Sidewall failure appears in 58% of these reports; about 3.9× as often as across all tire complaints. Percentages are shares of the 26 reports filed against the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 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	58%	15%	3.9×
Blowout or sudden deflation	50%	20%	2.5×
Bubble or bulge in the tire	35%	6%	5.9×
Tread or belt separation	8%	13%	0.6×
Cracking or dry rot	4%	9%	0.4×
Pressure-monitoring (TPMS) fault	4%	2%	1.6×

Mileage at failure

14 of these reports state an odometer reading. The middle report is at 30,123 miles, with 8 in 10 falling between 9,000 and 135,904 miles.

In owners' own words

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA about Continental ExtremeContact DWS. Reports are published by NHTSA as filed and are lightly cleaned here only to remove intake codes.

2007 SCION TC BOUGHT USED 2-18-14 TOYOTA DEALER HAD PUT 4 BRAND NEW 215/45/ZR17 91W ON CAR AND LESS THAN 100 MILES HAD 2 BLOWOUTS, NOT FLAT TIRES BLOWOUTS. 1ST ON 2-27-14 GOING 55 MPH ON HWY. 169 MN. RIGHT FRONT TIRE BLEW OUT FOR NO REASON 2ND ON 3-1-14 GOING 55 MPH. ON HWY. 100 AT HWY. 55 IN MINNESOTA TIRE BLEW HAD STAKE IN CENTER OF TREAD, TIRE BEADS STAYED SEALED IN PLACE ON RIM BUT THE BALANCE OF TIRE CAME OFF AND ENDED ON OTHER SIDE OF ROAD ABOUT 50 FEET BACK. NO REASON FOR TIRE TO COME OFF THAT WAY. CAR HAD BEEN ON ROAD FOR 20 MILES AND OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE WAS 5 DEG. ABOVE 0 MN HWY. PATROL WAS CALLED BECAUSE CAR WAS ON LEFT SIDE OF ROAD BUT SPARE WAS PUT ON BEFORE THEY ARRIVED SO CALLED AN ADVISED THEM CAR WAS OFF OF THE ROAD.

NHTSA complaint 1042196

THE CONTACT OWNS A CONTINENTAL EXTREME CONTACT TIRE, SIZE: 205/55R16. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE DRIVER OF THE VEHICLE WAS TRAVELING APPROXIMATELY 50 MPH WHEN THE FRONT PASSENGER'S SIDE TIRE SUSTAINED A BLOW OUT. THE CONTACT ALSO DISCOVERED A BLISTER ON THE SIDEWALL OF THE REAR PASSENGER'S SIDE TIRE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT CONTACTED IN REFERENCE TO THE DEFECT. THE FAILURE MILEAGE OF THE TIRE WAS 155. THE VEHICLE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 135,904.

NHTSA complaint 1046630

I AM WRITING TO REPORT THE HIGH FAILURE RATE OF THE SIDEWALLS OF CONTINENTAL EXTREMECONTACT DWS ALL-SEASON TIRE - 225/45R17 91W. WITHIN A YEAR OF BUYING FOUR (4) NEW SETS OF THESE TIRES, THREE (3) OF THEM HAVE ALREADY FAILED. NOTICEABLY, ALL THE FAILURES STARTED OUT AS A BULGE IN THE SIDEWALL. IF THESE BULGING WENT UNDETECTED THEY WOULD HAVE RESULTED IN FATAL BLOW OUT WHILES DRIVING. I HAVE COMPLAINED ABOUT THESE BULGING TO COMPANY WHERE I PURCHASED THESE TIRES AND DID NOT GET ANY HELP SINCE THEY BLAME IT ON ME ON HITTING POTHOLES AND THAT ALL TIRES WILL DO THAT. BUT THAT IS FAR FROM THE TRUTH. I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS PROBLEM/ISSUE ON THE INTERNET AND REALIZED THAT I'M NOT ALONE.

NHTSA complaint 1066279

MY NEW CONTINENTAL TIRE INSTALLED BY CARX TIRE WENT FLAT FROM CRACKING ON HIGHTWAY, NO NAILS, MANY SPOTS LOOK GOING TO BE CRACKED, NEW TIRE OUTSIDE RING RUBBER LOOKS CRACKING. INSTALLED DATE: 02/19/2014 INSTALLER: CARX 9185 UNION CEMETERY RD CINCINNATI, OH 45249 513-667-5457

NHTSA complaint 1072452

Complaints are voluntarily submitted to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation and are not verified by NHTSA; they represent owner-reported problems, not proven defects. Counts can be useful as a relative quality signal across comparable tires or vehicles.

Specs

Brand	Continental
Model	ExtremeContact DWS
Season	N/A
Type	N/A
UTQG treadwear	N/A
UTQG traction	N/A
UTQG temperature	N/A
Mileage warranty	N/A
Noise (dB)	N/A
Introduced	N/A

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Available sizes (0)

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Continental ExtremeContact DWS: what the numbers tell you

Manufacturer treadwear data for the ExtremeContact DWS is not publicly listed. This is common for OEM-only or track-day tires that don't carry a US treadwear warranty. No mileage warranty is published for this tire, which is typical for performance summer and track-day rubber where the manufacturer doesn't make wear-life claims.

Cabin noise data for this tire is not published by the manufacturer. As a general tire built for the passenger segment, the ExtremeContact DWS is positioned against direct rivals within the same category. Comparing it to a tire in a different category (e.g. summer vs all-season) makes the spec sheet misleading because the design targets are not the same.

The Continental ExtremeContact DWS has been part of Continental's catalog since its introduction, and remains a current-production model.

For an apples-to-apples comparison against direct rivals, see the comparison pages linked from this tire's brand index.

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