**Dealer name removed** rotated and spun balanced my wheels on a handicapped accessible van less than a month ago. Fifty miles down the road my wheel feel off and I had a bad accident which totaled my van. Somehow I was uninjured. Police report said that the spindle (axle) nut and cotter pin were missing and that this confirms wheel coming off and causing accident. Spindle was undamaged pointing to a missing nut.. Clearly, the wheel housing was loose when they released my vehicle to me. In consulting with a professional mechanic, he said that any semi-competent tire person would have noticed that the hub ( wheel housing) was loose, and therefore, dangerous. They should have noticed the loose bearing play as well. Were they negligent in not warning me? If it is clear that any prudent tire person should have noticed this and foreseen the risk to injury or death, do I have a law suit against them? **Dealer name removed** was not responsible for the spindle nut and cotter pin missing - however - when they lifted my van and pulled off my wheels, this danger should have been obvious to any reasonable person.

Actually you have been given the wrong information. Most wheel bearings are covered by a cup. That covers the nut and everything. So if your hub wasn't loose at that time they wouldn't have seen anything. Without a cotter pin it can come loose at any time when driving down the road. At highway speeds you would be surprised how many revolutions that tire is actually making.

Yes, they merely took off the lug bolts and took the wheel and tire off. All the balance was done off the hub. They don't inspect for other items normally unless asked to. I could believe that they changed it without notice of this. And depending on the shop ( was it a full service or just a place that did only tires) at most full service shops the tires are done by low paid poorly trained ( beginning) workers

And remember it is convincing a jury that the normal average tire changer would have seen this ( not a fully trained professional) but a average worker doing it.

That is exactly our point. The hub must have been loose. There is no way it could not have been.

And I would expect a tire store like L.S to have prudent, reasonable, competent workers. They say safety first. I trust when I leave the shop that a loose hub would be noticed. Hiring incompetent workers can not be a defense - can it?

Carlosnunez : That is exactly our point. The hub must have been loose. There is no way it could not have been.


I didn't say it was loose. I had said the cotterkey was covered by a cup. It could have lost tension while you were driving down the road. The shop would have never known it unless they had removed the bearing cover.

Your making leaps at this point. Did you keep the spindle for evidence?

Hello c:

I don't know if you have a case or not. I'd visit a few attorney's and ask them. If you can't find one who will take your case on a contingency basis, you don't have a case.

excon