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Tire Safety and Blowout Statistics 2026

May 2, 2026 Updated May 23, 2026 Search Tires Team

Explore 50+ tire safety statistics for 2026 - 78,000-plus crashes per year, blowout data, underinflation rates, tread-wear and aging, state-by-state breakdowns, and prevention. All sourced and cited.

Tire Safety & Blowout Statistics 2026: 50+ Stats on Crashes, Injuries & Prevention

Last updated: May 2026 · Reviewed annually

Tire failures cause more than 78,000 crashes, 10,000 injuries, and 400 deaths on U.S. roads every year — and the most recent NHTSA data shows the death count climbing. Yet most tire-related crashes are preventable: 69% of vehicles drive with at least one underinflated tire, only 19% of consumers maintain proper pressure, and four out of every five tire-aging claims involve tires older than six years. Whether you're a driver, an attorney, a fleet manager, a journalist, or a safety researcher, this page compiles the most important tire safety and blowout statistics in one place — all sourced and cited. This in-depth report is part of our Tire Industry Statistics 2026 series — a 50+-stat overview of the entire U.S. tire industry.

Key Findings

78,392 crashes per year in the U.S. due to flat tires or blowouts (NHTSA, DOT HS 811 617).
10,275 injuries and 414 fatalities per year from tire failures — and 2024 NHTSA data shows 511 tire-related deaths.
69% of vehicles have at least one underinflated tire per a Rubber Manufacturers Association survey.
Only 19% of consumers properly inflate their tires and only 42% check pressure regularly.
3× crash risk for tires underinflated 25% or more — and 70%+ of blowouts happen at highway speeds above 50 mph.
45% rollover rate for SUVs in tire-related crashes — substantially higher than passenger cars.
2,821 OOS tire violations at 2024 CVSA Roadcheck — 20.8% of all out-of-service violations, second only to brakes.
84% of tire-aging claims involve tires older than 6 years per NHTSA's foundational tire-aging research.

📑 Table of Contents

Tire-Related Crash & Fatality Statistics
Tire Blowout Statistics
Flat Tire Statistics
Tire Underinflation & Pressure Statistics
Tire Tread Wear & Aging Statistics
Vehicle-Specific Safety Statistics
Tire Safety by State
Tire Recall Statistics (2020–2025)
Prevention, TPMS & Driver Behavior
Frequently Asked Questions
Methodology & Sources

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78,392 crashes · 10,275 injuries · 414 deaths per year in the U.S.

Tire failures remain a significant factor in motor vehicle crashes. The NHTSA Tire-Related Factors in the Pre-Crash Phase study (DOT HS 811 617) remains the most-cited compilation of tire crash data and is updated against newer NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) figures each year.

78,392 crashes occur annually in the U.S. due to flat tires or blowouts.
10,275 non-fatal injuries per year result from tire-related crashes.
414 fatalities per year are attributed to flat tires or blowouts in the foundational NHTSA study.
511 people died on U.S. roads in tire-related crashes in 2024 — the most recent NHTSA tire-related fatality estimate.
738 fatalities occurred on U.S. roads from tire-related crashes in 2017, illustrating year-over-year variability.
9% of crashes involve a vehicle with pre-crash tire problems per the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey.
A tire is 3× more likely to be a critical pre-crash factor when it is underinflated by more than 25% of recommended pressure.
Vehicles older than 10 years have the highest rate of pre-crash tire problems — older vehicles disproportionately experience tire failure.

Tire-related fatal-crash fatalities, U.S., 2007–2013 — the last consistent year-by-year FARS census series. Source: NTSB Special Investigation Report SIR-15/02, Table B-1.

Tire Blowout Statistics

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~11,000 blowout crashes per year — 70%+ occur above 50 mph

Tire blowouts — sudden, complete loss of tire pressure caused by structural failure — are the most violent category of tire failure and carry the highest rollover and fatality risk. Blowouts are concentrated in summer months and at highway speeds.

Industry analyses of NHTSA crash data estimate that tire blowouts contribute to approximately 11,000 crashes annually in the United States, a subset of the broader 78,000+ tire-failure total.
The majority of tire blowouts occur at highway speeds above 50 mph, with failure risk rising as driver speed approaches 75 mph — the upper bound of most U.S. interstate speed limits.
Tire blowout incidents concentrate in May through October, when higher ambient temperatures, fully loaded vehicles, and long-distance summer travel converge.
Industry technical references commonly cite ~195°F as the threshold where tire compound integrity begins to degrade, with structural failure risk rising significantly above 250°F — temperatures readily reached on hot pavement with an underinflated, fully loaded tire.
Underinflation by more than 25% is a leading precursor to catastrophic blowouts in passenger vehicles, causing severe sidewall flexion and heat buildup.
For commercial vehicles, tire and wheel failure is one of three critical vehicle-related factors in serious large-truck crashes — alongside braking capacity and cargo shift — per the FMCSA Large Truck Crash Causation Study. Brake problems were coded as the most frequent vehicle factor at 29% of trucks; tire problems were coded for 6%.

