A South Texas jury returned a nearly $12 million verdict against the nation’s largest tire maker after finding defective tires caused a wreck that killed six people.

According to a news story published in the McAllen Monitor, the jury found that a manufacturing flaw in a Goodrich tire — made by South Carolina-based Michelin North America — substantially contributed to the New Year’s Eve 2006 crash that occurred just outside Matamoros.

The tire on a 2002 Ford F-250 pickup shredded, forcing the truck into oncoming traffic where it collided with a Chevy Suburban, killing all six passengers and leaving a 10-year old boy in the pickup paralyzed.

Throughout the trial, attorneys argued that leaks in the roof of a Tuscaloosa, Ala., manufacturing plant had damaged the machinery used to make hundreds of tires. The faulty tire on the pickup truck was among that batch.

Defects like this kill people every day. Don’t fight this kind of battle alone. If you or someone you love has been injured in Texas car wreck, contact an experienced Texas car wreck attorney or defective product lawyer for professional insight.

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire has issued a recall for 162,251 tires that have been produced with insufficient tread gauge.

Due to the tire defect, the tires will degrade more rapidly and cause vibrations while driving. Extended use could cause the tread to distort or separate.

Firestone’s line of FR380 tires size P235/75R15 and LeMans Champion SE tires size P235/75R15 are affected.

Bridgestone Firestone will contact owners of these faulty tires and replace them for free, including mounting and balancing of the replacements for no charge.

They cost less than a couple of bucks apiece and seem like such a small thing but tire valve stems are pretty important to the safe operation of your car.

As important as they are — and as cheap as they are to produce — you’d think manufacturers could get it right and not make a defective product.

But, up to a quarter-million cars on the road in this country right now could have defective stems.

More than 200 complaints since 2006 about valve stems have led to an investigation by the National Highway traffic Safety Administration. In May, one distributor, Tech International, recalled 6 million valve stems that were distributed between August of 2006 and February of 2007.

The model numbers of the recalled valve stems are: TR-413, TR-413CH, TR-414, TR-415, TR-418, and TR-423. If you bought a new car or had your tires replaced since that time frame in 2006 and early 2007, you may be at risk.

It’s not quick and easy to find out if you have one of the recalled valve stems. You have to have the tires dismounted, because the model number is visible only from the inside of the wheel.

More worrisome is the fact that other manufacturers have not recalled their possibly defective valve stems.

The quickest and easiest thing to do is to check the valve stem by wiggling it from side to side and when you do, at the base where it connects to the wheel, just check for cracks.

A faulty valve stem could lead to a sudden blowout resulting in devastating car accident.