Hankook optimo H725A tire failures: what 34 owner reports say

Every complaint filed with NHTSA against the Hankook Optimo H725A, 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

34Written owner reports

2Reported crashes

2Reported injuries

Crash, injury and death figures are the counts owners themselves reported to NHTSA when filing.

What owners described

Cracking or dry rot appears in 50% of these reports; about 5.4× as often as across all tire complaints. Percentages are shares of the 34 reports filed against the Hankook Optimo H725A 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
Cracking or dry rot	50%	9%	5.4×
Sidewall failure	41%	15%	2.8×
Blowout or sudden deflation	21%	20%	1.0×
Loss of control, rollover or collision	6%	8%	0.7×

Mileage at failure

26 of these reports state an odometer reading. The middle report is at 34,500 miles, with 8 in 10 falling between 10,000 and 47,500 miles.

In owners' own words

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA about Hankook Optimo H725A. Reports are published by NHTSA as filed and are lightly cleaned here only to remove intake codes.

NOTICED LARGE CRACKS IN SIDEWALL OF HANKOOK OPTIMO H725A DOT 1GPR DY H 0711 205/55 R16 91H - 2011 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA 45,000 MILES. HAD TIRE REPLACED AT OWN EXPENSE. 9-12-2013 53,000 NOTICED 2 OTHER TIRES NOW WITH THE SAME LARGE CRACKS IN SIDEWALL.

NHTSA complaint 1009245

ON APRIL 19, 2013, TIRE PRESSURE WAS LOW ON THE FRONT PASSENGER SIDE. UPON CHECKING THE TIRE A LARGE CRACK WAS NOTICE ON THE INSIDE WALL OF THE TIRE. THE TIRE WAS REPLACED AT OWNER'S EXPENSE OF $177.01 WITH AN ODOMETER READING OF 27293 ON A 2011 VW JETTA TDI. ON JANUARY 4, 2014, THE OWNER NOTICED A LARGE CRACK ON THE DRIVER SIDE FRONT TIRE'S SIDEWALL. THE OWNER CALLED THE DEALERSHIP AND NO RECALLS WERE CURRENTLY IN PLACE. THE OWNER SUBMITTED A REQUEST FOR HANKOOK TO PAY FOR REIMBURSEMENT OF ALL TIRE REPLACEMENTS AS THE OWNER FEELS THE VEHICLE IS NOT SAFE TO DRIVE WITH A POTENTIAL TIRE BLOWOUT AND LOSS OF VEHICLE CONTROL.

NHTSA complaint 1030874

THE CONTACT OWNS A 2011 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA EQUIPPED WITH HANKOOK OPTIMO H725A TIRES, SIZE 205/55/R16H. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE CHECKING THE AIR PRESSURE ON THE TIRES, HE NOTICED THAT THE SIDEWALL ON BOTH THE FRONT DRIVER AND PASSENGER SIDE TIRES EXHIBITED SEVERAL CRACKS. THE TIRES WERE NOT REPLACED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE OF THE TIRE AND THE VEHICLE WAS 31,000.

NHTSA complaint 1018245

WHILE DRIVING @ 55 CENTER LANE FREEWAY INDICATOR LIGHTS SHOWED LOSS OF TIRE PRESSURE ON PASSENGER REAR TIRE. MOVED TO SHOULDER OF FREEWAY AND SAW REAR TIRE HAD NUMEROUS CRACKS ON BOTH INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR SIDE WALLS OF TIRE COVERING TOTAL CIRCUMFERENCE OF TIRE; TIRE HAD BEGUN SMOKING. ASSISTED BY STATE SAFETY PATROL AND TECHNICIAN MADE COMMENTS AS TO HAVE "NEVER SEEN A TIRE SHRED IN THIS MANNER". TREAD HAD BEGUN TO SEPARATE FROM TIRES EDGE AND CRACKS WERE APPROX.. 3 INCH'S APART AND ABOUT 2 INCHES IN LENGTH. TIRE TAKEN TO DEALERSHIP FOR REVIEW AND REPLACEMENT; DEALERSHIP ALSO COMMENTED ON THE DAMAGE AS BEING EXTREMELY UNUSUAL. VEHICLE IS 2011, SINGLE DRIVER WITH APPROX. 31000 MILES.

NHTSA complaint 1087734

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

Cracking or dry rot; 5.4× the corpus rate here; see which other tires over-index
Sidewall failure; 2.8× the corpus rate here; see which other tires over-index
Hankook Dynapro AS; 72 reports
Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 2; 72 reports

All Hankook tire failure analysis

FAQ

What goes wrong with Hankook Optimo H725A tires?

Across 34 written complaints, the most common description is cracking or dry rot, in 50% of reports; about 5.4× as often as across all tire complaints. A single report can describe more than one problem.

Is the Hankook Optimo H725A 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 Hankook Optimo H725A tires fail?

Of the owners who stated an odometer reading, the middle report is at 34,500 miles, with 8 in 10 between 10,000 and 47,500 miles. These are failures, not typical tire life; nobody files a complaint about a tire that wore out normally.

Have Hankook Optimo H725A failures caused crashes?

Owners reported 2 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.