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Often, yes, when something failed before you or the driver did anything wrong. A rollover or a tread separation at highway speed can point to a failure in design, manufacture or maintenance rather than driver error. Proving that usually depends on your vehicle and the tire themselves.
Insurers move quickly to total and dispose of a wrecked vehicle. Once it is crushed, the most important evidence in your case is usually gone with it. What cannot wait is your written demand, before you authorize anything, that the vehicle and every tire be kept exactly as they are. Call 713-521-0059.
Tread separations, aged tires sold as new, and vehicles that roll in an ordinary avoidance maneuver are the common patterns. Each points at design, manufacture or maintenance rather than driver error.
The reason may lie with the company that designed the vehicle or made the tire. It may lie with a shop that installed, repaired or serviced it. The facts decide which of these applies, and there can be more than one.
The tire itself, including its DOT date code, which shows how old it was when sold. The vehicle’s event data recorder, which can hold speed, braking and steering data from the seconds before the crash. Roof crush measurements and whether occupant space was maintained. Restraint performance, including seat belts and airbags. Service history and any recall or technical service bulletin covering the component.
These are engineering questions, and they usually require a qualified expert. That is one reason to have your vehicle secured before anyone is retained. An engineer can examine and test only what still exists, so your first responsibility is preserving it.
Tell the insurer in writing that the vehicle and all its components, including every tire, must be preserved and not repaired, altered, sold or destroyed. Send the same letter to the tow yard or salvage yard holding your vehicle, and to any rental company or lender with an interest in it. Keep a copy of each letter and record the date you delivered it.
Photograph everything before it moves. Use your phone to take pictures of every tire, the tread, the sidewall markings, the roof, the interior and the seat belts. Keep any tire that came off the vehicle, and any pieces of tread from the road, in a dry place. Do not let a shop replace your tires or discard the old ones, even if the shop offers to do it for free.
Manufacturers and their insurers raise that argument frequently in these cases. Under Chapter 33 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, a claimant may not recover if found more than 50 percent responsible. Otherwise, recovery is reduced by the claimant’s percentage of responsibility. Your best answer to that argument is usually the evidence itself. The event data recorder can show your speed, steering and braking, and the physical evidence can show how the tire and the roof behaved.
A rollover can be fatal even at moderate speed. Under Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the surviving spouse, children and parents may bring a wrongful death action under Section 71.004. A survival action under Section 71.021 carries the claims the person who died could have brought. Our page on who can file a wrongful death claim explains how that works.
Under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, most injury claims must be filed within two years after the day the claim accrues, which is usually the date of the injury. For a death claim, Section 16.003(b) runs the two years from the date of death. There can be exceptions, and the facts decide which apply. Your vehicle can be lost in days, so the deadline that matters first is usually the salvage yard’s.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Most of this evidence is physical, and it sits in a tow yard or a salvage yard that does not know it matters. The rest is paper held by the manufacturer, the seller and the shops that serviced the vehicle. You may have useful records yourself. Service invoices, purchase receipts for the tires, and any recall notices you received in the mail are worth finding in your own files now.
We start by securing the vehicle and every tire, with written preservation demands to the insurer and to whoever holds the wreck. Then we arrange for the vehicle to be documented and the event data recorder downloaded by a qualified engineer. We identify every company in the chain, from the manufacturer to the shops that installed or serviced the tires.
Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston personal injury firm with 50 plus years of combined experience representing injured people across Texas.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Written by Jacob Schiffer, Attorney, Schiffer Law Firm. State Bar of Texas No. 24105175.
Call 713-521-0059.
Tell the insurer in writing that the vehicle and all its components, including every tire, must be preserved and not repaired, altered, sold or destroyed. Photograph everything before it moves, and call before you authorize anything.
It is a code on the tire's sidewall that shows when the tire was made, and so how old it was when it was sold. That matters where an aged tire was sold as new.
It can, depending on the circumstances. A vehicle that rolls in an ordinary avoidance maneuver can point at design rather than driver error. The event data recorder and an engineering inspection usually decide the question.
In most cases, an engineering examination is necessary. These are engineering questions, and they usually require a qualified expert. That is one reason to have the vehicle secured before anyone is retained.
Under Section 16.003 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, most injury claims must be filed within two years after the day the claim accrues, which is usually the date of the injury. In a death case, the period runs from the date of death. The vehicle can be lost much sooner, so preserve it first.
Under Section 71.004 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the surviving spouse, children and parents may bring a wrongful death action. A survival action under Section 71.021 is a separate claim.