So last night, hubby & I run terrified out to the garage to look at the tires on our Ford Explorer. Relax, breath, wrong size.
So no problem, right? Wrong. The younger sister-in-law is coming home from Europe in two days, she will be home about 10 hours, then is driving to Nebraska (long, hot drive, probably over the speed limit) with her paranoid mother. Just on spec, we look at her tires. Yep, you guessed it- P235 75 R15, dammit!
Of course, the Bridgestone/Firestone website has crashed from being hit by God knows how many people, the local dealers are swamped with calls, and nobody’s getting through to that 800 number.
So, any more of you having this problem?
PS- AP is reporting that Firestone recalled 14 million tires in 1978 that had these EXACT same problems. They were also fined $500,000 for trying to conceal the safety hazard from the public. That recall nearly bankrupted the company, which was later bought by Bridgestone in 1988.
I don’t know all the facts in this, but to me, here is what is relevant:
Is there indeed a defect with the tires? The fact that lawsuits have been filed saying that there are doesn’t prove anything.
Firestone said that they have sold over 40M tires of this type. There have been 40+ lawsuits filed against them. That’s about one in a million. Supposedly, there will be investigations to determine if this (supposed) defect has contributed to other accidents–but is there any chance that these tires were under-inflated and flew apart? Trust me, that does happen–and not just to Firestones.
I don’t have Firestones on either of my vehicles, but even if I did, I would not be wasting any sleep over it. I’m a lot more concerned about what schmuck is going to pull out in front of me, even after seeing that there’s not enough room for him/her–or that some kid is gonna dart out from behind some parked minivan, and I won’t have time to stop.
This particular size and model of Firestone tire has supposedly been shredding or blowing out at higher speeds and/or in hotter weather. It is found predominantly on SUV’s (which may be why some people are rooting for the tires…). Now granted, being a chick I have probably driven on both under- and over-inflated tires most of my life, because it would have to be pretty obvious to me one way or the other (real flat or looking monster-truck-ish), so that may be the reason for the crashes & deaths. It is so far a voluntary recall.
The news agencies are reporting that Ford is replacing the tires for free in several European countries because of these same problems, and has been for a while now, but Ford in the US has been waiting to see if it’s really a problem. Also, in the US, tires are just about the only thing on a Ford that is warranteed by the tire manufacturer rather than the car manufacturer.
I guess in this country, it’s a matter of overall safety rather than #'s. I mean, how many Pintos and other rear-engine-and/or-fuel-tank cars actually killed their drivers in a giant ball of flame? Not as many as were on the road, I’m sure.
I’m personally not that paranoid for myself, but with a little critter strapped in the backseat, the perspective tends to warp a little.
PS- the sis-in-law’s car is a Toyota, not a Ford, so it’s not all a Ford thing, to their credit.