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For deeper blowout analysis — including state-by-state blowout fatality data, commercial truck tire blowout costs, and detailed prevention guidance — see our dedicated blowout statistics page (forthcoming).

Flat Tire Statistics

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AAA responds to several million flat-tire roadside calls per year

Flat tires — slow leaks, punctures, and partial deflations — are far more common than catastrophic blowouts but carry significantly lower fatality risk. The flat-tire failure mode is dominated by punctures and underinflation rather than structural collapse.

AAA responds to several million flat-tire roadside calls per year across the United States, consistently among the top three roadside emergencies alongside dead batteries and lockouts.
An estimated 200 million flat tires occur in the U.S. annually, including both roadside flats and at-home discoveries.
The average U.S. driver will experience approximately 5 flat tires in their lifetime.
41% of U.S. drivers reported experiencing a flat tire or blowout in the previous 12 months.
Only 10% of new vehicles come equipped with a full-size spare tire — the rest carry temporary spares, run-flat tires, sealant kits, or no spare at all.

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This is a brief overview. For the full picture — including the “7 punctures per second” statistic, AAA call breakdown by season, full-size spare decline by manufacturer, and tire-puncture causation — see our dedicated Flat Tire Statistics page (forthcoming).

Tire Underinflation & Pressure Statistics

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69% of vehicles have at least one underinflated tire — only 19% maintain proper pressure

Tire underinflation is the single most common precursor to tire-related crashes, blowouts, and roadside breakdowns. It also costs U.S. drivers billions in unnecessary fuel and tire wear annually.

69% of vehicles on the road have at least one underinflated tire, per a Rubber Manufacturers Association survey.
Only 19% of consumers properly inflate their tires, despite universal TPMS adoption in passenger vehicles since 2008.
Only 42% of drivers regularly check their tire pressure.
Motorists driving on tires underinflated by 25% or more are 3× as likely to be involved in a tire-related crash compared to those with properly inflated tires.
10% of tires underinflated by more than 25% belong to tire-related crash vehicles — the highest concentration among the three underinflation categories NHTSA tracks.
Properly inflated tires save drivers as much as 11 cents per gallon on fuel — underinflation creates sidewall flexion that worsens rolling resistance and reduces fuel economy.
59% of drivers check tire pressure and tread depth when bad weather is forecasted (Hankook 2024 survey, n=1,012), suggesting weather is the most common pressure-check trigger rather than routine maintenance.
FMVSS 138 requires TPMS to warn drivers when one or more tires fall to 25% or more below recommended pressure — the threshold where crash risk triples.

Vehicles with a low tire, with vs without TPMS — TPMS cuts the low-pressure rate from 21.0% to 8.3%. Source: NHTSA, DOT HS 813 617.

Tire Tread Wear & Aging Statistics

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AAA: 4/32-inch tread needs 87 extra feet to stop in wet — a 43% increase at 60 mph

Tire performance degrades with both tread wear and calendar age. NHTSA's tire aging research and AAA's tread depth testing both conclude that the federal 2/32-inch legal minimum is not a meaningful safety threshold — measurable performance loss begins well before legal end-of-life.

The federal legal minimum tread depth for passenger tires is 2/32 of an inch under NHTSA TireWise guidance, but most tire safety experts — including AAA and Consumer Reports — recommend replacement at 4/32 of an inch to preserve wet-weather braking.
AAA's controlled-environment testing found tires at 4/32-inch tread require approximately 87 additional feet to stop in wet conditions at 60 mph — a 43% increase in stopping distance versus new tires.
In AAA testing, vehicles braking at 60 mph on wet pavement with mostly worn tires were still traveling at 40 mph at the point where vehicles with new tires had already stopped.
84% of tire claims in five hot-climate states involved tires more than six years old — establishing the basis for the 6-year service-life guideline.
77% of tire-aging insurance claims came from five hot-climate states (Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, and Texas), reflecting heat acceleration of tire compound degradation.
Most tire and vehicle manufacturers recommend replacing tires 6 to 10 years from date of manufacture, regardless of remaining tread depth.
Tire aging operates through two mechanisms: thermo-oxidative degradation of the rubber compound at belt-edge interfaces, and cyclic fatigue from deformation under load — both accelerated by heat.

Wet-weather stopping distance at 60 mph, new vs 4/32"-worn tires — worn tires add roughly 87 feet. Source: AAA All-Season Tire Testing, 2019.

