Tire blow out

[tking1]

I bought a truck from a dealer that has since gone out of business,I told him that I would not buy the truck unless it had new tires on it. He agreed to put on a set he had. I use this truck just to get lumber dirt ect. This is a 02 F250 7.3 diesel. The tire he put on were stock size Firestones they looked good new.
Fast forward 1 year,We took a trip to the bay area to visit are kids and would be using the truck. Trip was fun and on the trip home at a little after 12:00 pm the left front blew out sending us into the median. My wife was driving since I was getting tired. I thought that the truck was hard to keep straight on the road before the blow out was due to me being tired and the road having grooves in it from trucks. I was constantly moving the wheel to keep it straight but not a lot.
When we stopped at a rest stop along I 5 before we changed drivers I looked at the tires and they all looked normal.
Ten minutes later pop and the wild ride into the olyanders in the median. Changed tire to the stare. Drove to the next off ramp and looked at the damage. The fender was bent in , the brake hose bent. the tie rod was bent in a v shape, and a lot of paint scratches and a ton of little white spiders from the bushes.
Call for a tow truck and 2 hours later he tows us to Redding. We got home at 5:30 am.
Call the insurance people and had the truck fixed 7k later and 1 " New set " of tires from Big O. We also find out the new tires we got were 10 years old, all old spare tires from other trucks.

Six months later the insurance company sends us a letter saying after there investigation my wife was 51% at fault for the accident. Our premium was being raised 10.00 a month. My wife and I were upset that this was there finding. They never looked at the tire and told her she should have been able to keep the truck going straight. The steering wheel was just something to hang on to and the brake was useless at the time it blew. My opinion is the dealer is at fault. I also think the insurance company is lazy on this due to no personal injuries.

[smotrs]

That sucks man. Definitely the dealer is at fault or at least guilty of negligence for putting such old tires on. Unfortunately the are out of business, do other then going after the previous owner, not much you can do.

Glad to hear your all ok other then just shaken up

Sent from my LTEVO using AutoGuide app.

[tking1]

I kept the old tire and let them know he had did this to others in the past. His lot was gone but he still had a shop in town that they could have easily got a hold of him. Still they did nothing, the guy that talked to my wife said they never looked at the tire or new how old it was.

[jesilvas]

Yea, bad dealer, but also buyers fault for not checking them for over a year. I know, you shouldn'tve had to, BUT the ball was in your court.