Randy Barnhart

Continental Tire - Tread Belt Separation Recall

This was posted on the NHTSA website March 14, 2011:

"CONTINENTAL TIRE IS RECALLING CERTAIN CONTITRAC TR TIRES, SIZE LT275/70R18 125/122S OUTLINE WHITE LETTERS AND BLACK SIDEWALL, AND CONTITRAC, SIZE LT275/70R18 125/122S, BLACK SIDEWALL, PRODUCED FROM MAY 6, 2007, THROUGH SEPTEMBER 20, 2008, SOLD AS AFTERMARKET AND INSTALLED AS ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT ON SOME MODEL YEAR 2008 AND 2009 FORD F-250 AND F-350 TRUCKS. SOME OF THESE TIRES MAY EXPERIENCE UNEVEN WEAR, VIBRATION, OR PARTICULARLY UNDER CONDITIONS OF OVERLOADING OR UNDER INFLATION IN HIGH AMBIENT TEMPERATURE USAGE, SEPARATION BETWEEN THE BELT EDGES"

Consumer groups: Type of van in NY crash unstable

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – A church van that blew a tire and rolled over on the New York state Thruway, killing six people, is a type that some consumer groups have been calling unsafe for nearly a decade.

Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety both told The Associated Press on Monday in response to a question that they have been pushing for years for recalls, retrofits and redesigns of 15-passenger vans on the grounds that they are unstable.

via news.yahoo.com

See more on my 15-passenger van accident attorney microblog.

Ford's m.o. is to blame the tire, which of course could also be defective, but even with a defective tire and a blowout, the van if safely made with no defect in its architecture, should not have rolled over. In a case in California involving a Ford 15-passenger van in which I and my co-counsel have just recently filed a complaint, a rear Cooper tire failed and the van rolled over resulting in death and severe injuries. Isn't it time to get these murderous machines off the road for good?

Twittering a Major Verdict Against Ford for Explorer Rollover

There were no reporters present in Laurel, Miss. when a jury handed down a $131 million verdict against Ford after an Explorer rolled over, killing a young man who was on track to play baseball for the New York Mets. Hours after the verdict, there was no coverage of a case that involved a high profile victim, a major corporation, and the possibility that more than four million Ford Explorers are dangerously unstable.

Adam Penenberg heard about the verdict immediately from the defense lawyer. Hours later, he was amazed to see there had been no major media coverage at all. So he turned to Twitter.

Firing off more than 50 tweets in two hours, Penenberg related the entire story of the fatal accident, the case and the verdict.

via www.readwriteweb.com

After the verdict came in, Ford settled the case for which it must pay for the rollover-prone and thus defective Ford Explorer. Penenberg's article can be found here. Says Penenberg:

There is ample proof that more than 4 million Ford Explorers were dangerously unstable and prone to rolling over at far higher rates than other vehicles, including other popular SUVs. In fact, according to government accident statistics, one in every 2,700 Ford Explorers built between 1990 and 2001 (when Ford finally reengineered the vehicle) rolled over and killed at least one person in the car.

The figures for the Ford Bronco II, the precursor of the Ford Explorer, are even more frightening: one in 500 Bronco IIs ever produced was involved in a fatal rollover. But you won't find many publications willing to go there. Perhaps they are fearful of losing Ford advertising dollars.

To this day Ford denies its Bronco II and Explorer is dangerously defective. Ford is wrong and should be held accountable, over and over again if need be until it becomes a responsible manufacturer. Click here for more.

15-passenger van accident

The 15-passenger van is so unstable and thus fundamentally defective that it strains the mind why such things are allowed to exist. Here it is on the showroom floor:

Here it is rolled over:

Yes, this 15-passenger van also had a defective tire which resulted in a tread separation at highway speed. Still, the van should have been and could have been manufactured not to rollover even with a tire tread separation. Please, don't get in these death traps. If I never get another one these cases because there are no more of these rollover vans on the road then I'll know that my past work in holding the manufacturers of these 15-passenger vans accountable was worth it.

