Tractor Tire Bead Failure and Explosion

"John Doe" vs. Titan Tire

The Willis Law Firm - Actual Case

Tractor Tire Explosion:
This tractor tire's bead failed and the tire exploded during inflation killing an East Texas worker.

Deadly Tire Explosion:
Tire marks were left in the ceiling where the tire hit after it exploded from the floor below (our client was standing over the tire).

During inflation, a tractor tire explodes killing an East Texas tire worker. Tire bead failure is suspected as the cause of this accident. According to witnesses, the tire workers had difficulty in getting the tire to seat all the way onto the rim and then suddenly, without warning, the tire exploded while a tire worker was nearby. The force of the blast caused major head injuries to a 36-year-old worker, which resulted in his death. Clients contacted attorney David Willis of Houston, Texas to represent the surviving family. Suit against the tire maker and distributor was filed and discovery initiated. Products liability claims included: failure to warn of danger, manufacturing defective tire bead, manufacturing defective tire, and manufacturing and distributing a product with a design defect (the tire and the tire bead bundle in question).

The tire bead is a structure composed of high tensile strength steel wire formed into hoops. These hoops function as anchors for the plies and hold the tire assembly onto the rim of the wheel. The tire bead is the inner edge of the tire that contacts the wheel flange and presses against the bead seat. The bead seals against air loss in tubeless tires and grips the wheel rim for transmitting various loads such as steering, traction and braking. Tire bead failure can cause the complete loss of air pressure in the tire as well as detachment of the tire from the rim. Tire bead failures and tire bead explosions may cause a loss of vehicle control which may result in serious injury and even death.

Most tire beads consist of five steel (piano type) wires all parallel in a continuous rubber tape or ribbon, which loosely secures the wires in a soft insulating rubber. The ribbon is wound into a hoop, commonly made of five courses. The end result is a grommet composed of a bundle, or stack of wires. A cross-cut view of the bead grommet will reveal a stacking of wires, five high and five wires across, also known as a five by five stack.

This bead bundle, or grommet, has ten cut wire ends. The first five wire ends are at the inside cut edge, or at the beginning of the bead wrap, and the last five wire ends are on the outside cut edge, at the end of the bead wrap. The bead slice is the place where the bead bundle wires are spliced. For example, assuming the inside cut edge, or the start of the bead bundle, is positioned at the twelve o'clock position, a clockwise wrap of the bead ribbon would result in the outside cut edge being found at the one o'clock position. This area of overlap between the twelve and one o'clock positions is called the bead splice.

Distortion in the bead grommet will occur if the area of the bead splice happens to be the last portion of the bead to seat. When a tire is mounted on a drop center wheel, its beads are forced on by inflationary air pressure within the tire from the drop center well of the wheel onto, and against, the vertical surfaces of the rim flanges. The tire beads proceed outward and slide up a ramp where the beads are said to "seat" in their final resting position against the rim flange. A splice, is always the weakest point and prone to more separation, distortion and failures.

It is possible for the grommet of wires, or bead bundle, to separate into a configuration where not all 25 wires in the bead bundle are carrying an equal load. Once the wires forming the grommet become separated, one wire may end up carrying the full inflation load of the pressurized tire.

If by chance the unstabilized location happens to be in the area of the splice at the inside cut edge of the first five wires, where the bead bundle begins, the tensile strength of the wire carrying the full load of the inflating air is exceeded and it will fail. At the instant when the first wire breaks, the load is immediately transferred to the next wire, which will also break. In rapid succession, all of the other wires in the bead bundle will follow suit and rupture. A bead will not break unless the beginning of the bead wrap, splice or area of overlap, is trapped and is the last to seat.

WARNING: Beads can rupture in mounting and the rupture frequently occurs at the ends of the ribbon. Bead breakage may occur when the area of the bead splice is the last to pass upon the rim.

If the ends of the ribbon on the inside of the grommet are not in the last portion of the bead to seat on the rim, no breakage will occur. However, since the ends of the ribbon cannot be determined after the bead grommet is built into the tire, whether or not the area of the splice is the last to seat on the rim is completely a matter of chance -much like playing Russian roulette, except with a ballistic missile.

Tire Defects - Serious Accident and Injury Legal Help

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured, or a loved one has been killed, as the result of a tire defect, tire failure, tread separation, tire blowout, rollover accident, or any other serious injury accident, then please call us to discuss your legal rights to a potential product liability lawsuit. Please fill out our online form by following the link below or call us right now: Toll Free 1-800-883-9858.

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