CLEVELAND -- A 5 On Your Side investigation uncovered what some experts said could be a fatal flaw in some vehicles.

NewsChannel5's Ron Regan reported that both front tires on 2004-2006 Pontiac GTOs are so close to the inside strut that the strut acts like a can opener, slowly peeling the tire.

Trevor Trask nearly crashed on a Cleveland freeway.

"The blame, I feel, falls on Pontiac," Trask said.

But even after complaints began piling up from motorists, nothing was done until now. Regan traveled to Washington, D.C., to review U.S. Department of Transportation records.

He found 65 complaints involving eight blowouts and one crash.

"The failure mode is the tire is constantly being shaved down until it gets to a dangerously thin level, and you have a catastrophic or sudden tire failure," said Clarence Ditlow with the Center for Auto Safety.

It is the same group that successfully fought to recall Firestone Tires on Ford Explorers.

Ditlow called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin an immediate defect investigation.

"Channel 5 caught on to this early on, brought it to our attention and we believe there should be a safety recall. You brought it to NHTSA's attention and I fully expect the agency to open a safety investigation based on Channel 5's work," Ditlow said.

NHTSA declined to respond to Regan's investigation, but after he contacted them, the agency's Office of Defect investigation began sending GTO owners this notice:

"We are currently looking at this tire/strut interfence issue."

Meanwhile, the Center for Auto Safety said GTO owners need to be warned before it's too late.

"And here you have a double whammy. You have a tire problem on the front steering wheels of the vehicle, and if there's a failure, its very likely to lead to a crash," Ditlow said. (Click here to read entire CAS statement.)