2003 Toyota Prius: tire blowout or tread separation

Filed Jul 7, 2008 · Tires · 59,000 miles · TN · crash · 1 injury

2003 toyota prius was proceeding west on I-40 near knoxville, tn when the tread separated from the left rear tire and wrapped itself around the axle causing the driver to lose control. The car veered to the left then to the right, hit a guardrail and then hit a semi head-on. The vehicle was totaled, the driver survived with a concussion and a head wound.

Filed Oct 3, 2006 · NM

Consumer 2003 prius passenger side tire blew out. *ts the consumer thoroughly read the owner's manual on hold to change the tire. The supplied jack was used to raise the car. When the vehicle was raised a short distance the jack slid forward and the car dropped to the ground. The consumer attempted to raise the vehicle three more times with the same result.

Filed Dec 30, 2005 · Electrical, Tires · VA

Toyota prius hybrid 1. Tire blow out with the right psi and clear beautiful day. Dealer will not warranty or change tire. 2. The car stop and started running only on electrical service. Call toyota dealer and they ask me to start the car three times and it will go away. I did it and drove to the dealer they explained to me that the humidity was causing the problem. This had happen about four times and every time the humidity was high but this is and inconvenience not just to me but my wife. One of this days the easy fixing will not work them what?

Filed Dec 30, 2004 · Suspension · 16,000 miles · UT

2003 toyota prius with excessive tire wear. First tire failure (sep 03) at approximately 14k miles; total failure of tire, we lucked out. Remainder of tires replaced at about 18k miles. That good-quality set has now worn to the point of needing to be replaced at 38000 miles. Toyota admits there is a problem, but will do nothing to help the customer with it. A web search shows other owners have had this problem (tire wall failures, like our first failure) -- with some compensated, some not. There are also other defects which the manufacturer will not/cannot repair after several reports....until they blame the customer for "hurting" the car after they can't fix it.

Filed Dec 22, 2004 · Suspension · 19,940 miles · CO

Bridgestone tires supplied by manufacturer had began delaminating along inside rim because rear alignment on 2003 toyota prius was incorrect. One tire was near complete failure when discovered. The question is: does the weight of the battery pack (placed immediately over the rear axle) cause the rear suspension to misalign in normal daily driving, which in turn places extreme wear on the inside of the rear tires? Because the wear is on the inside of the tire, the problem may not be discovered before a blowout occurs.

Filed Jul 6, 2004 · Tires · 24,000 miles · OH

I had a blow out on the front right tire on my 2003 prius. The tire had a large split across the entire inside of the tire - the side you couldn't' see - as well as the spot in the outside of the tire that had blown out. The tire was completely destroyed and had very unusual wear patterns on it. The rest of the tires did not show unusual wear. I took it back to bridgestone since it was under warranty and they said it was a problem with the prius. I took it to the toyota dealer who said the tire warranty was through bridgestone. I now plan to replace the tires with higher psi tires that should have been on the car to begin with when purchased. The blow out sounded like an explosion when it happened. If I had been on a freeway I would have lost control of the car.

Filed Nov 2, 2003 · Tires · 10,719 miles · CA

Driving home on july 22, 2003 at about 4:30pm, traveling north on the 57 freeway traveling at approximately 68 MPH had blow out on right rear tire. Tire had complete blow out if side wall, vehicle had only approximately 10,700 miles. I had checked tire pressure the prior day and had 33 psi in front and 36 psi in rear as the specifications are written in the owners handbook.