Reviewed by Adrianos Facchetti, Esq. California State Bar No. 243213. This page was reviewed for personal injury accuracy, legal clarity, and relevance to individuals who have been injured in tire tread separation cases, tire blowout accidents, and tire defect liability lawsuits in Los Angeles. You may look up Adrianos Facchetti’s license through the California State Bar attorney search database.
Injured in a Los Angeles Tire Tread Separation Accident?
An experienced lawyer who handles Los Angeles tire tread separation cases will be able to tell you whether your accident was the result of a defective tire, maintenance negligence, improper tire installation, failure to replace the unsafe tire, or another avoidable cause. Typically, tire tread separation accidents occur suddenly, with a blowout, loss of control of the vehicle, and possibly a rollover on the I-5, I-10, I-405, or US-101, with more than one vehicle involved in the crash.
Collecting and saving the failed tire is critical in these cases because the physical evidence is usually key in understanding the reason for the defect. If you suffered injuries from a tire-related accident in Los Angeles, here is what you need to know about your case.
What Is Tire Tread Separation?
Tread separation occurs when the outer tread layer comes loose from the tire. It is distinct from a simple flat tire because it happens suddenly, rather than giving a driver any warning.
There could be a number of reasons for tread separation, including separation of the steel belts from the rubber, a problem with the bonding agent, heat buildup, under-inflation, overloading, age, or damage from a puncture that was not fixed.
How Can Tire Tread Separation Crashes Be Dangerous
Because they happen quickly, without warning, and when a vehicle is moving fast, accidents related to tread separation are often more than the car simply getting a flat tire.
- Loss of steering control, because of changes to the handling
- Collisions on freeways, due to the fact that so many tread separations occur there
- Rollover accidents, especially in SUVs and vans, which have a higher center of gravity
- Crashes involving multiple vehicles, as a driver with little time to react strikes nearby cars
- Accidents due to debris on the road
- Increased risk for commercial vehicles and trucks, because a tire failure has such serious consequences for a vehicle this large
It is because of these factors that injuries following tread separations are often quite serious. Common injuries include head, neck, and spinal injuries; broken bones; internal injuries; and, in extreme cases, wrongful death. If a rollover was involved, you may want to know about our rollover accident lawyers in Los Angeles resource page.
Product Defect or Negligent Maintenance?
Tire tread separation claims tend to be either product liability or negligent maintenance claims, or sometimes even both.
The problem might be product liability in situations where there was a defect within the product to begin with. Product defects include manufacturing defects, which means something went wrong in the process of manufacturing the item; design defects, in which case the tire itself was designed improperly so that it is prone to failure with normal use; and warning defects, in which the manufacturer did not provide adequate warning regarding the risks associated with the product. Defective materials, steel belt separation due to improper bonding, an unrepaired tire recall, and improper labeling all indicate product liability issues.
Negligent maintenance applies to cases where there was nothing wrong with the product to begin with, but rather someone neglected to perform proper maintenance. That includes failure to replace an old or worn-out tire; driving on an under-inflated or overloaded tire; poor maintenance habits such as poor rotation and inspection; improper installation; mismatching tires on the same axle; a repair shop mistake; and fleet or company owner negligent maintenance of company vehicles.
One should exercise caution, however, as some claims actually consist of two types of problems combined: manufacturing and maintenance. Accepting the first explanation offered by an insurance company (“the driver did not maintain the tire,” which is a form of negligent maintenance) could lead to overlooking the possibility of product liability.
Who Can Be Found Liable in Case of a Tire Tread Separation Accident?
The answer is based on what exactly triggered the tire failure, and liability may involve several parties at once.
- The tire manufacturer in case of a defect in design, manufacture or lack of proper warnings
- The tire distributor in case of defects in a certain batch or incorrect handling before the sale
- The retailer or the tire service provider, if the tire is found to be defective, recalled or dangerous
- The mechanic or the shop which did a poor job with the tire or failed to detect any problems with it
- The car dealership if the service in question concerned the tire
- The rental company, if the tire was found to be unsafe or improperly maintained in the rented car. This topic is discussed in detail in our Los Angeles rental car tire blowout accident lawyer resource.
