general problems of the 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse

On November 28, 2015 my passenger front tire explosively failed coming out of a left turn at about 25 mph causing my car to drop and swerve, crashing into a tall street curb and storm sewer drain causing $2000 damage to my car. The outer sidewall separated circumferentially from the tread. This premium tire was only seven months old with minimal wear. I check my tire pressures and fluids every time I buy gas, overhauled the suspension that summer and didn't believe it was my fault. I took the tire still on the damaged wheel to a tire failure expert who ruled out preexisting damage, unusual wear or signs of driving with low or high tire pressure; he stated there was a zipper failure resulting from a bad tire. This was the second goodyear assurance tripletred to fail on my car. I contacted goodyear and filed a claim with their property claims team. I had replaced the wheel and tire and got two conservative estimates. They required the tire to be taken off the wheel and shipped to them for inspection. Without explanation, it sat delayed at the goodyear tire and service center for weeks. The claim, #492513, was quickly denied; I received a letter which I followed up with a phone call to clarify. Goodyear's claim's team stated that they were unable to determine why the tire blew out so they refused to honor the warranty. There were no signs of it being my fault but they also didn't find an obvious defect that would cause the blowout so they conveniently denied taking responsibility for their tire or the damage from the crash that resulted from it's failure. The manufacturer of a critical component like a tire can't just refuse to be responsible when it fails and they don't to know why. I was a lifetime loyal goodyear customer until this. I have the tire and wheel and photos and won't give up until they pay for the damages.

Driving on residential street (approx. 20 mph). Car shifted slightly to right as I was rounding a curve. Came to stop sign and rear right wheel fell off. The hub cracked and broke off at bearing. . It was a very clean cut as though there was a defect in the hub. Car towed to repair shop. $300 repair bill. Repairman said he has never seen this type of damage in the 40 years he has been repairing cars. Could have been very serious had I been driving at a higher speed as on an open highway.