NHTSA Complaint #10472771 — 2004 KIA SEDONA

ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2012, MY WIFE TOOK OUR GRANDDAUGHTER SHOPPING. AFTER DROPPING HER OFF AT HOME, MY WIFE PROCEEDED TO DRIVE ~30 MILES HOME. ON THE WAY SHE NOTED A THUMPING SOUND COMING FROM THE FRONT PASSENGER SIDE TIRE. SHE STOPPED AT A GAS STATION ABOUT HALFWAY HOME TO CALL ME AND ASK THAT I COME OUT TO CHANGE THE TIRE. AT THAT TIME SHE NOTED A BLISTER IN THE TIRE SIDEWALL. MOMENTS LATER THERE WAS A LOUD BANG AND THE TIRE BLEW OUT WHILE SITTING AT THE GAS STATION. THE FOLLOWING DAY I TOOK THE VEHICLE BACK TO THE FIRESTONE DEALER WHERE THE TIRES WHERE PURCHASED IN THE FALL OF 2010. AFTER LISTENING TO A LITANY OF EXCUSES FOR THE FAILURE, INCLUDING; SHE (MY WIFE) MUST HAVE HIT A POT HOLE, TIRES WERE UNDER INFLATED, FRONT WHEELS WERE NOT ALIGNED, TIRES HAD NOT BEEN ROTATED, FINALLY THE SALESPERSON CONCEDED THAT THE TIRE SHOULD NOT HAVE BLOWN OUT. THE BAD TIRE WAS REPLACED AT MINIMUM EXPENSE TO ME, BUT I PAID FOR MOST OF THE OTHER FRONT TIRE, IN ORDER TO HAVE TWO TIRES WITH SIMILAR WEAR ON THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE. *TR