Investigators focus on faulty tire in Jupiter crash that killed 6

A minivan’s rear tire that came apart Saturday on Interstate 95 in Jupiter, killing six people, was years past its life span, authorities said Tuesday.

And Florida Highway Patrol investigators are looking into the possibility that dry rot, a condition in which the tire starts to deteriorate, caused the tire tread separation.

On Saturday night, 33-year-old Heidi Solis-Perez lost control of her minivan when the tire separated, resulting in a crash that killed four of her children and two other adults, authorities said.

Sgt. Mark Wysocky said Solis-Perez’s 2001 Mercury Villager veered into a concrete barrier and then bounced into the path of an SUV. Solis-Perez and her 11-year-old daughter were hospitalized after the crash.

Three people died at the scene, and three died at hospitals. The dead included Solis-Perez’s two sons and two of her daughters, ages 17, 14, 7 and 5. Her 31-year-old boyfriend and an 18-year-old man also died.

Experts say the Florida weather is a huge factor in dry rot. In some spots, the texture of the tire will become spider-web like. “When the tires heat up, you lose the integrity of the tire,” said Angel Borges, at Angel’s Auto Care Center in West Palm Beach.

Dry rot is common on old tires and not something to ignore, he said. “If it’s your rear tire, it will feel like your rear end of the vehicle is waddling like a duck,” Borges said.

And the age of a tire is crucial. Borges said, “If the tire I’m pur chasing brand-new is older than a year and has been sitting on a shelf, I would not purchase it.”

Tires have a serial number. The first two numbers correspond with a two-digit week, followed by a two-digit year. If it is “4913,” the tire was made the 49th week of 2013.