How do tires fail, and which failure do owners report most?

Crack leads at 3.

How owners describe the tire failure, in NHTSA's own failure categories

Owners most often describe the failure as "crack". Use the same wording when you describe a problem to a tire shop.

Source: NHTSA owner complaint files, tire-product records · file downloaded 2026-10-05

Data and chart by CalcScrape: Winter Tire Cost Calculator