Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

More and more, I learn about catastrophic car accidents occurring due to the fact that the tires on the vehicle have outlived their safe life.

Vehicle manufacturers typically recommend a tire replacement every six years and most tire manufacturer warranties cover the tire for six years. However, many tire manufacturers and industry experts recommend replacement of tires before ten years.

Over a period of time as air migrates through a tire, the effectiveness of the chemical compounds added to the rubber allow the tires to become soft and flexible, which weakens the tire, causing it to become brittle and lose strength. In the South and Southwestern United States and other areas where the tire is more likely to be exposed to heat and ultraviolet rays from the sun, structural changes are more likely to be found than in more moderate climates.

Continue reading "Car Defect Lawyer Weighs in On Tire Safety and Time Limitations" »

The Yokohama Tire Corporation is recalling certain AVID Touring S tires, size 215/65R16 98T SL, produced between February 2009 and April 2009.

These tires may have been produced with an irregular geometry in the casing turn up area above the tire bead in the lower sidewall. This irregular geometry may lead to a lower sidewall cracking resulting in a rapid loss of tire inflation. Rapid air loss while the vehicle is in use may result in a tire failure that could cause a crash.

Continue reading "If Your Vehicle is Equipped with Yokohama Tire Corporation's AVID Touring S Tires, Pay Attention" »

One would normally think that the winter months with ice and snow on the roadway in the northeast would be the most hazardous time for drivers resulting in more car accidents.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyer since 1979, I have noticed that our firm receives many more inquiries with many more serious injuries resulting from vehicle collisions during the summer months. Obviously during the summer, kids are on break from school and families are taking vacations. Road surfaces are hot which may cause tire failures or delamination of tires as the hot air increases the tire pressure when combined with the friction of the tire on the heated road surface. Additionally, the oils used in many roadway surfaces can rise to the top and when combined with moisture from rain or humidity can lead to unknowing slick surfaces.

When we combine these factors, drivers who text while driving or drive while intoxicated after attending a summer barbecue or party and sudden summer rain storms, it is no surprise that there is an increase in fatalities resulting from catastrophic car accidents during the summer. In the Philadelphia region, many times people leave the beach to commute back to Philadelphia and are fatigued, sunburned, or dehydrated and simply put, not in the best physical and mental condition to be driving.

Continue reading "The Summer Months Are the Busiest Times for Car Accidents and Catastrophic Injury According to Experienced Philadelphia Trial Lawyer" »

For the last three decades, our Philadelphia tire defect accident attorneys and experts have investigated, evaluated, and handled some of the most devastating accidents that one can imagine as a result of defective tires.

Had it not been for the knowledge that I had gained through my experience in this arena working with experts, other qualified tire defect specialists, lawyers, and investigators, like many of my readers, I would be naive to many of the potential hidden dangers that exist when driving on older tires.

In the “old days”, I remember my father would rotate unused old spare tires onto the family car and it was generally routine to rotate all of the tires regardless of age. However, when you consider that the average age of a full sized spare tire is 9-years-old, you may be doing yourself and others you care about a disservice. The tire industry has known for a long time that older tires are dangerous.

The most common cause of vehicle rollover accidents and death is tire tread separation, which causes a loss of control of a vehicle. Even today, tire technicians at repair shops and service stations are still rotating aged tires and, worse yet, selling old “new tires” at big box retailers. Many used car dealers are selling older vehicles with old tires and the innocent and unknowing consumer is unaware of the dangers. Obviously, if a tire is bald or has insignificant tread depth or uneven wear, you run the risk of vehicle loss of control, hydroplaning, and delamination. When an unsafe tire is placed on an unsafe vehicle such as the 15-passenger van or SUV prone to rollover, the stage is set for one of the most horrific scenes imaginable and often the results are deadly.

Recently, our firm successfully litigated a 15-passenger van rollover case which killed a number of innocent churchgoers and catastrophically injured others. In another van rollover accident, the defect was traced directly to a substandard tire repair on a tire that should have been replaced rather than repaired. These tires are simply a driving hazard. All tires have a cryptic code embedded on the tire sidewall which reveals the year and week the tire was manufactured. Many experts claim that a tire older than six years old, even if it has never been driven a mile, is “like a ticking time bomb” as you don’t know what is going on inside.

