NHTSA Complaint #11438793 — 2015 TOYOTA AVALON

Tire Size 225/45 R 18. The tire had slightly over 3,000 miles on it. 1. Rear driver side tire that is in my possession and available for inspection, but is in 2 parts. 2. My wife and I traveled from Brandon, MS to Birmingham, Al for a medical appointment early the next day. In Tuscaloosa, Al driving in right hand lane approximately 60 MPH the handling became rough, the tire blew out, causing loss of control and throwing the vehicle in center lane, fortunately no other vehicle was there, I regained control and moved to side of road without out any physical injury. 3. After attempting to change the tire, a wrecker had to be called and towed to the only tire store open, Firestone. The technician removed the tire and said the tire separated and was replaced with a new tire. 4. Upon returning home, the tire was taken to my dealer who inspected the tire, said it was too torn up (2 pieces) to tell if it was structural failure and Continental would not do anything. He said if tires fail it is in 1st 1,000 miles and something must have been hit. I advise that nothing was hit, that Continental needed to know about the tire. He offered no further assistance. 5. Tuscaloosa & Birmingham are roughly 50 miles apart, a little prior to reaching Tuscaloosa, the low tire sensor came on, which it will do occasionally, did not notice any change in how the vehicle handled and planned to have it checked out at a Continental dealer in Birmingham the next day.