Citation

Unione AJ, Erdmann RC. J. Saf. Res. 1977; 9(3): 108-119.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1977, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between defectively manufactured tires and tire failure is discussed. Empirical data from four regional surveys are used to determine the probabilities of vehicle accidents due to tire failure. The probability of an accident from systematically induced failure is then estimated using tire warranty claims and tire failure cause data. Estimates of accident frequency due to manufactured-in defects range from 150 to 5900 per year, involving from 2 to 85 fatalities, when determined by various methods from the regional data sources available. Within this range, the best estimate of annual fatalities caused by defective tire failure is shown to be between 40 and 50 with regional variation within a factor of 4 on the low end and 2 on the high end. Mean difference comparisons of the regional data sources were done to determine the quality of data and to ensure that comparison of these data was valid. Part of the variance in regional results can be attributed to differences in methodology.