Stock tire sidewall failure?

I was driving down the highway today and the back-left tire catastrophically failed at speed. It looks like the sidewall just ripped perpendicular to the tread. I didn't hit anything as far as I can tell, I even pulled my dashcam footage to double-check.

When the tire failed, it felt like the time I had a tread completely separate in a blowout. I had full pressure one second, and the next nothing, with the back end lurching sideways. I was surprised how intact the tire was after how fast I lost air.


Here's what the failure looks like:




Closer up:



I was in the left lane with no shoulder, so I had to pull across 5 lanes of traffic with the failed tire. Some of the damage might have been from that. Not sure. The giant missing chunk close to the valve stem concerns me though.

In case it matters, my truck's somewhat of a pavement princess. I have only gone on fire roads -- nothing I'd consider offroading.

I'm looking for some CSI:Tacoma World here to determine if this is from me hitting something, or from the tire failing from defect. What do you think? Is this a common occurrence for these tires?

 

Looks like you hit something based upon the missing chunk of sidewall.

 

The old Firestone blow out.

 

I wonder if somebody knifed your tire...

 

I don't think this is possible. I was driving on the highway for a half hour or so before it blew.

 

Mileage at failure?

I’m leaning towards defect. Hard for something to only hit the sidewall at highway speed, specially without you noticing.

 

Notice any sidewall deformation prior to this happening?
Curious to know if there's a splice there...

 

~10k

No deformation at all. This was completely unexpected.

 

Check all remaining tires, inner and outer sidewalls for blisters

 

Remove the tire from the rim and look and see if there is black powder inside the tire. A large amount of black powder inside the tire indicates the tire had deflated and run low then failed. No powder indicates you hit something or the tire failed because of a defect. Tire failure due to a defect is very rare.

 

Check all your paperwork from when you bought the truck. Double check to see if you have the tire protection plan.

 

...RIF

 

Beat me to it.

 

Looks like you hit something

 

Hmm,

I wanna know what the tire experts determine here.

Glad your ok man and good luck getting it sorted out.

 

Looks to me like you hit something. Or for a better term. You picked up something. You can see where it appears something was stuck in sidewall. Up at top of injury near crown of tire. You can see where it was at where rubber was rubbed clean. The injury is not uniform like bulging sidewall where belt(s) would break. Injuries due to belt breaks are smooth lines an often half round shaped. If you look on inside you might find some object or tire dust meaning it turned into a run flat. Doesn't take long for heat build up to break down inner liner of tire.

After looking at whole tire on wheel you can see where it was running low on air due to different color sidewall. Also if you run your hand down sidewall of tire. You can feel what look like lumps in sidewall which also means it was run low on air just before failure.

 

You seem pretty knowledgeable...
I'm wondering, why is the 'wound' offset?

 

Its all about which belts were weakest when damaged due to injury prior to failure.

 

Looks like something you hit. Could have been days before the failure.

Wife drive your truck lately? Ha

 

You probably smacked the sidewall on something some time in the past causing a week spot. If something else punctured the tread to cause the tire to lose pressure, the week spot would blow out as the tire flattened. I had this happen on twice over the last 30 years.
Could also just be crappy Firestone tires. I will never own them again after I had one in the late 70's that threw a steel belt right through the tread at highway speed and chewed up the fender of my brand new car. Firestone would not even replace the tire under warranty.