The family (me along with my parents and sisters) is on a 13 day road trip from MN to the west and back across New Mexico and Texas. I was driving on I-20 west of Shreveport when the TPMS light popped on in the Sienna. I planned to pull over at the next exit to check things out. Within 10 seconds, a low whining noise came from the rear of the van, getting progressively louder. I then felt a gentle pull to the right and started to smell smoke. I popped on the hazards and eased to 60 mph, then worked my way onto the shoulder. I stopped amid a cloud of smoke. My dad and I went to survey the damage: the tire was essentially gone, and the hubcap had fallen off and disappeared. The back bumper partially popped off. The rear half of the van was covered in black dust and I noticed a gouge in the paint near the window from a tire shard. I started loosening the lug nuts but was unable to get 4 of the 5 off: one lug nut snapped off entirely just from trying to remove it by standing on the wrench. (I weigh 140 pounds and was unable to loosen the nuts by standing on the end of the wrench. I suspect over tightening to the tune of 150-200 ft.lbs.). The Sienna received a tire rotation just last week from the Ford dealer… also, the tires were Michelin Defenders that were a year and a half old with 30-40k miles on them. Still 4-5/32nds worth of tread on them. We got a tow to town and were situated at a hotel within 2 hours. It was fairly scary but I was glad to have kept control and stayed calm. Unfortunately, in the hour we waited for the tow, many people failed to move to the opposite lane for us (maybe 1/3 or 1/2), and some even honked at us, even though I was five or so feet off the road. I'm not sure what caused the blowout, as the tires seemed fine and I don't remember hitting any debris. After a tow to a tire shop and a few hours we were on our way. ($100 for a used tire to get us home, and three wheel studs - they broke another two trying to remove them.) It seems the lug nuts were far over 80 ft lbs... oh well!
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