aolbur

We are contemplating a class action suit against Bridgestone for defective tire furnished for both 2006 (Potenza RE92) and 2007 (Turanza El 400-02) Scion tCs.

These tires cause the vehicle to spin out of control when the brakes are applied at 35 miles per hour on either wet pavement or ice. Bridgestone confirmed that these tires are not rated for use on ice but the tires have been stock issue on vehicles in the Chicago area.

There may also be liability on the part of Toyota for specifying these tires with their vehicles.

If you have been involved in an accident or have experienced injury due to these tires, please contact wiring65@aol.com with your information.

krustytheclown

Once again, noobs abusing the Breaking news option.

dgHotLava

fixed...

krustytheclown

Woo-Hoo!

engifineer

You will lose miserably. The tires do not grip well, I will give you that. If you spin out on wet pavement for that.. it is called poor driving. On the stock tires I could (and I tested this before putting on my new tires so I could compare) STAND on the brakes (we have abs.....) on solid packed snow or on wet pavement at 50 mph and never so much as start to lose control. It didnt stop quickly due to poor grip, but the abs keeps it in check. And mine had roughly 32,000 miles on them at the time. I drove through 2 winters in MN on those tires as sucky as they are. If you are slamming the brakes on while turning.. that is poor driving technique all the way.

I am guessing some ambulance chasing attorney is trying to leverage the fact that the manufacturer would rather settle out (even if not at fault) rather than get the publicity.

The stock tires suck.. but they are not "defective". People just like to blame their own mistakes on someone else. The sue happy culture we live in is just amazing to me.

ScionJim23

iTrader: (1)

I agree with engifineer. He's 100% right. I drove with them for a winter here in NY and it was one of the worst winters we've had in a while. They do suck but if your a good driver, you'll be fine. I've since bought winter tires for the stock rims and summer tires w/ new rims. All is good now.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

Class action lawsuit. Tires. Hahah! What do you think we drive? Explorers?

Sounds more like a defective driver to me.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

Oh... and why not 2005 tCs included in your "lawsuit"? They had the RE92s as well.

draxcaliber

it is just the capabilities of the driver and the car too. i drove my tc in the snow first winter i had it, yeah, it was squirrly, but manageable. then drove my mom's new subaru legacy 2.5 gt limited WHICH HAS THE EXACT SAME SIZE OEM BRIDGESTONE RE92 TIRES and it handled just fine with the awd. anyway, why sue toyota, they didn't make the tires defective, bridgestone did. your just suing toyota because it has deeper pockets. i hope their army of corporate lawyers eat you alive.

2fast4you

Please don't waste your time or the court's time with this frivolous lawsuit. It's not the tires, it's the inexperienced drivers behind the wheel. Toyota/Lexus, Subaru, and Honda use Bridgestone Potenza RE92 and Turenza EL 400 as OEM tires without issues and that is due to more mature and responsible drivers that tend not to take as many risks and are more diligent in maintaining their tires (i.e. proper inflation, regular rotations, etc).

This is just an attempt at a pay day, nothing more. If you are disappointed with the performance of the tire, change them; it's cheaper than paying a lawyer $75-$125 an hour and a $60 filing fee.

aolbur

Vehicle had 8,000 miles at the time of the spinout. Treads on right front tire are completely stripped. Left front tire shows abnormal tread wear.
At 6,000 miles the Scion was serviced and there was no indication of excessive tire wear.
Driver is experienced. Wet pavement was due to light, continuous rainfall. Loss of control occurred when applying the brake at 35 MPH.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

Sounds like a bad alignment that wore the tires down. If the alignment gets out of whack, tire wear can happen REALLY fast. Any modifications to the car? Lowering springs? Coilovers?

engifineer

Right front was "stripped"? What do you mean by that? Abnormal tire wear... did you have the alignment checked? A tire doesnt just start wearing in an odd pattern for no reason.

