Tire Blowouts & Rollover Accidents

Michael Grossman, San Antonio Accident Injury Attorney, Discusses Rollover Accidents Caused by Defective Tires

If you have been hurt in a rollover accident, you may be considering filing insurance claims to pay for your damages, or even a personal injury lawsuit. However, before you do so, there are a few things about rollover accidents that you should know.

Experienced San Antonio rollover accident attorney Michael Grossman from Grossman Law Offices is here to help you understand how rollover accidents work and what sort of tasks you may face when seeking compensation.

The biggest mistake you can make when dealing with a rollover accident insurance claim or lawsuit is to assume that rollover accidents are just like any other car accident. Rollover accidents are very likely to involve multiple potential defendants, and yet determining exactly how the accident occurred can be a very complex process for those without extensive experience investigating these kinds of cases. Insurance companies can potentially claim that you caused your own rollover accident by careless driving, and unless you know how to investigate car accidents, there is little you can do to argue against them. Thankfully, our attorneys have twenty years investigating these types of crashes, and we know how to determine what really happened.

So How are Rollover Accidents Different From Other Car Accidents?

In most rollover accidents, the accident was at least partially due to the design and manufacturing of your vehicle and its various parts. Most commonly, tire problems can easily lead to rollover accidents. A few of the factors that can greatly influence an accident include:

• The method with which a tire was installed and mounted
• The quality and frequency of maintenance performed on the tire
• Whether the tire was the right choice for your particular vehicle to begin with

Other vehicle defects can also lead to rollover accidents, including:

• The suspension on the vehicle, both in terms of static and loaded roll resistance
• The crash worthiness of the vehicle in rollover accidents, particularly the compressive strength and rigidity of the pillars
• The performance of safety equipment such as seat belts and air bags

What Makes Tires so Complex? Can’t Anyone Identify a Bad Tire?

Though this may come as a surprise, the tire is one of the most complex systems of any modern vehicle, and certainly one of the most important. The tire may appear to be a simple piece of rubber, but in fact, it is a complex device made of layers of various materials that is designed and manufactured to extremely detailed specifications. Have you ever wondered why there are so many varieties of tires? It is because even a slight variation in the structure or composition of the tire can make it wholly unsuited to a particular vehicle.

The tire’s role in moving a vehicle is also more complex than you might imagine. People often refer to the tire as the fifth spring in the vehicle’s suspension system because the tire absorbs and releases energy just like a spring. But unlike the other parts of your suspension, the tire does not have a fixed spring strength. The tire’s condition varies greatly based on a number of factors, and this can determine whether you navigate a turn safely or are involved in a deadly rollover accident.

The weight of the vehicle presses the tire against the road, creating a flat spot on the bottom of the tire called the contact patch. Put together, the four contact patches on your vehicle have an area approximately the size of the sole of tennis shoe. As the tire is pressed flat against the ground, the temperature of the tire rises. The compression of the air in the tire, the friction of the tire traveling along the road, and even the ambient temperature in the atmosphere all contribute to heating up the tire and deforming its structure.

With such a small surface area actually touching the road, it is no surprise that even a slight variation in the tire’s structure can have devastating consequences. If the tire is not installed properly, it may not sit on the road the way it is designed to. If it is not properly maintained by your mechanic, the contact patch can be greatly diminished. Any of these simple mistakes can make a tire completely unsafe even in relatively minor turns.

If the vehicle’s manufacturer did not pick the correct tire for the vehicle, the problems can be even more severe, since even if the tire is brand new and properly installed, it can still be dangerous. But as you can probably tell, picking out the correct tire is not an easy process with so many variables to consider. Thus it can be very difficult to determine whether or not the vehicle’s manufacturer made the right choice.

But our Attorneys can Help

The legal professionals at Grossman Law Offices have been investigating rollover accident cases for twenty years. We have an in-depth knowledge of how tires work and how to identify tires that have failed. We know how to determine whether the tire’s manufacturer, the vehicle manufacturer, your mechanic, or any combination thereof are liable for your accident. Furthermore, we have a proven track record of hundreds of successful cases. This means that, when we negotiate with insurance companies about your settlement, they listen – because they do not want to face our attorneys in court. We can use previous case rulings to show how tire and vehicle manufacturers were found liable in similar accidents. In short, we know how to gather the evidence necessary to prove that you were the victim of another party’s negligence. We are dedicated to doing everything we can to make sure that you receive a fair settlement. So if you or someone you love has been hurt in a rollover accident, even if your insurance claim has been denied, contact experienced San Antonio rollover accident lawyer Michael Grossman from Grossman Law Offices today, and let us make sure you get the justice you deserve and the compensation you need.