI tire pressure appeared.

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