NHTSA Complaint #11595809 — 2017 FORD F-350 SD

Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure, LT265/70R18. On [XXX] at 113806 miles, I discovered that the driver's side front tire on the vehicle was flat in my driveway. Investigation revealed a puncture in the tread of the tire, caused by a gravel stone still lodged in the tire. Based on the amount of protrusion of the stone and the lack of any visible wear on it, I concluded that the stone must have originated in my gravel driveway when returning home the night before. The tire had been installed on 6/20/2023 at 104513.5 miles, being in service for 1 year and 9293 miles, not even 20% into its expected life. Initial assessment of the damage to the tire, including the puncture size and longitudinal shape, suggests that repair will not be feasible and the tire will require replacement. While a flat tire due to foreign objects is commonplace, the safety concern here is that a simple small stone from a gravel driveway should not have been able to cause the failure of a 'Kevlar reinforced' all-terrain truck tire. I believe the materials or construction of these tires may be defective and may have insufficient tensile strength in the tread material, causing them to yield and fail at much lower forces than are to be expected from tires in highway use. At any rate a well-packed gravel driveway that has been in use for many years should not be a challenge to the safety and performance of a truck tire rated for highway use. This tire failure comes less than a month and 1000 miles after a more dramatic and catastrophic failure of another tire of the same model on the same vehicle. While coincidence cannot be ruled out, two failures of the same model tire, both related to weak or defective tread sections, points to possible defects that should be investigated. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)