Claudia Limas, 4-years-old, of Buckeye, Arizona died July 9th in a single-vehicle rollover accident in Arizona on the I-10 after the right rear tire tread of the Chevrolet SUV she was traveling in separated and the driver lost control according to an article on azfamily.com. The Chevrolet SUV rollover accident injured four other occupants, 2-year-old Isabel Dunklin, Phoenix, Castanon, 5, and two adults — driver Daniel J. Dunklin and passenger Cynthia Limas.

The SUV was traveling on the eastbound I-10 near Watson Road. The tire blew, went into median and flipped over several times. Once that tire blew, it is not likely that the driver, Dunklin, had any chance of controlling the SUV, keeping it out of the median or saving the SUV from rolling over. GMC SUVs are notorious for rollover after a tire blow out at freeway speeds.

I offer my deepest condolences to Claudia’s family. I also wish a fully and speedy recovery to the survivors. In many ways they were lucky. Thank God for seatbelts and child restraint systems.

This is a classic case of tire tread separation, which caused a SUV to veer out of control and roll over. Tire failures and blowouts are quite common when tires wear out during normal use. What is not as common but that I see often is a tire failure due to a manufacturing or design defect long before the tread on the tire has worn out.

If a tire tread separation is proved to be the result of a manufacturing or design defect, then the survivors and Claudia’s family would have a claim against the tire manufacturer for compensation for their damages. If I was representing these people, I would be looking for evidence to support a claim against General Motors, the maker of the Chevrolet SUV. In my opinion, a normally skilled driver should be able to handle a SUV at highway speeds when a tire blows out. I do not believe that this SUV meets that standard.

I would also be looking to see why Claudia wasn’t protected by her restraint system. Was there a failure in her car seat? Was there a failure in the seatbelt system that secured her seat? What happened that she wasn’t protected. The news report said all passengers were restrained.

If there is any thought of a claim against General Motors or against the manufacturer of Claudia’s seat, I would be taking possession of the SUV and the car seat for evidence. It is crucial to keep the SUV and the car seat, untampered with in, order to support a claim.

There is no “compensation” adequate or effective enough to soothe the pain of the Limas family or replace what they have lost. However, by holding wrongdoers accountable for their negligence that causes harm, we are all contributing to encouraging manufacturers to build safer products.