It can and does happen. It was probably a recap and you got a clean tread peeloff which is unusual but happens. Glad you caught it before you rolled out.
You don't say which axle the tire was on, but I bet it was a trailer/ tandem tire. Many things can happen back there that you may not notice. Driving slowly, you may roll over a curb or even scrape by a sign and never know, if you weren't watching. At highway speeds, that tread may come off, even flap around a bit then drop away, and you're none the wiser.
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Just another Gator abandoned on the Highway by a heartless Trucker. I'm going to report you to PETA!
It doesn't take much either as far as a tire that's started a wear pattern, even a slight one that's unnoticed, to wear out real fast under a loaded trailer.
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I always do a walk around inspection on my truck overtime I stop. Yesterday, I noticed a tire with no tread on it. I never felt anything wrong driving. I am confused how the tread could peel off without noticing it. Has anyone ever have this happen, or am I loosing it because I didn't see or feel it?
OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.