A blowout (also known as a burst) is a rapid, explosive loss of inflation

pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country a ...

of a

pneumatic Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air. Pneumatic systems used in industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A centrally located and ...

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

. The primary cause for a blowout is encountering an object that cuts or tears the structural components of the tire to the point where the structure is incapable of containing the

compressed air Compressed air is air kept under a pressure that is greater than atmospheric pressure. Compressed air is an important medium for transfer of energy in industrial processes, and is used for power tools such as air hammers, drills, wrenches, an ...

, with the escaping air adding to further tear through the tire structure. It is also fairly common for tread separations to be termed “blowouts”, even those where the inflation pressure is not compromised. Because of this confusion, the term is rarely used by experts in tire failures, where the term "impact damage" is more frequently employed. Tire blowouts have been a concern since the dawn of the motoring age. First generation automobile tires suffered from frequent problems until tire materials and technology improved. Tire blowouts, especially at high speeds, is one of the primary cause of

accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ...

s due to loss of control within the vehicle. Accidents range from spin-outs to rollovers or even a

head-on collision A head-on collision is a traffic collision where the front ends of two vehicles such as cars, trains, ships or planes hit each other when travelling in opposite directions, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision. Rail transpor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blowout (Tire) Tires Emergency road services