Bridgestone potenza tire failures: what 278 owner reports say
Every complaint filed with NHTSA against the Bridgestone Potenza, read and classified: which failures owners actually describe, how that mix compares with all tire complaints on file, and at what mileage the tire let go.
The evidence base
Crash, injury and death figures are the counts owners themselves reported to NHTSA when filing.
What owners described
Sidewall failure is the most common description, in 21% of these reports. Percentages are shares of the 278 reports filed against the Bridgestone Potenza across every vehicle it was fitted to that include a written account; a single report can describe more than one problem, so they do not total 100%.
| Reported problem | This subject | All tire complaints | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sidewall failure | 21% | 15% | 1.4× |
| Blowout or sudden deflation | 20% | 20% | 1.0× |
| Bubble or bulge in the tire | 8% | 6% | 1.4× |
| Loss of control, rollover or collision | 8% | 8% | 1.0× |
| Tread or belt separation | 8% | 13% | 0.6× |
| Cracking or dry rot | 7% | 9% | 0.7× |
Mileage at failure
168 of these reports state an odometer reading. The middle report is at 11,495 miles, with 8 in 10 falling between 4,000 and 32,000 miles.
In owners' own words
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA about Bridgestone Potenza. Reports are published by NHTSA as filed and are lightly cleaned here only to remove intake codes.
THE CONTACT OWNS A 2002 AUDI A4 EQUIPPED WITH BRIDGESTONE POTENZA TIRES, SIZE: 225/45R17. WHILE PARKED, IT WAS NOTICED THAT THE FRONT PASSENGER SIDE TIRE HAD TREAD SEPARATION. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHERE THE TIRE WAS REPLACED. THE CONTACT ALSO STATED THAT THE FRONT DRIVER SIDE TIRE WAS REPLACED PREVIOUSLY FOR THE SAME FAILURE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE TIRE AND VEHICLE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS NOT AVAILABLE. THE DOT NUMBER AND VIN WERE NOT AVAILABLE.
THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 HYUNDAI GENESIS EQUIPPED WITH BRIDGESTONE POTENZA TIRES, SIZE: 225/45/R18 (NA). WHILE DRIVING 65 MPH, THERE WAS AN ABNORMAL NOISE AND VIBRATION ON THE FRONT DRIVER SIDE OF THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC FOR INSPECTION. THE CONTACT WAS INFORMED THAT THE VIBRATION WAS DUE TO TREAD SEPARATION, WHICH CAUSED A BUBBLE IN THE INNER TREAD OF THE TIRE. THE TIRE WAS NOT REPLACED. THE TIRE WAS ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE VIN WAS UNKNOWN. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE OF THE TIRE AND VEHICLE WAS 21,000.
DEFECTIVE TIRES - 3 OF 4 ORGINAL TIRES HAVE HAD BLOWOUTS SO FAR IN UNDER THE CARS 9000 MILES. ALL THE HOLES LOOKED THE SAME IN SHAPE AND SIZE AND HAVE BLOWED OUT FROM THE SIDE WALL. I HAVE 2 OF THE 3 TIRES. I DIDN'T KEEP THE FIRST ONE. BUT THERE APPEARS TO BE PROBLEMS WITH THESE TIRES SO I KEPT THE OTHER TWO. I AM CONCERN ABOUT THE 1 REMAINING ORGINAL TIRE STILL ON THE CAR.
The contact owns a 2000 Honda Insight equipped with Bridgestone Tires, Tire Line: Potenza RE92, Tire Size: 165/65/R14, DOT Number: (N/A). The contact stated that while driving 70 MPH, he nearly lost control of the vehicle after the passenger's side rear tire experienced tread separation. The failure caused damage to the passenger's side rear wheel cover and rear bumper. The contact pulled over and replaced the tire with a spare tire. The vehicle was taken to a tire store, and the tire store replaced the tire with a new tire. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 280,000.
How to read this
Complaints are voluntarily submitted to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation and are not verified by NHTSA. They are owner-reported problems, not proven defects, and volume tracks how many of a tire were sold as much as how often it failed. What is comparable is the mix: which problems owners describe here versus across every tire complaint on file. That comparison, the mileage distribution and the mode rankings on this page are our analysis of the public record.
Related analysis
- Premature or uneven wear; 3.3× the corpus rate here; see which other tires over-index
- Bridgestone Dueler 684; 98 reports
- Bridgestone Dueler AT; 78 reports
- Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II; 60 reports
- Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02; 46 reports
- Bridgestone Turanza T; 39 reports
FAQ
What goes wrong with Bridgestone Potenza tires?
Is the Bridgestone Potenza recalled?
At what mileage do Bridgestone Potenza tires fail?
Have Bridgestone Potenza failures caused crashes?
Sources
Last verified 2026-10-07 against the sources below.
- NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation; owner complaints dataset (unverified owner reports, US federal government work, public domain).
- NHTSA Recalls database, nhtsa.gov/recalls.
- Corpus baselines computed over 58,390 complaint narratives longer than 200 characters.