Check Your Tires!

[tirEd]

Austin, TX (PRWEB) June 30, 2009 -- Harley-Davidson, Honda and Goodyear Dunlop should investigate a number of motorcycle crashes involving sudden deflation of Goodyear Dunlop D402 and other tires, attorney Billy Edwards said today. The tires, installed as original equipment or sold as replacement tires on touring and cruiser motorcycles, may need to be recalled, he added.

Five more instances of sudden deflation of the Dunlop D402 tire have been reported to the safety website, UnsafeMotorcycles.com (Unsafe Motorcycles with tire defects that lead to motorcycle crashes. Check for Model: Harley Davidson Ultra Classic and the Honda Goldwing), he noted. Four of the incidents involved Harley-Davidson classic touring motorcycles and one involved a Honda GL 1800. All occurred in the last 13 months, he said. The latest incident occurred in Marino Valley, CA, he said. Others have been reported in Massachusetts, Texas and Georgia, he said.

"We believe this is the tip of the iceberg. The defect in these tires appears to be worsening as the tires age, leading to more instances of sudden deflation and serious injury," Edwards said.

These reports join at least two lawsuits filed recently involving allegations of Goodyear Dunlop tire deflations, one in Butte, MT, the other in Atlanta, GA.

According to the allegations described in a lawsuit in the Butte, MT crash, a defect in the bead seat area of the tire allowed excessive leakage of air leading to a "sudden and catastrophic deflation" of the tire. Stephen Gageby, Butte, MT, was killed, and his wife was seriously injured in the resulting crash, the suit says.

The Georgia suit was filed in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia, Athens Division,(Case no. 3:09-cv-74 ), and involved the death of a passenger Patricia Morris. Among other things, the suit alleges Harley-Davidson knew it was "false and misleading" to represent that its 2007 FLHTCU and its tires were safe for carrying up to two riders weighing more than 250 pounds each, plus their cargo and motorcycle accessories.

The Montana suit (Cause No. DV-08- 480) was filed Nov. 10, 2008, in the Second Judicial District Court, Butte Silver-Bow County. Attorneys representing the Gageby estate are Michael McKeon, with the law firm of McKeon and Anderson, PC, Butte, MT, and Billy Edwards, with the Edwards Law Firm, Corpus Christi, TX.

[tibadoe]

May have to check my tires. Thanks for the info.

[Terryg43]

Gonna check my tires also...Thanx...

[shopdog]

Originally Posted by tibadoe

May have to check my tires. Thanks for the info.

How are you going to check? The article doesn't say you can see any signs of imminent failure. If the bead lets go, apparently it lets go with no warning.

Of course this could all be lawyer spin, trying to make some money off the Motor Co for wrecks that were most likely pilot error.

[gruss]

just put on 401's a couple days ago. any mention of those?
or just the 402 series?
g

[Blackdog 15]

That's why I run Metzler ME 880's front and rear... Dunlop = junk...

[tirEd]

It appears that a lawsuit is pending, and the reports keep coming in. So it looks like it's more than "spin" and the defect might finally be officially acknowledged.

This is the latest press release:

Touring Motorcycle Tire Deflations Require Investigation

Drive safe out there!

[3OliveMartini]

so umm sudden deflation is code for blow out?

yes?

[Nathang]

so umm sudden deflation is code for blow out?

Maybe not, if by blow out you usually think of some rupture or split of the tire body, this sounds like it just stope fripping the rim and lets the air out with a whoosh, rather than a bang.

[Dave63]

If you read the many articles that are circulating about this, one bike in question was overloaded with 2 people and gear.

The "fault" that's being looked at is a "defect" with the bead, that allows for air to leak very quickly, causing a rapid deflation. Once the air psi is low enough, the tire will slip off the bead and the end result is usually a crash.

The story appears to have started on this website, Unsafe Motorcycles with tire defects that lead to motorcycle crashes. Check for Model: Harley Davidson Ultra Classic and the Honda Goldwing which, although promoted as a "safety website" is obviously a law firm's private "advertizing/trolling" page. Later, it gets posted here, Touring Motorcycle Tire Deflations Require Investigation, Attorney Says on a site which is a paid press release for vehicles, and most likely paid for by lawyers.

There have been a total of 6 reported cases in the US, which is hardly an epidemic, IMHO, and the way that it's being reported, most likely, is by lawyers.

Not saying it's not real, but until Accident Investigations are conducted on each and every one of these vehicles to determine if the tires were old, worn, overloaded, or deflated as a result of carcass failure or secondary structure failure due to a puncture or due to a secondary impact or a result in of the accident themselves....this is all legal speculation on the part of lawyers to get at the deep pockets of Dunlop and Harely Davidson.