2001 Ford F-250 SD: tire blowout or tread separation

Filed Jun 16, 2015 · Tires · 42,498 miles · MO · crash · 2 injuries

On september 12, 2011, a kumho road venture at tire, size lt235/85r16, dot k2oryd4a3508 (manufactured at kumho?s binh duong plant in vietnam in the 35th week of 2008) suffered a catastrophic tread separation, resulting in severe injuries to the front seat passenger of the ford f-250 and the death of her son, who was 32 weeks old and still in utero. A lawsuit has been filed against kumho tire co., inc. And kumho tire u.s.a., inc. In the united states district court for the district of kansas (case no. 2:13-cv-02393-jtm-tjj). During the discovery stage of the case, the passenger retained troy cottles, a renowned tire failure expert. After inspecting the subject tire, mr. Cottles found the following defects in the subject tire: (1) inadequate bonding between belts (trapped air/steam blister impressions); (2) premature oxidation of the belt skims; (3) belting defects (coincidental belt endings, irregular belt wire spacing, gapped belt splices, dog-eared splices, snaking, and spread cables); (4) cord shadows on the innerliner; (5) low top belt width to tread width ratio; and (6) inadequate application of nylon cap plies. As part of his work on the case, mr. Cottles tested two exemplar kumho road venture at tires of the same size as the subject tire that were also manufactured at kumho?s vietnam plant. Both of those tires failed in sidewall failure mode in approximately 10,000 miles or less under proper loads, inflations, and speeds that were monitored daily. See attached test reports and photographs. This information is being submitted by the attorneys for the injured passenger, and with her permission, in hopes that this tire (and those similar to it) will be investigated and recalled to ensure no one else is needlessly injured or killed as a result of these dangerous and defective tires....updated 07/30/15 *bf updated 10/23/2017

Filed Jun 11, 2014 · Tires · AL

Tire blowout with complete tread separation while traveling on interstate pulling a horse trailer. Was able to safely pull to shoulder & change tire for spare. Tread damaged truck panel, tailpipe & bent front axle of trailer. Tires were well maintained and had been checked before departure. Tires were nitto terra grappler lt 285/75r16 126/123q load range e.

Filed Jun 16, 2011 · Tires · 36,000 miles · TX

I had another uniroyal liberator tire (265/75/16 e-rated, light truck tire) failure. Both tires failed within one thousand miles of each other and in the same exact way. I filed a complaint with the federal safety agency on the first tire approx. 2-months ago. Both tires at about 35 to 36,000 miles, while driving at speeds approaching 65 MPH formed a balloon on top of the tread causing an imbalance. After changing the tire, it exploded in the bed of my truck. It was obvious to me that a tread separation had occurred. One could see the smooth areas where the tread had separated from the belt carcass versus the area where the tread pulled away when it exploded. These uniroyal liberators should be recalled because of how quickly this failure occurs. Both tires had plenty of tread and were run within the proper pressure ranges (70 to 80 psi). I have sent uniroyal email complaints concerning these tires. I have one remaining on my truck that will be replaced because I know it will also fail any moment. Please do what you can to get these tires off the market. The tires date of manufacture was 14th week of 2007.

Filed Feb 24, 2011 · Engine · CO

I am an owner of a 2001 f-250 super duty, I have had the problem with spark plug ejection from the heads of my motor. The first time this happened was with the oem plugs still in the motor, the second time I had the blow out repaired already and all plugs were replaced but yet again a little over a year later the plug in another hole blew out. This time I had all holes patched with a stainless steel insert. Both times I had to pay well over $50.00 for towing and the last repair bill was in excess of $800.00. I am a full time student and single father I do not have the resources to pay for constant repairs because of an engineering problem with oem equipment, from what I have seen on the internet and told by my mechanics this is happening to almost every vehicle with these types of motors. Thank you for your time and effort in looking into this matter.

Filed Aug 28, 2010 · Engine · 70,000 miles · OH

I have experienced 2 spark plug blow outs on my ford f250 with a 5.4l engine leaving me stranded out of state twice. I live in ohio and I had my first spark plug blow out in w virginia while en route to s carolina for vacation. The second incident was last year in pennsylvania. Now I have another plug about to blow out!

