Bridgestone turanza EL400-02 tire failures: what 46 owner reports say

Every complaint filed with NHTSA against the Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02, 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.

By Mark Bishop · Last verified 2026-10-07

The evidence base

46Written owner reports

3Reported crashes

2Reported injuries

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 15% of these reports. Percentages are shares of the 46 reports filed against the Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 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	15%	15%	1.0×
Blowout or sudden deflation	9%	20%	0.4×
Bubble or bulge in the tire	7%	6%	1.1×
Cracking or dry rot	7%	9%	0.7×
Tread or belt separation	4%	13%	0.3×
Loss of control, rollover or collision	4%	8%	0.5×

Mileage at failure

44 of these reports state an odometer reading. The middle report is at 19,602 miles, with 8 in 10 falling between 5,000 and 36,000 miles.

In owners' own words

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA about Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02. Reports are published by NHTSA as filed and are lightly cleaned here only to remove intake codes.

THE CONTACT OWNS A 2013 TOYOTA COROLLA EQUIPPED WITH BRIDGESTONE TURANZA EL400-02 TIRES, SIZE: P205/55R16. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE TIRES WERE WEARING PREMATURELY AND HAD DEVELOPED BUBBLES ON THE SIDEWALL OF THE FRONT AND REAR DRIVER SIDE TIRES. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE TIRES WERE NOT REPLACED. THE TIRE AND VEHICLE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 13,900.

NHTSA complaint 1170682

BRIDGESTONE TURANZA 400-02 235/40 19 TIRE TREAD SEPARATED FROM THE SIDE WALL EXPOSING STEEL BELTS. THE FIRST ONE AT 19K MILES / 12/21/2019 (THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A BAD TIRE AND BOUGHT ANOTHER FROM STERLING MCCALL LEXUS IN HOUSTON TEXAS) THE SECOND AT 23K MILES 05/28/2020. NOW THAT'S A PROBLEM. PURCHASE THE CARE FROM STERLING MCCALL LEXUS PRE OWNED WITH NEW TIRES ON THE CAR. TALKED TO SEVERAL LEXUS SERVICE MEMBERS AND THEY ARE AWARE OF THE PROBLEM AND THREE LEXUS VEHICLES HAVE THIS TIRE ISSUE (LEXUS GS, RC AND IS VEHICLES AND THEY WILL NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

NHTSA complaint 1665812

DAUGHTER DRIVING HOME ON I-81 IN VA AND REAR DRIVER TIRE BLEW OUT. THE TOYOTA CAMRY (2007) IS ONLY 3 MONTHS OLD AND HAS 6,00 MILES. SHE SAYS SHE CHECKED BEFORE LEAVING AND WAS GOING 70-75MPH. IT WAS 4 AM ABOUT 75 F. I BELIEVE IT IS A FAULTY TIRE: BRIDGESTONE TURANZA EL 400 02 P215 60R16 94 V M+S. SHE ENDED UP IN A DITCH, IT WAS THAT OR HITTING A TRUCK. AMBULANCES, FIRE AND POLICE RESPONDED BUT THANKFULLY SHE WAS NOT HURT. THE CAR SUFFERED FRONT PLASTIC BUMPER DAMAGE.

NHTSA complaint 635213

WAS WASHING MY CAR AND NOTICE THAT ALL 4 TIRES HAVE CRACKS ALL THE WAY AROUND THE TIRE. I HAVE A 2007 NISSAN SENTRA WITH ONLY 12,000 MILES, I BOUGHT THE CAR NEW IN DEC. 2006. I WENT TO NISSAN DEALER, THEY SAID IT IS JUST DRY ROT, BUT IT NOTHING THEY CAN DO EVENTUALLY I'LL NEED NEW TIRES. WENT TO FIRESTONE/BRIDGESTONE AND THEY SEEM UNCONCERN, JUST THAT IT IS THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH WE LIVE WITH THE COLD THEN HEAT WHICH DRY THE TIRES OUT. MY CONCERN IS I ONLY HAD THESE TIRES JUST A LITTLE OVER 2 YEARS AND NOT 4 OR 5 THE LIFE TIME OF THESE TIRES, THEY SHOULD NO BE CRACKING LIKE THIS. PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS MATTER, I FEEL THAT HAVE BEEN SOLD A CAR WITH BAD TIRES.

NHTSA complaint 713130

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

Bridgestone Potenza; 278 reports
Bridgestone Dueler 684; 98 reports
Bridgestone Dueler AT; 78 reports
Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II; 60 reports
Bridgestone Turanza T; 39 reports

All Bridgestone tire failure analysis

FAQ

What goes wrong with Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 tires?

Across 46 written complaints, the most common description is sidewall failure, in 15% of reports; about 1.0× as often as across all tire complaints. A single report can describe more than one problem.

Is the Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 recalled?

Complaints are not recalls. A complaint is a voluntary, unverified owner report; a recall is an official campaign requiring a free remedy. Check the current recall status by DOT date code at the NHTSA recall lookup; that is the only authoritative answer for your specific tire.

At what mileage do Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 tires fail?

Of the owners who stated an odometer reading, the middle report is at 19,602 miles, with 8 in 10 between 5,000 and 36,000 miles. These are failures, not typical tire life; nobody files a complaint about a tire that wore out normally.

Have Bridgestone Turanza EL400-02 failures caused crashes?

Owners reported 3 crashes and 2 injuries when filing. NHTSA publishes these as reported and does not verify them.

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.