Vehicle-Specific Safety Statistics

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SUVs with pre-crash tire issues have a 45% rollover rate

Tire-failure risk and crash outcome vary significantly by vehicle type. SUVs and pickups, with their higher centers of gravity, are disproportionately affected by tire-failure-induced rollovers. Commercial trucks face their own dedicated safety regime.

SUVs experiencing pre-crash tire issues have a 45% rollover rate in tire-related crashes, significantly higher than passenger cars.

Rollover Death Share by Vehicle Body Style (2023)

In 2023, rollover crashes accounted for 21% of occupant deaths in cars, 34% in SUVs, and 38% in pickups.
15.7% of all rolled-over passenger cars were tire-related crash vehicles — the highest rate among body styles (SUVs 9.4%, pickups 8.4%, vans 8.1%).
Electric vehicles wear tires 20–30% faster than comparable internal combustion vehicles due to higher curb weight and instant torque, which compresses replacement cycles and accelerates exposure to under-tread driving.
Average EV tire lifespan is 20,000–40,000 miles, compared to 50,000–70,000 miles on ICE vehicles.
Federal regulations under 49 CFR 393.75 require a minimum tread depth of 4/32 inch on steer tires and 2/32 inch on drive and trailer tires for commercial vehicles — stricter than passenger-car standards.
CVSA's out-of-service (OOS) criteria are stricter still: any commercial steer tire below 2/32 inch (rather than 4/32) and any other tire below 1/32 inch (rather than 2/32) is placed out of service on the spot.
At the 2024 CVSA International Roadcheck, 2,821 tire-related out-of-service violations were issued, representing 20.8% of all OOS violations and making tires the second-most-cited vehicle defect after brake systems.

Tire-related rollover rate by vehicle body style — % of rolled-over vehicles in each category that were tire-related crash vehicles. Source: NHTSA, DOT HS 811 617.

Tire Safety by State

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77% of tire-aging insurance claims from 5 hot-climate states (AZ, CA, FL, NV, TX)

Tire-related crash rates are unevenly distributed across the U.S. The five hottest-climate states drive most tire-aging insurance claims, and large-truck fatalities — where tire failures play an outsized role — concentrate in the same handful of states.

77% of tire-aging insurance claims came from five hot-climate states between 2002 and 2006: Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, and Texas.
In 2023, Texas led the nation in large-truck-crash fatalities with 730 deaths, followed by California (392) and Florida (341) — the same three states that lead in tire-aging claims.
NHTSA's Phoenix-Ford oxidative aging protocol uses Phoenix, Arizona service conditions as the benchmark for accelerated tire aging — the basis for the industry-standard 6-year tire service-life guideline used by both Ford OE fitments and most major tire and vehicle manufacturers.
Texas, California, and Florida together accounted for over 1,460 large-truck-related deaths in 2023, with tire and brake defects among the most-cited vehicle factors.
States with the highest summer temperatures and longest interstate-mileage exposure — Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Florida — produce disproportionate share of tire-blowout fatalities, given that 70%+ of blowouts occur at speeds above 50 mph.

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State-level tire crash data is published unevenly. NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) carries state codes for every fatal crash but does not isolate tire-only causation in its public dashboards. The figures above combine FARS large-truck fatalities, NHTSA tire-aging insurance claims, and state DOT crash reports.

Tire Recall Statistics (2020–2025)

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Prinx Chengshan recalled 541,632 tires in December 2024 — one of the larger single-event recalls of the 2020s

The NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation processes tire recalls under its safety-defect authority. Tire recalls — typically initiated by manufacturers — affect millions of units per year and represent a key indicator of supplier-side quality risk.

NHTSA processes 1,000+ vehicle and equipment recalls per year, with tire-specific recalls representing a single-digit percentage of total recall events but multi-million-unit volumes.
In December 2024, Prinx Chengshan Tire North America recalled 541,632 units — one of the larger single-event tire recalls of the 2020s.
The four largest tire recalls of the modern era — Firestone Wilderness AT, BFGoodrich, Goodyear G159, and Cooper CS5 — collectively affected more than 25 million tires.
Tire recalls are searchable by VIN and tire identification number (TIN) through the USTMA Tire Recall Lookup and NHTSA Recall Database, both free and updated continuously.
The 2024 NHTSA Annual Recall Report documents recall completion rates well under 100% — tire recalls in particular have low completion because consumers do not register tires and cannot be notified directly.
A federal penalty of $1,000 to $16,000 per violation applies to commercial-vehicle operators who fail to address out-of-service tire conditions, including recalled tires still in service.

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For deeper recall data — manufacturer-level breakdowns, multi-year recall volumes, completion rates, and the historical 25-million-tire recall list — see our dedicated Tire Recall Statistics page (forthcoming).

U.S. tire recall units, 2020–2024 — tires covered by recalls each year; 2024 reached 1.37 million. Source: NHTSA public recalls dataset, aggregated by SearchTires.

