Back six or so years ago, when Firestone
issued that infamous recall, I was one of the millions that was affected. When I brought my Explorer in to get new tires, I made sure that the spare tire was also included. Apparently a number of Explorer owners weren't so vigilant, as there are a large number of vehicles that went through the recall that still have the original Firestone spare tires. The results are predicable...
When the afflicted vehicle gets a flat, the old Firestone gets mounted, the driver then has a tire-related accident and is injured or killed—and the statistics are mounting up. Again...
Snippet: Bridgestone/Firestone North America Tire LLC, the Nashville, Tenn.-based subsidiary of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., said Friday it will notify customers again of the potential hazard. The action follows reports of at least five serious recent accidents tied to recalled tires, including the May 21 death of an 11-year-old boy in California.
Snippet: Firestone's decision to notify customers again comes after NHTSA conducted a simple test that involved looking for affected Ford Explorers in Washington-area parking lots, spokesman Rae Tyson said Friday.
Of 50 Ford Explorers found, four or five had the recalled tires as spares, Tyson said.
Snippet: Bridgestone/Firestone North America Tire LLC, the Nashville, Tenn.-based subsidiary of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., said Friday it will notify customers again of the potential hazard. The action follows reports of at least five serious recent accidents tied to recalled tires, including the May 21 death of an 11-year-old boy in California.
Snippet: Firestone's decision to notify customers again comes after NHTSA conducted a simple test that involved looking for affected Ford Explorers in Washington-area parking lots, spokesman Rae Tyson said Friday.
Of 50 Ford Explorers found, four or five had the recalled tires as spares, Tyson said.
billt9 says:
07:32 PM, 07/23/06
I blame it on Ford dealerships.
The customer should not be responsible, or required to be knowlwedgeable enough about replacing the spare.
The dealership that did the recall should be held responsible and sued for slacking off and banking on the customer not noticing the spare is untouched.
thebigal says:
11:07 PM, 07/23/06
well.... I almost would like to release Ford and or Firestone from this. The Recall happend several years ago. If one putting into service a tire that is 5 or 6 years old, or older, I think he is asking for trouble. The older a tire, the more prone it is to have problems. Age, weather, riding underneath a vehicle and constantly being subjected to road debris is not good for a tire. Niether is non-use. So yes partly to blame might be Ford or Firestone, but also I wouldn't dare put a 6 year old tire on the road even as a spare.
andy1102 says:
11:18 AM, 07/24/06
That is disappointing that some of those tires are still out there on the road ... between the dealers that should have replaced ALL of the tires to begin with and the customers who should have checked.