If the tire literally fell apart on you and you wrecked the car, then you may have reason to sue for YOUR wreck. You in no way have a right to a class action lawsuit. The only other complaints of wrecks (out of 3 forums) I have yet to see people blaming on the tires were 100% crappy driving and younguns who expect the car to stick like glue regardless of thier carelessness.

"Experienced" driver in no way infers "good" driver. Most everyone over 16 has some experience, yet the majority are horrible drivers.

I am still wondering how you managed to spin the car by hitting the brakes. Did the abs fail? I cant get this car to spin by applying the brakes on ice unless I start turning first. And that would be my fault in that case. There is more to this than you are stating for sure. And it still sounds like you are trying to blame someones (or yours.. whoever you are talking about) mess up on someone else so you can make some money on the deal. The car has a very well set up abs system. Again, you can stomp on the brakes on snow and the car will not spin out, the abs wont let the wheels lock.

blitzblue1032

Sounds to me like just the front 2 tires were "abnormaly" worn down. could be because of excessive burnouts, excessive speed around corners, "abnormal" driving in general really... a very good friend of mine had a "spinout" about 8 months ago going about 35mph around an off ramp in a drizzling rain and his was due to driver error and he admits that. he is a GREAT driver but everyone makes mistakes due to under-estimation, ive had BOTH sets of tires on both of my tCs with 25,000 plus miles on each set and i have had no problems what-so-ever, just accecpt the fact that it was driver error, save urself some time, money and embarrassment and leave well enough alone. that is all. -end rant

aolbur

Driver has many years of accident free driving.
ABS system did not engage. Driver in front of vehicle was travelling at 35 MPH and proper distance was maintained. When brakes were applied on wet pavement,holding steering wheel straight the car went into a spin that resulted in impact on the left front side at the tire hitting a tree.

We have read about other drivers losing control of the vehicle with these tires and are investigating possible multiple occurrences of these events. If so, there will be a basis for class action. The purpose of these postings is to determine if there is a pattern with these manufacturer products.

locondcoco

x2

engifineer

IF the ABS actually did not engage, then that is your issue, NOT the tires. And at 35 mph you dont get much slide and spin out of this car, period.

And if the "proper distance was maintained" then there was no reason to apply emergency braking force sufficient to do what you said happened. Sounds to me like someone was following too closely, wrecked because of it and wants to blame someone else for their mistake.

You have zero basis for class action for the types of incidents you mention, period. The only way you will get money would be due to a stupid judge and a crooked attorney, like the one who sued for the woman burning herself with the coffee from mcd's.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

Ya, um... last I checked: ABS Failure != Tire Problem.

WTF?

nodsetse

Hmm...OP just joined and only has posts in this thread. Troll?

2fast4you

There are countless people on this forum and many other that own Scion tC with the tires in question (including myself) for well over 8,000 and have not experienced excessive tire wear or loss of control. As the others have asked:

-- Was the alignment checked?

-- When were the tires rotated last?

-- Where on the tire contact patch was excessive wear seen? Outer or inner?

-- Did tread separate from the tires?

-- Assuming the tire did not deflate, what were the tire pressures?

-- Did the tire pressure or ABS light illuminate anytime before the accident?

--Where was the vehicle serviced? An authorized Toyota/Scion service bay? National auto parts retailer (i.e. PepBoys, Midas, etc.)? Local mechanic?

-- Have you checked the ECU for over-revving (a sign of burn-outs, street racing, and overall misuse of the vehicle)?

-- If you know for sure the vehicle was traveling at 35 mph, I assume the vehicle left skid marks, were there visible grooves in the skid marks?

-- What is the condition of the rear tires?

-- Was the driver making steering inputs (i.e. turning) while braking?

-- What was the posted speed limit?

-- Was the road the accident occurred on well traveled?

-- Was the suspension of the vehicle in question modified or any OEM parts replaced or damaged prior to the accident?