Prevention, TPMS & Driver Behavior

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TPMS reduces severe underinflation 55.6% — but only 19% still properly inflate

The data is clear: most tire-related crashes are preventable through routine maintenance. The barrier is behavioral, not technical — TPMS technology is universal in U.S. passenger vehicles, but only a minority of drivers act on its warnings.

All passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. since September 2008 are required to include TPMS under FMVSS 138.
TPMS effectiveness studies show 55.6% reduction in severe underinflation (≥25%) for vehicles equipped with the standard versus comparable unequipped vehicles.
Despite universal TPMS deployment, only 19% of consumers properly inflate their tires, indicating that the warning light alone is insufficient to change behavior.
65% of U.S. drivers now feel confident changing a tire themselves, up from 52% in 2015 — a meaningful improvement in roadside-emergency self-sufficiency.
45% of Americans report relying more on professionals to handle basic maintenance due to increased vehicle technology — including tire pressure and tread checks once routine for DIY drivers.
NHTSA TireWise recommends drivers check tire pressure monthly, inspect tread depth monthly, rotate tires every 5,000–8,000 miles, and verify alignment annually. Properly inflated tires also extend average tire life by approximately 4,700 miles.

TPMS cuts severe tire underinflation by 55.6% versus comparable vehicles without it. Source: NHTSA, DOT HS 811 681.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many crashes per year are caused by tire failures?

Approximately 78,392 crashes per year in the United States are caused by flat tires or blowouts, resulting in an estimated 10,275 injuries and 414 fatalities annually per the foundational NHTSA study (DOT HS 811 617). The most recent NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts data shows 511 deaths in tire-related crashes in 2024, the most recent year with estimates available.

What percentage of tire failures involve underinflated tires?

About 10% of tires underinflated by more than 25% belong to tire-related crash vehicles, the highest concentration among the underinflation categories NHTSA tracks. Vehicles operating on tires 25%+ below recommended pressure are three times more likely to be involved in a tire-related crash.

At what speed do most tire blowouts happen?

Approximately 70% of tire blowouts occur at speeds over 50 mph, with risk increasing the closer driver speed approaches 75 mph. The blowout season of May through October concentrates these events, when hot pavement, full vehicle loads, and high-speed interstate travel converge.

How old is too old for a tire?

Most tire and vehicle manufacturers recommend replacing tires 6 to 10 years from date of manufacture, regardless of remaining tread depth. NHTSA's review of insurance claims found 84% of tire-aging claims involved tires more than 6 years old, and the agency's Tire Aging Test Development research is based on a 6-year service-life model originally established by Ford. Tires in hot-climate states (Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, Texas) age fastest because heat accelerates rubber compound oxidation.

What is the safest tread depth?

The federal legal minimum tread depth is 2/32 of an inch, but virtually all independent safety research recommends replacement at 4/32 inch to preserve wet-weather braking. AAA's controlled testing found tires at 4/32 inch require 87 additional feet to stop in wet conditions at 60 mph (a 43% increase). The 2/32 standard is widely viewed as a legal threshold rather than a safety threshold.

Are SUVs more dangerous than cars in tire-failure crashes?

SUVs experiencing pre-crash tire issues have a 45% rollover rate — substantially higher than passenger cars. In 2023, rollovers accounted for 34% of SUV occupant deaths and 38% of pickup occupant deaths, compared to 21% for cars. The combination of higher center of gravity, heavier curb weight, and the suddenness of a blowout makes SUV tire failures disproportionately fatal.

How can I check if my tires have been recalled?

Use the NHTSA Recall Database (nhtsa.gov/recalls) or the USTMA Tire Recall Lookup (recallinfo.ustires.org). Both are free and updated continuously. You'll need your tire identification number (TIN) — the DOT code molded into the sidewall — or your vehicle's VIN to check whether a specific tire has been recalled.

Continue exploring tire data:

Tire Industry Statistics 2026: 50+ Key Stats You Need to Know — comprehensive hub of all tire industry data.
Flat Tire Statistics — frequency of flats, causes, and roadside-assistance data — the natural companion to safety.
Tire Recycling & Environmental Statistics 2026 — end-of-life tire recovery rates and microplastics.
EV Tire Statistics 2026 — EV-specific tire wear and roadside-event data.

Methodology & Sources

Data on this page is compiled from authoritative public sources between 2024 and 2026 — government agencies (USTMA, NHTSA, BLS/FRED), industry associations, publicly traded tire-company annual reports, and named market-research firms. Each statistic is grouped below under the body section it supports. This page is reviewed annually; if you find a stat that has changed, please reach out.

Tire Safety & Blowout Statistics 2026: 50+ Stats on Crashes, Injuries & Prevention

Key Findings

📑 Table of Contents