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product_liability cooper_tiresA Cooper tire class action suit containing a number of accusations was filed on behalf of forty million consumers in the United States against Cooper Tire and Rubber Company. The settlement of this Cooper tire class action lawsuit was reached in September/October of 2002 providing consumers some benefits in response to their grievances.
This Cooper tire class action lawsuit was filed in 2000 because of numerous Cooper tire production practices that greatly increased the risk of tire and belt separation problems. These tire defects can lead to serious road hazards including tread separation and vehicle rollover. At least 35 people have died as a result of defective Cooper tires on our US roadways in the last six years.
Though problems with Cooper tires have been proven to be the cause of fatal accidents, the 2000 Cooper tire class action lawsuit did not include any consumers who were injured or suffered property damage as a result of defective Cooper tires. The Cooper tire class action lawsuit also did not seek to initiate a recall of Cooper tires, though more than fifteen types of Cooper tires have been recalled due to defectiveness since 2000.
This Cooper tire class action lawsuit was intended to provide benefits to any consumer who purchased Cooper steel belted radial tires between January 1985 and January 2002. Plaintiffs from thirty three US states filed Cooper tire class action suits alleging that Cooper tires can contain an number of manufacturing defects that are undetectable to a consumer and are undisclosed by the tire company.
There are a number of specific allegations that were included in these Cooper tire class action lawsuits. The suits charged Cooper with using defective products and materials in the making of their tires which leads to dangerous tire defects with regards to tread integrity, adhesion quality, traction, and temperature regulation. Several reports have been made that employees who took part in tire production were required to burst huge bubbles in the tire surface with an awl in an attempt to fix defects instead of discarding these potentially dangerous tires. The Cooper tire class action also revealed that Cooper made numerous attempts to conceal tire defects during production and safety testing.
The settlement from this Cooper tire class action lawsuit is considered by consumer advocacy groups to be grossly inadequate. The Cooper tire class action settlement awarded plaintiffs extended warrantees and free tire replacement under certain circumstances. The settlement does nothing to help protect consumers from dangerously defective tires nor did it act to rectify the seriously negligent production practices that led to these major tire defects. No punitive damages were awarded in the Cooper tire class action settlement which might have impelled the tire company to change its practices in order to protect consumers from defective tire production. To discover if you are eligible to receive benefits from this Cooper tire class action lawsuit, you may wish to contact an attorney. If you have been injured as a result of defective Cooper tires, contacting a legal professional can help you determine your rights and options in a case to recover your losses.