In Europe and Asia, criminal authorities and tire manufacturers warn that tires over six years old should never be placed in service. The U.S. tire industry has no plans to issue a similar one.

For years, like many others, I sustain numerous tire leaks and flat tires. These were evidently caused by numerous tire punctures, and without giving another thought, I took my vehicle to the local service station to have a “plug only” or “patch only” repair. Whether it is by a local service station attendant or others who may even work at retail tire shops, many of the repairs and supervising personnel are unaware of the dangerous consequences of improper repair methods.

As an experienced Philadelphia tire defect hydroplaning lawyer for over three decades, I am all too familiar with resulting deaths and injuries that occur due to tire manufacturing flaws and repair mistakes. I have come to recognize that often the simplest and least expensive fix to defective tires can lead to tragic consequences when the perfect storm of factors exists.

Common Methods of Repairing a Punctured Tire
The three common ways to repair a punctured tire are plug only repair, patch only repair, or a combination of both. The patch only repair requires the technician to demount the tire from the rim, examine the inside tire for damage, and repair the inside. The plug only repair does not. When tire rubber is punctured, the hole tends to close up and the puncturing item is removed. The typical gas station repair man will swab the tire with soapy water and dunk it in a tank looking for bubbles and typically will not inspect the surface of the tire for puncture damage without removing the tire from the rim. With this repair technique, the plug is inserted through the outside tire with an insertion tool and make “string plug” that is covered with tacky substance is used to make the patch. The repair is typically a $5 item.

Potential Dangers of Tire Repair
Although the freshly repaired tire may seem safe to drive on, and you think that you are getting a great bargain, many tire industry publications note that the string repair allows air and moisture to penetrate the body of the tire which can cause steel belts to degrade resulting in deterioration and corrosion from within. Unfortunately, a de-lamination and failure of the tire can occur.

We are currently litigating a case where two people sustained permanent catastrophic injuries that are too horrific to mention as a result of an improper tire repair. In another one of our cases that we handled in the past, the operator of a van traveling from Florida to Philadelphia exited the highway in one of the southern states to have a flat tire fixed at a nationally known tire retailer. Ten minutes after the vehicle left the shop, the original repair failed and the vehicle rolled over killing the driver and catastrophically injuring the passenger. The unknowing and innocent consumer had every reason to expect that the repair performed at the nationally branded tire company would have been safely performed and that in fact would not have let her leave the store unless the tire repair job was completely and safely performed. Unfortunately, this scenario is more common than one would think.

Keep Your Family Safe at All Costs
Many SUV and 15-passenger van rollovers and other catastrophic accidents are caused not only by the de-lamination and failure of new tires but also due to improper tire repair which leads to tire failure.

When you and your family’s safety is at issue, do a little bit of research and educate yourself and understand that sometimes the solution that appears to be the easiest and least expensive may be the costliest and most deadly.

The auto product defect and tire defect lawyers of Reiff & Bily always offer a free, no obligation consultation and have over three decades of experience. We are honored to have been recognized by our peers as the Top 100 Lawyers in Philadelphia, Top 100 Lawyers in Pennsylvania, and the Best and Brightest Northeast Attorneys by Arrive Magazine. Contact us toll free at (800) 421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Rollover accidents are common in the summer months when temperatures and roadway surfaces are high. A tire failure or tire delamination often leads to a catastrophic vehicle rollover event. Many times after an accident, less experienced investigators or attorneys are not aware that the catastrophe was precipitated by a tire detread or delamination. It is important to preserve and protect evidence in any and all accident cases due to the fact that there may be an underlying automotive products case. Unfortunately, as a tire defect accident attorney in Philadelphia for over three decades, I have learned of all too many situations where inexperienced and untrained lawyers have not preserved the evidence and the car involved in the accident has been hauled away by a towing service, and if it was a total loss, dispatched by the insurance company to a salvage yard. A perfectly excellent legal case is destroyed.

It is important to preserve the vehicle and examine it for important evidence such as external forces at work during the collision as well as potential tire delamination. When roadway surfaces are hot and the weather is hot, increased pressure is placed on the tire which can lead to detreading and delamination of a defective tire. Delamination and tire tread defects are the leading cause of SUV rollover and 15-passenger van rollover accidents.

The experienced SUV rollover attorneys of Reiff & Bily are familiar with tire tread defects and delamination and always offer a free, no obligation consultation toll free at (800) 421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.