Pirelli tire with 20,000 miles blew out on highway. *

- Mclean, VA, USA

I bought 4 bf goodrich traction T/a's from big O tires in san ramon, ca for my 2005 Audi A4 2.0T, and within a year (12,000 miles) the front two were showing cracks in the sidewall, one of which into the cords. That tire got replaced immediately. The assistant manager at big O, james, told me "it happens all the time", and "probably from rubbing against curbs". he thought the one that just had surface cracking around and no damage to the cords was okay to not replace "should be fine". one and a half months and one freeway blowout later, it's obvious the tires were all bad for some reason. The back two: One now showing same sidewall cracks and the other one blew out. Front one not replaced is more pronounced. The blowout had the tread fully separated from the sidewall. James, when I came back to find out what could be done about these clearly defective tires, spent most of his time trying to refute there was a problem and even tried to argue that they were the wrong tire for the car (a stupid argument for multiple reasons, including that they sold them to me and that their website still recommends it for my car....he calls to their "tech center" to prove his point, only to find out he was wrong...what a waste of time). Needless to say there was no mention or concern about my family's safety; a business that should make customer safety the #1 priority should at least say something like "was everyone okay", or "I'm sorry to hear you had something so bad happen". instead it was just james trying to find ways of brushing it off, just like he did a month and a half earlier, when a frightening freeway blowout could have been avoided perhaps if someone who both knew tires and cared about a customers safety had checked them out instead of these dangerous crooks. These tires were clearly defective, and I hope the NHTSA can help determine if this was a one-time event, or if there is an ongoing safety issue with these tires. Thank you.

- San Ramon, CA, USA

Never had to replace this many tires in this short amount of time. 2005 Audi A4 purchased in October 2005 20,000 miles Dec 2005 - rr, bubble/bulge spotted, replaced with spare Jan 2006 - rf, bubble/bulge noticed, replaced, purchased at Audi Mar 2007 - lf, bubble/bulge noticed, replaced, purchased at discount tires June 2007 - lr, hole patched by discount tires Nov 2007 - rr, hole patched by Audi Mar 2008 - lr, just discovered a bubble/bulge Continental conti pr 235/45R-17.

- Villa Park, IL, USA