5.1
fairly significant- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 19,572 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
We were driving our 2013 Toyota Avalon on I-10 in heavy traffic. After stopping for gas, we reentered the highway and the low tire pressure light came on. Before we could pull over, the right front tire blew out; the entire interior sidewall separated. We had not hit any pothole or any other object. Thankfully, my husband was able to maintain control of the vehicle and didn't swerve into the 18 wheeler next to us. The mechanic informed us that the Bridgestone tires Toyota had placed on the vehicle had been downgraded from a 40K mile tire to a 0 mile tire. The vehicle had only 15,143 miles on it and was less than a year old. A second tire (left rear tire) was also too dangerous to continue to use (as it looked like the interior sidewall on that one was also about to separate) so we had to replace that tire as well that day. We will be replacing the other two now and will never again buy any Bridgestone or Firestone product. The absolutely substandard quality of their products placed the lives of our entire family at risk. My daughters often drive this vehicle and one of them will be taking it to college in the fall. I would hate to think of what would have happened if one of our kids had been behind the wheel when this tire blew out without warning. It is inexcusable that Bridgestone would put out such poor quality products, representing them to be a 40K mile tire, then downgrade the mileage on the tires without notifying owners and get away with that type of activity. We always maintain our vehicles and the tires were rotated and vehicle alignment checked all per normal scheduled maintenance. Tires are Bridgestone turanza el 400, P225/45R18 91V M+S, dot obrr PM1 0313.
- Lafayette, LA, USA
- Williamstown, NJ, USA