Tire Tread/belt problems of the 1996 Toyota 4Runner

Tire blewout during long-distance interstate highway driving. Daylight. Clear skies. Safely pulled vehicle to the side of the highway. Tread seperated. Failure debris damaged fender, running board, and mud guard under fender. ( dot number: w2h awb tire size: p225/75r15 ).

Tire failed while at highway speeds. Tread separated from tire and was lost (couldn't see it at night). Location was on interstate 15 just south of barstow California. Temperature was approximately in the in low 50s. Before the tire failue, I felt a vibration in the vehicle for a few miles, which gradually grew larger. Suddenly the sound of the car changed drastically (as the tread separated, I presume) and I heard much road noise. At first I thought that the road had changed its surface from asphalt to something more noisy, like a "chip-sealed" road surface with oil and cinders, but then I heard more noise and a bit of sideways shaking, and I pulled over. I never felt the car pull sideways at all, or even slow down (but, the cruise control was on). When I pulled over, I had driven a good 1/4 mile or so on the failed tire. I don't know when it lost air pressure, but by the time I got off the road, I could see that there was no tread, and that the remaining surface of the tire had been sliced by the rim, as it rolled on the tire once pressure was lost. I never thought about this tire failure until the publicized reports of similar failures on similar sized tires of the same make and model. I suspect the issue with the p235 sized firestone tires may well apply to other sizes, such as my p225 tires. We are going to replace all of our remaining tires with new ones, and will hold on to the old ones, in case of a recall on that size. ( dot number: tire size: p225/75r15 ).