My wife was traveling along on the interstate when the tread separated from the left front tire. The tread separation destroyed the left front quarter panel and driver side rear view mirror. The vehicle was no longer drivable and had to be towed. We contacted our insurance company to start a claim for the damages caused by the tire. The vehicle was towed to a body shop for repair. The vehicle is being repaired and should be ready soon. I went to the tire store where the tires were purchased 1.5 years ago. The manager mentioned that it was a defective issue and contact Bridgestone. I called Bridgestone and they mailed me a claims form. Bridgestone is requesting me to ship the tire to their facility for inspection. I feel that I should not have to ship the tire to them and they still may not honor the claim. I have the defective tire and pictures of the damage that was done to the vehicle. We have been without the use of the vehicle since August 11, 2006. The tires on the vehicle are Bridgestone B420 in size P205 70R14.

- Mebane, NC, USA

I was driving about 65 mph South on I45 about 10 miles N. of huntsville and starting to feel the steering wheel shaking from gently to violently in a short time. 2) think of having a flat I slowed down and began to pull over to the shoulder. While the car was slowing down and before getting on the shoulder I saw rubber pieces flying and heard several loud thumps coming from the left front side of the car. When the car came to a stop, I heard a loud fizzle sound and the car immediately leaned to the left. I got out of the car and found that all of the rubber covering road-contacting surface of the left front tire was gone exposing metal wires and the base rubber. I also noted that the left side of the bumper, the left front fender and mudguard of the car were damaged, distorted pushed closer to the left front door. The peeled, flapping and flying apart rubber also caused numerous black streaks and marks on the fender and the bumper. The left front door below the door handle was also scrapes. 3) I replaced the blown out-tire with a factory provided never-used spare tire and drove to a discount tire store on South shaver road on the way home to have the separated tire inspected. The tire technician confirmed verbally that the tire tread separated. He called general tires and was told that I have to make the call myself since this involves property damage. I drove home and called general tires to report the problem and was told to wait 5-7 days for further instructions by mail. I was to keep the blown tire and other tires that came with the car until their investigation completes. The blown out tire, the spare and the other three tires already on the car are of the same size, model, manufacturer and came with a 1999 toyato Camry when purchased. Tire manufacturer: General, model hp 400 A/S, size P205/65 R15. The dot number on the tires are acur 2V1 178.

- Seabrook, TX, USA

Around 15 months ago I purchased a set of yokohama tires for my Toyota Camry from my Toyota dealer and as soon as they put them on I noticed drivability problems in the form of steering shimmy. The dealer thought that one of the tires must have tread separation so they replaced the suspected tire; although I thought it drove somewhat better I still complained about the shimmying. Over the course of the next 15 months I continued to complain and they rebalanced and rotated the tires but it has continued to worsen over time. So I suspect that all 4 tires suffer from the problem and that the manufacturer had a run of defective tires.

- Ely, IA, USA

Three of four Michelin tires experienced tread separation, resulting in erratic and dangerous behaviour of the vehicle, a 1999 Toyota Camry. Tires were purchased in December 2001 from sears, who only would pro-rate the tires. The dot #S for two of the tires are 2xj9 dmx 2001 and 2xj9 dmx 1901. I did not retain the dot number from the first tire that failed, as I thought that it was an isolated incident. However, three of four tires failed, indicating that there is a manufacturing problem/defect. Luckily, the separations were detected before any obvious damage was caused and before any blowouts occurred. They did, however, result in dangerous behavior of the car, especially on wet or snowy roads.the Camry was used as a family vehicle and did not experience any unusual use. Tires were inflated properly and checked periodically. The first tire failed in approximately April 2003, the second in May 2003, and the third in July 2003. Fourth tire showed no obvious signs of failure, but was replaced anyway.

- Two Harbors, MN, USA

The cooper tires (sears steel belt pi 95/70R14) on the vehicle all were defective, one tire experienced tread separation while driving.

- Denton, TX, USA