Filed Jan 26, 2010 · Engine · 65,000 miles · VA

The engine blew out another spark plug! This is a major design defect! Ford said the plugs blow out due to improper torque of the spark plugs. Which is impossible since I used the ford required torque on my spark plugs and I used anti seize on the plugs threads! This is a ongoing problem! I know a person that has only 50k on there 5.4 engine and the factory installed plugs and those blew out too!! Ford needs to recall these engines and correct the problem. I pulled both of the heads off my f-250 and had stainless steel threaded sleeves installed at the machine shop ! Hope this takes care of the problem! I don't trust the trucks engine design for a long trip or even take it on vacation! I am worried the spark plugs will blow out while I am on the highway or out off town! Please help us to get ford to recall this problem as soon as possible please!!!!! I have had 3 other plugs blow out before this ! To do this type of repair is very expensive and unnecessary! But must be done to fix the problem I hope! This is a major design defect and ford should be made to correct it! We paid hard earned money for these vehicles and should not have to deal with this type of repair over and over !! I'll never buy another ford if ford does nothing regarding the spark plugs! I am a certified mechanic and I have never seen any other type of engine have this problem ! Please help ! This problem is not even covered under the extended warranty !!! This is very bad for ford!!! They have nice vehicles but bad engine heads !!!

Filed Jan 9, 2010 · Engine, Fuel system · 58,274 miles · NJ

I was driving home friday january8th at 7:30 pm when my spark plug blew out of motor while driving, shooting fuel out of cylinder as coil was still connected and arcing on motor.I lost power and had to get to side of road I could not fix because threads of cylinder head were damaged when blowout occurred.fortunatly this happened within a couple mile of my home, if this were to occur on highway with traffic around the loss of power and potential for fire would have been very dangerous!

Filed Nov 2, 2009 · Engine · 78,234 miles · CA

I was on a delivery with my 2001 ford f 250 v10 with 8 thousand miles, when I heard what I thought was tappet noise then I heard a pop and then realy loud exhaust noise like I lost a exhaust manifold seal, I pulled over to find I had a suddden spark plug blow out, I was on a delivery and work in the hollywood andthe production needed me at location on time, so I drove it there after I isolated t he spark plug wire from grounding by floating it in air by purring it threw the oil dip stick, I drove on with the 9 remaining cylinders and made my delivery, I was out 250 miles and had to return to la for a child custody hearing so I drove it back the whole way sounding like a tug boat, it was like I was lindberg crossing the atlantic I did not know if I would make it, but I did, I called ford and they want 700 to re tap the hole and put a insert in, I looked at the consumer complaints and see hundreds of people have had the same issue, I think ford should recall the engines and fix the thread issue.

Filed Sep 16, 2008 · Engine · 94,500 miles · CO

On sunday, august 14, 2008 I was driving my 2001 ford f-250 with a 5.4 liter engine and I heard a loud pop which was followed by a loss of power and a noise that sounded like a large exhaust leak. When I opened the hood I noticed one of the spark plugs had blown out of the head and had broken the coil, ripped the spark plug boot and stripped the head. This is the second time in 1 1/2 years that I have had a spark plug blow out of the head. (these were two different spark plugs). This is a costly repair and many others have had the same problem. I contacted ford and they told me there was nothing they could do to help me and then tried to sell me a new vehicle instead of fixing the one I have.

Filed Jun 16, 2008 · Tires · KS

I was driving on a 2-lane state highway at approximately 65mph. My pickup is a 2001 ford superduty diesel supercab 4x4. The weather was overcast, temperature about 75 degrees. I was pulling an 18' flatbed "car hauler" type trailer, total weight (trailer & load) approximately 1,000lbs. I had driven 60 miles with no indication of vibration or problems. I stopped for an hour then resumed driving. I noticed some vibration, so stopped and checked both pickup and trailer tires. Inflation was good and there were no indications of problems with any tires. I continued my trip. Within the next 5 miles the tread separated from the left front (drivers side) tire on my pickup. The pickup immediately lurched to the left across the centerline. I regained control and was able to pull off the shoulder without further incident. The tread separation damaged the fender, running board, inner fender, insulation liner, and front bumper. There were no persons injured. I was able to "tie-wrap" the inner fender panel back in place and install the spare tire to continue the trip.

Filed Feb 20, 2008 · Engine · 86,000 miles · PA

I have a 2001 ford f-250 with a triton v10 engine when I was driving I had a spark plug blow out of the engine block and was laying on top of the engine sparking. I have sent an email to ford and when they replied to me they said that there was nothing that they could do about it and that it was not a safety issue. Well I my self feel that it is a safety issue when there is an open spark on top of the engine sparking next to the fuel line. I have done research on this topic for a long time hoping that it would not happen to me well it has happened and I am afraid to drive my truck now that I see that there is a spark next to a fuel line. Ii really hope that people will not have to die from this defective aluminum head that ford uses on these engines to prove that it is truly a safety issue. Not to mention that there are ford owners all around the world that are having to pay thousands of dollars to fix something that is not at all their fault.

Filed Dec 21, 2007 · Engine · NC

Spark plug blow out of the cylinder head.