Consumer Complaint Detail

GENERAL / AMERI 550 / 9999

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 002096942 Incident Date: Jul, 27 2002
Consumer's City: LEXINGTON Consumer's State: SC
Vehicle Transmission Type: Manufacturers Name: GENERAL TIRE & RUBBER CO.
Model Name: AMERI 550 Model Year: 9999
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Suspension
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Jul, 30 2002 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: -
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: No
Number of Cylinders: 0 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: Was returning from charleston, sc to columbia, sc sunday 7/28/02 about 7:00 pm after a hot day on interstate 26. after about an hours travelling time, in which the car felt out of alignment or tires out of balance due to bad roads in charleston, there was a loud bang, the car pulled or fishtailed in heavy bumper to bumper traffic. i compensated steering and was able to slow and pull to the side of the interstate. the other vehicles surrounding me moved and/or slowed to give a wide berth. i had thought that perhaps an axle or cv joint had broken, but upon walking and looking around the car i found all tires fully inflated, but then noticed that the rear tire behind the driver's seat had about two thirds of it's tread layer missing and bare steel wires were exposed. i went online and looked up general tires, read about stress cracks appearing where the treads met the sidewalls, then inspect the only other general tire left on the vehicle- it had continuous small cracks there. i called the manufacturer, who would only participate partically in the tire replacement cost if i used their tires again- i refused their brands and bought goodyears instead. we were fortunate to have lived through the tread coming off, and i'm not sure that anyone else that may have driven the car would have!*ak