NHTSA Complaint #11687606 — 2025 KIA K5

Tire size: P 235/45 R 18 While I was driving home from work my steering started feeling a little shaky. My commute is 6.5 miles. I thought it felt a little weird about 2-3 miles in and I called my boyfriend to meet me when I got home because I could tell something was off, but my tire pressure was fine. When I was about .5 miles from our home, the shaking became audible and violent so I got scared and pulled off. I called again for help while I was parked and walked around to see if there was anything weird and I could not see anything. About 3-4 minutes later while I was sitting in my car waiting, my tire exploded. It shook my car and was so loud that people ran out of the building I was in front of to see what happened. At this point, I had a tire indicator come up saying something was wrong. When I walked around my car again, I saw in one of my tires the cords came out and split in middle of the tread causing separation, and the tire still had air in it. It also scratched my paint around the tire. When I had help come, we put my spare on and got it home, and we took it to a tire dealer the following morning. They all were shocked at how new the tire was and what happened. Everyone is so glad I was parked when it happened and upon research, this is a common occurrence with this brand and type of tire anywhere with 1000-10000 miles on it. My vehicle is less than 6800 mi and the specialists even said the tire had basically no wear and was faulty. On top of that, Pirelli warranty essentially refused to process anything and the dealer that THEY told us they would work with, Pirelli kept hanging up on them. They would not give me a name, let me speak to a supervisor, or give me a call back number should the call “disconnect” again. The dealer was able to comp the tire through their management, but even then, the issue of the faulty tire remains, and based on what I felt, I don’t want someone to get hurt having this happen to them while their car is in motion.