Flying Tires: The Dangers of Wheel Spacers

Wheel spacers are becoming a popular trend among truck owners. Spacers allow the truck to have a wider wheelbase by extending the tire beyond the body of the truck. While safe if professionally installed, wheel spacers installed by amateurs can be dangerous. Spacers installed without the proper parts can cause there to be less space available on the lugnut for the tire to be secured. With less space on the lugnut, there becomes a greater chance that the tire could fall off.

I recently represented a client who had his family’s life jeopardized by a loose tire caused by improperly installed wheel spacers.  The loose tire bounced over the concrete median of the interstate and landed on the hood of the family van. We were able to access the defendant’s social media accounts to see that he, not anyone else, had installed the wheel spacers in question. To our shock, we further found out that this was his second time installing the spacers! He had done this on prior occasions. Each time, the tire had fallen off! It is very rare to easily find such incriminating evidence on social media without going through the discovery process.

We were able to reach a $40,000.00 settlement with the insurance company despite minimal medical bills. We then settled the spouse’s case for over $7,000 on only one chiropractic visit (for $75.00). That is over 100 times the medicals! The insurance company was more than willing to pay higher than the medicals warranted before we filed a lawsuit out of fear punitive damages could come in to play at trial.

With the recent trend of wheel spacers, I believe that there will be many cases just like this in the coming years. If you are injured by a loose tire caused by a wheel spacer, call an personal injury lawyer experienced in these types of cases today.

Past results are not a guarantee of future performance. The choice of an attorney is an important one and should not be based solely on advertising. For a free consultation of your personal injury case, please contact The Gerring Law Firm at (314)-222-0066.

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