Are Your Car Tires Ready for Summer Travel?

This article is the third in a four-part series about summer travel safety. You can read 1 and 2 here.

How many traffic accident reports involve reports of tire blowouts? If you scour local news websites, you’d probably find quite a few. Tire blowouts play a role in the most violent and most devastating of collisions such as rollover crashes that result in catastrophic injuries and fatalities. When a defective tire fails, it is difficult for the driver, regardless of how experienced he or she may be, to regain control of the vehicle.

Summer is a time when a lot of us like to take long road trips. It is particularly important during hot weather to ensure that your vehicle’s tires are in good shape. Inspecting and properly maintaining your car’s tires can help prevent devastating accidents. The most harmful crashes involving tire-related issues occur during the summer months of June, July and August.

Here are a few tire safety tips that we hope will help you get through these summer months:

• Tire pressure: As we get ready for those summer trips with our loved ones, we need to make sure that the air pressure in the tires is correct so the vehicles are able to properly carry the load. It is a fact that most tires lose pressure from the natural leaking of air during the winter months. It is important that you consult your vehicle’s tire information placard and use a tire gauge to make sure that your tires are properly inflated.
• Alignment: Incorrect wheel alignment could result in more rapid tire wear and unusual wear patterns, both of which could be extremely dangerous. It would be best to check alignment whenever new tires or suspension components are installed.
• Tire rotation: This could help preserve balanced handling and traction. You also need to rotate your tires to make sure that your tires’ warranties are valid. The standard recommendation for tire rotation is every 3,000 to 5,000 miles even if the tires don’t show signs of wear.
• Tire tread: As tire tread depth decreases, tires lose their ability to effectively grip the surface of the road, particularly if wet conditions are a concern. To check your tire tread, measure the tread depth with a quarter. Place the quarter into several grooves across the tire. If part of Washington’s head is always covered by the tread, then your tires should provide sufficient traction, even on wet roadways.

While you can try to remain vigilant about tire safety, it is also a fact that a number of these tire blowouts occur due to defective tires. If you or a loved one has been injured in a crash caused by a faulty tire, please contact an experienced product defect lawyer to obtain more information about pursuing your legal rights.