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HABLAMOS ESPAÑOL
(877) 880-4090Have you ever seen pieces of a tire on the side of a road? A tire likely blew out while someone was driving, leaving that debris behind. Blowouts are sudden and can cause drivers to lose control of their vehicles.
Standard semi-trucks have four axles with four tires on each to carry the load and a steering axle with two tires. Although this can vary, standard trucks have 18 tires. If even one of them blows out, it can cause an accident.
If you sustained injuries in a truck tire blowout accident, you might wonder who is liable to compensate you for your damages. Fielding Law explains.
Semi-truck tires can have up to seven layers of rubber, chemicals, fillers, and reinforcements. Many conditions can cause tires to blow out, and blowouts can cause accidents.
Any accident involving a tractor-trailer has the potential to cause catastrophic injuries. Injured accident victims likely face extensive medical treatments and long recovery times. What’s worse is that you’ll probably also miss work so that you won’t have that income.
When you hire Fielding Law to represent you, you don’t have to worry about those things. We’ll fight for your right to get the compensation you deserve.
Manufacturing defects can happen with any product, and tires are no different.
Although tractor-trailers have multiple tires, each can only bear so much weight. Tires can blow out if the truck’s cargo is too heavy or improperly balanced.
Only a few people enjoy incredibly high temperatures. On a sunny, 85-degree day, blacktop roads can get as hot as 110 degrees. If the air temperature is 102 degrees, a blacktop surface can reach 161 degrees. When you combine that heat with the friction produced by an 80,000-pound truck traveling at high speeds, those tires can get very hot. When the heat builds up, the rubber inside the tire can stretch, crack, and explode.
Underinflation or over inflation causes the inside of tires to flex past their designed limits. Every tire has a recommended air pressure because it needs the right amount of air to carry weight. You need enough air pressure without having too much.
Like passenger vehicle tires, tractor-trailer tires wear out over time. The tread is worn down, and the walls can thin. These and other factors make old tires likely to blow out.
Small objects like nails can puncture a tire without causing an immediate blowout. However, they can weaken that tire over time and cause it to blow out. Larger objects that puncture tires can make them blow out instantly.
Cracks in the road, potholes, and debris can significantly damage tires, especially if they’re older or weak.
Tire manufacturers recommend rotating tires to maintain even tread wear. Uneven treads can cause tire weakness, handling issues, and blowouts.
There’s a potential for several parties to be responsible.
Those lists may vary, depending on if and when someone became aware that a tire was a blowout risk. When someone knows or should have known about a safety hazard but doesn’t do anything to fix it, they are guilty of negligence. Timing of this knowledge is crucial because if someone became aware of the dangerous tire but didn’t have time to fix it before a blowout, assigning liability can become challenging.
A challenging claim becomes even more difficult if a government agency fails to maintain the road. While you can file claims against the government, you must follow stricter guidelines, procedures, and a shorter timeline. These differ by state. You’d generally have four years to file a claim in Taylorsville, UT. However, if your claim is against a government agency, you only have one year.
Depending on the root cause of the tire blowout, you may need to file your claim quickly. That’s why it’s crucial to contact a truck accident attorney soon after your accident. Your lawyer will tell you how long you have to file your claim and immediately begin investigating your accident to build your case.
Negligence is the basis for most personal injury claims and lawsuits. All the parties mentioned above have a duty of care to ensure the safety of others. To prove negligence:
Say the company or person responsible for truck maintenance knew the tire was bad due to age, a puncture, uneven tread wear, or manufacturer recall. In any of those situations, a reasonable person would fix or replace the tire. If they don’t, they’re being negligent because they know it’s risky to let the tire stay on the truck as-is.
Determining which party or parties are guilty of negligence is crucial to a truck tire blowout accident because that’s who is responsible for paying damages.
It takes a thorough investigation to determine who knew about the truck tire and when they knew. While you could attempt to perform this investigation on your own, you probably don’t have the resources. Fielding Law does.
If you sustained injuries in a truck tire blowout accident, they’re probably serious. You need to spend your time focused on recovery, not handling a challenging claim on your own. Another factor to consider is that people typically obtain more compensation when a lawyer represents them and handles their claims.
When you hire Fielding Law, your attorney will:
You’d have to accomplish these tasks on your own if you don’t hire an attorney. These things take time, effort, and money. Fielding Law won’t charge you unless we win compensation for you, so there’s no risk to you and many benefits to hiring our firm.
You’ll get the power of a large firm and the personal attention you deserve. Fielding Law’s #1 focus is our clients, so you’ll always have access to your attorney. We have won over $60 million for our clients and would like to win compensation for you too.
Begin with your free case evaluation. We’ll assess your case, tell you what your claim is worth, and how we can assist you. You can reach us 24/7, so there’s no need to wait. Use live chat, submit our contact form, or call us at (877) 880-4090.