- The fleet owner in case of a failure of the tire of a company car
- The trucking company in case of commercial tires, as additional weight and speed are important factors in such accidents. More on this in our Los Angeles truck tire blowout accident lawyer resource.
- The vehicle owner if he or she knowingly used an unsafe tire
- A negligent driver whose actions contributed to the accident in addition to the tire failure
- A public entity if the road conditions directly contributed to the tire failure
Evidence that Could Assist in Proving a Tire Failure Case
The blown out tire can be said to be the most important evidence in such situations; it should never be disposed of, fixed, or altered until it has been examined.
- The blown-out tire
- All parts of the blown-out tire found at the accident scene
- Pictures of the car
- Photos of the accident scene
- The police report
- Statements of witnesses
- The dash cam or any surveillance videos taken by the nearby cameras
- DOT code of the tire, which gives the age of the tire
- Purchasing details of the tire
- The installation details of the tire
- Repair and maintenance history of the tire
- Any available recall notice of the tire, which can be gotten from the NHTSA recall search engine
- Vehicle inspection reports
- Independent inspection of the tire
- Event data recorder or black box data if the vehicle has one
- Injury reports
Once the tire is gone, fixed, or thrown away, the evidence required to establish why it failed becomes unavailable. If you have been involved in an accident where the tire failure is not a straightforward blowout, you will find additional information on tire blowout negligent repair accident lawyer Los Angeles.
What Compensation May Cover After a Tire Tread Separation Crash
What’s actually recoverable depends on the evidence, who’s found liable, the applicable insurance coverage, and the severity of your injuries. Depending on the specific facts of your case, compensation may include:
- Emergency medical care
- Hospital bills
- Surgery
- Rehabilitation
- Future medical treatment
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Vehicle damage
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Wrongful death damages, where applicable
If your case involves a fatality, our Los Angeles wrongful death lawyer resource explains how those claims work under California law. There’s no set formula that applies across every case, and what you’re actually entitled to depends on the specific facts once liability and the full extent of your injuries are established.
California Deadlines That May Apply
Many California personal injury claims generally must be filed within two years, under California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. This applies to claims against a private party, whether that’s a manufacturer, a repair shop, or a negligent driver.
Product liability and negligence claims still require timely investigation regardless of the filing deadline, since the physical evidence involved, particularly the tire itself, tends to disappear well before any legal deadline arrives. If a public agency’s road condition contributed to the crash, that deadline can be significantly shorter, often six months, under California Government Code § 911.2.
Preserving the failed tire early matters more than almost anything else in these cases, since evidence can be lost through repair, disposal, or ordinary wear well before the legal clock ever becomes a factor.
How Attorney Adrianos Facchetti Reviews Tire Tread Separation Claims
Every case starts with understanding exactly how the crash happened, including whether the tire failed before the collision occurred or was damaged as a result of the crash itself, since those are two very different starting points for an investigation.
From there, we work to make sure the tire is preserved and properly inspected by a qualified expert. We look at the tire’s age, tread depth, DOT code, and any applicable recall history, along with repair, installation, and maintenance records tied to that specific tire. Whether the vehicle was privately owned, rented, a commercial vehicle, or part of a company fleet changes which parties and insurance policies may be involved, and whether the crash involved a rollover, a truck, a rental car, or multiple vehicles shapes how the claim gets built.
Medical records get reviewed closely to understand the full extent of your injuries, and we identify what insurance coverage may apply across every potentially responsible party. Throughout the process, we make sure the correct deadlines are identified and protected, including the shorter timeline that applies if a public road condition may have played a role. For crashes involving another vehicle in a more conventional sense alongside the tire failure, our Los Angeles car accident lawyer resource explains how fault and insurance coverage typically get reviewed in that broader context, and our blog post on whether you should get a lawyer after a car accident in California offers useful context if you’re still deciding how to move forward.
Talk to a Los Angeles Tire Tread Separation Accident Lawyer
If a tire failure caused your crash, it’s worth having someone look into what actually happened before the tire gets discarded, repaired, or lost. That physical evidence often can’t be replaced once it’s gone.
The Law Offices of Adrianos Facchetti offers a free consultation, with no upfront cost and no fee unless we recover compensation for you. We won’t promise a specific outcome before understanding the facts, but we can give you a clear, honest sense of where things stand. Reach out through our website to talk about what happened.
