Steer tire blowout causes fatality

If you’re ready for it,and don’t panic.
I always see the yoo-hoos with the foot up on the dash and one hand on the wheel and think…..

 

Yep they're gonna die or kill somebody or both.

Don't panic and DO NOT get on the brakes. Hold on and let off the accelerator the truck will slow down on it's on. Jamming on the brakes will end up turning the truck over.

 

I'll try and remain cordial, but that friend ended up killing himself and I miss him dearly, and if Breeze said it was no big deal, it was no big deal. Watch what you say, Jack. Daycab FL cabover, yeah, could be tense, but a large car I could see it could hardly be noticed.

 

Blew one in a construction zone Jersey Barrier situation back in 1998 on I-95 right around Sadler's exit in Emporia VA.

In a Cabover, nobody was beside me, thankfully. Drove that rim off the highway at 25mph, called Schneider and said bring me a rim and steer. Done in 2 hours.

2025.......3 weeks ago noticed my steering felt heavy after I just got loaded, about three hours into my day. Pulled over into a Waukegan IL oasis, and sure enough had a 20K mile almost new Bridgestone M283s steer with a 3/8's bolt through it, down to 50 PSI.

Pomps Tire service was there within an hour. Excellent enough service didn't even mind the 1100$ bill. 800$ tire

The man even charged me for a $15 valve stem replacement. LOL, he never took the rim off the axle. I'm good with it, that was good service.

In 30 years of driving those are the steer's I've blown.

 

If you can hear air leaking slowly and the truck gradually pulls then it’s not a blowout, likely a split in the sidewall that opened up. A guy who works for my cousin had a blowout (all the air leaving at once) in a long hood Pete and he ended up in the ditch. Right side fender was gone, headlight was gone, right side hood panel was creased, air cleaner was dented, passenger side step was dented, and the exhaust elbow was damaged. Not exactly “no big deal” like your friend claimed.

I’ve never had a steer tire blow, but I’ve lost a lift axle tire once and the the truck pulled to the left pretty strong because once it went it dumped a bunch of weight onto the steer axle on that side.

 

I'm not saying it can't be catastrophic, one of my bosses said to save the pieces. To be clear, the friends steer tire didn't BLOW, it simply deflated and came off the rim. It was a large car Pete, that surely helped, but he said he expected much worse for a steer tire, and never happened, Obviously situations are different, and the rim was junk, but Breeze was no BS'er, and if he said it was no big deal, I believe him.

 

In my 32 years in the tire business doing defect inspections for warranty and damage claims I can say that 5% of steer tire blowouts result in a loss of control. Traveling Speed at pressure loss time is number one factor. Number two is hitting brakes. Steer axle brakes react badly and pull hard toward the unstable side. Power steering or not it makes things heavy on that wheel. Trucks are driven on the governor these days. You need room on that throttle to accelerate lightly to level things out and lighten up that failed corner. Ot many drivers can do this.

 

Back in 2003 my boss got called in to testify on a case that involved Michelin’s XZE. Steer blew and caused fully loaded cattle truck to side swipe and rip open a motorhome and kill the wife of a Michigan snowbird on IH-37 north of Corpus. A bad wreck that didn't make the headlines. We inspected the tire and found small evidence of a puncture hole. No rust or wicking evidence so it was fresh. The family was suing Michelin. This was a time when we just got out of the Firestone recall and the epa had just banned a handful of major tried and true chemical compounds that helped rubber last long and not crack and rot. So the tire makers had to start from ground up again. Because of this both Michelin and Goodyear were having major issues with building a tire that would stay together at that time and failures and lawsuits were plenty.

 

What was the outcome of the case?