Public Safety - Proper Vehicle Tire Inflation

Although my products liability and insurance bad faith law practice is nationwide, my base camp is in Denver, Colorado.  So, I was concerned when I came across this recent survey by the Rubber Manufacturers Association of vehicle tire inflation in the Denver area:

NATIONAL TIRE SAFETY WEEK
2010 TIRE PRESSURE SURVEY FACT SHEET – DENVER

• Only 10% of vehicles had four properly inflated tires.
• Nearly 52% of vehicles had at least one under inflated tire.
• 18% of vehicles had at least one tire under inflated by 8 pounds per square inch (psi).
• 24% of vehicles had at least one tire under inflated by 6 psi.
• 34% of vehicles had at least one tire under inflated by 4 psi.
• Tires may lose up to 1 psi per month.
• Many vehicles equipped with tire pressure monitoring systems would not issue a warning even after a drop in tire pressure of 8 psi. These systems issue a low pressure warning only after tire pressure drops 25%.
• Properly inflated tires can improve fuel efficiency by 3.3% and save $.09 a gallon at the pump. Approximately 1.2 billion gallons of fuel are wasted each year by U.S. motorists driving on under inflated tires.
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that under inflated tires contribute to more than 600 fatalities and 33,000 injuries each year.

The survey was based on three hundred and seven vehicles’ tire pressures checked by Peerless Tyre Company outlets in the Denver area.

In my practice, manufacturers of defective tires, tires which suffer catastrophic tread separation for example, typically plead that the victim failed to properly inflate the tire or failed to maintain proper tire inflation.  Check your tire pressure.

Used Tires = Dangerous Tires

Perhaps because of the weak economy or higher tariffs on new Chinese tires, sales of used tires have skyrocketed. Tire sellers maximize their profits by selling used tires. An article in the trade magazine, Tire Business, asks: “What can used tires do for your dealership? Actually, what can't they do might be an easier question to answer. Used-tire trade-in programs can boost both volume and gross profits, as well as help independents compete against mass merchandisers.”

But what may be a boon to the tire retail market is not necessarily good news for the safety of the motoring public. And, consumers looking for a good deal on a used tire may be buying themselves bigger and more expensive problems down the road.

Used tires are most often sold with a simple visual inspection, which provides no indication about the inner condition of the tire. Most used tire sellers have no knowledge of where the tire came from and what stresses they may have been subjected to. Not surprisingly, used tires – even those that appeared in good shape and with sufficient tread depth – have been implicated in catastrophic accidents caused by tire tread separations.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association, a tire industry trade group has estimated that 30 million used tires are sold to motorists each year – amounting to about 10 percent of all tires sold annually in the U.S. See e.g., Sales of used tires kick up new concerns - Auto safety group seeks stricter regulations for selling worn wheels, which can cause deaths, David Shepardson, Detroit News, Washington Bureau.

That inventory is gathered from a variety of sources: tire service center scrap heaps, salvage yards and web classifieds. Most used tires come from large multi-state recyclers who pick up scrap tires and “recycle” them back into the marketplace. If a tire has at least 2/32nds of an inch of tread left and no obvious visual defect it’s resold—after a cleaning and sometimes even a coat of black paint to make it appear newer.

There’s a reason why that used tire was discarded by the first purchaser. But the second purchaser won’t know the reason and odds are, the used tire seller won’t know either. Many defects in a used tire won’t be readily visible and some of the damage is invisible to the naked eye.

Read more here ...

15-Passenger Vans with Cooper Tires = Fatal Rides

Soon, co-counsel in various jurisdictions and I will file a major, personal injury and wrongful death action in California against several defendants, including Ford Motor Company and Cooper Tire. The 15-passenger van experienced a left-rear tire tread separation and then rolled over, injuring many and killing one. The 15-passenger van was a defective Ford van made doubly dangerous by being mal-equipped with defective Cooper tires.

The passengers, our clients, never reached their destination as they rightfully expected. After the short and fatal ride, NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), issued a "Research Note" which found:

• In 2007, fatalities to occupants of 15-passenger vans increased nearly 20% from the previous year.
• In 2007, there were 45 fatalities in 15-passenger vans that rolled over, 73% more than in 2006.

In our case, the fatal ride occurred in 2008. To our injured clients, and to counsel, fatality  trends  are absurd.

Point of concern: The NHTSA Research Note concluded: "All new 15-passenger vans being manufactured now have [Electronic Stability Control] ESC as standard equipment. When enough data are available, an analysis of the effect of ESC on rollover fatalities in 15-passenger vans will shed more light on this issue."  NHTSA fully expects that 15-passenger vans will continue to rollover; that is, vans without ESC will not be recalled as fatally dangerous and defective! Even if fatalities decline going forward, there will still be numerous van rollovers, many causing severe personal injury and death.  No single vehicle mishap -- a tire tread separation, for example -- should rollover, no matter the driver's skills. Tires should not suffer tread separations, but if they do, the vehicle should not roll over.