Defective Cooper brand Cobra tires were the cause of a fatal accident that killed four teens and injured four others, according to the lawyer for several of the families. Cooper has recalled defective tires in the past.
The Florida teens were driving in a Ford Explorer on Interstate 295 when the tread on the left rear Cooper Cobra tire separated, causing the vehicle to flip, according to Florida Highway Patrol reports. A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of one of the injured teens against Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. and three other defendants.
Cooper tires have had an “outrageously high number of tread separations,” the teen’s lawyer said. There have been other Cooper Tire lawsuits filed and settled in the past several years, including one with a $32 million verdict.
“People have been dying all over the United States for a number of years because of Cooper Tires,” the teen’s lawyer said. A Cooper executive responded that the crash had nothing to do with the tire’s design or safety.
The attorney also commented that there is no indication that the tires weren’t properly maintained and that the owners had taken the vehicle to a service station to have two tires replaced just two weeks before the accident, indicating that if the defective tire had needed to be replaced, the service station would have noted that.
Source:
http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-06-08/lawyer-blames-tires-crash-killed-4-teens
