NHTSA Complaint #11570645 — 2023 VOLKSWAGEN ARTEON

Tire info: Continental Procontact Size: 245 / 35 R 20 I was driving on city streets at normal speed during a rainy day. I turned right from one road to another road, and as I started to accelerate out of the right turn, my driver side front tire blew out and the TPMS started screaming because it read the tire pressure as 0. I immediately pulled over and checked the tire and saw a huge gash on the side wall, close to the rim. The road I was on was not pristine or super smooth, but it did NOT have any large bumps or potholes and I wasn't going that fast to begin with. I have only had this car for a couple of months and it only has approximately 1,000 miles on it. If this had happened at highway speeds I think it would have been much more dangerous. I had to call roadside assistance to change the tire for me. The tire that blew out is completely unusable now and the wheel is also damaged, presumably because I had to drive it a short distance so I could park safely and have the tire change in a safe spot. The tires are the factory default that came with the brand-new car. I should note that AFTER this incident, I went home and started researching online and very easily saw that there are MANY VW Arteon owners whose cars with the same 20" Continental tires have also been experiencing blowouts, often multiple times and for no good reason, and have not been able to get any meaningful response from VW or Continental. So this is not an isolated problem and I believe the government should investigate and make the companies do right by their customers affected by this safety defect in their products.