"It was crazy," said a Let ABC15 Know viewer, Kim, recalling the moment one of her truck's tires flew off. But the experience didn't start as a "crazy" one — if anything, it was pretty routine.
"I had tires changed hundreds of times," Kim explained. When her family's truck needed new tires, she ordered them online and made an installation appointment at a local supercenter.
The day went smoothly and Kim left with the new tires.
But things got bumpy a few months later.
While Kim and her husband were driving on Interstate 40, she says the ride "felt a little weird."
They pulled off the freeway to try and find out what was going on. Just moments later, Kim says, "there was this loud noise in the back and the truck dropped to the ground."
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She says one of the truck's rear tires flew completely off the vehicle.
"My lug nuts are all broken off and the little screws that hold [it] on are all broken off," Kim explained, describing what she saw when looking at where the tire should have been.
Kim and her husband were left asking, "how could this happen to new tires?" They went back to look at the documents from when the tires were installed. That's when they noticed the invoice states the lug nuts were not 'torqued' during installation. They reached out to the company to see if anything could be done.
"All we wanted was what it cost us to put our truck back the way it was before, with all four tires," Kim explained.
She says they sent emails, called the store, and even went in person to meet with the manager but felt all they received was the runaround.
Kim let ABC15 know what was happening. Our Let ABC15 Know/Better Business Bureau volunteer, Grant, jumped on the case. He got in contact with the company on Kim's behalf and got a response. Kim received a gift card in the amount the family spent on repairs.
"I was pleased," said Kim after receiving the gift card.
However, the entire experience has left her shaken up and a little nervous behind the wheel.
"This could have been somebody's life, you know, that was in danger because of this. Like I said, thank God we had pulled off the freeway," Kim said.
Every time she feels a wiggle in the truck, Kim says she asks her husband to check the tires against the manufacturer's suggestions. As for tire installations, she's encouraging other consumers to ask questions about what has and has not been done before driving away.
