Front Porch Philosopher

meredithmeredith Member Posts: 575
in General
This topic is a continuation of Topic 2143....

Toyota TACOMA vs Ford RANGER - IX. Please
continue these discussions here. Thanks!

Front Porch Philosopher
SUV, Pickups, & Aftermarket and Accessories Host
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  • radio_manradio_man Member Posts: 1
    Seems like there's a lot of activity in this topic, so maybe someone can give me some advice....

    I have a 2000 Ranger XLT supercab V6, 5 speed manual. I bought it new in January. Up until now I've had no problems, but for the last few days I've heard a squealing sound coming from the rear of the truck. It sounds like it's coming from the rear passenger wheel area. It does it when the truck is moving, whether it's in gear or out of gear. The odd thing is that the sound pitch gets lower as I slow down, but it does not get lower continuously. It sort of "steps" down after ramping down for a little while. I haven't noticed any particular speed that it does it at and hitting the brakes doesn't make it go away.

    Any ideas out there?
  • cthompson21cthompson21 Member Posts: 1,102
    Maybe brake dust? I'd first try some cleaner. I used to have the same type of thing happen on the rear drums of our Corolla. I'd pop off the wheels and clean out the drums. Problem solved.
  • cthompson21cthompson21 Member Posts: 1,102
    I just heard on the news this morning that Firestone is now blaming Ford for 88 or so fatalities related to Explorer tire separation roll-overs over the past 10yrs.

    They say that an Explorer is more prone to roll over than other vehicles.

    Well, duh. What do you take when you add a high center of gravity to a 4000lb vehicle.

    This thing just keeps getting stupider as the days go on.
  • guitardudeguitardude Member Posts: 44
    Ok, new room, lets try new topics. I heard about the new 2001 rangers with the explorer v6. That thing can put out quite a bit of power. Even if the torsion bar IFS does suck more then the ttb, that extra power should make up for it.
  • guitardudeguitardude Member Posts: 44
    Hmmm, how can firestone blame ford for accidents when their tries blow out??? Firestone is dieing and they're trying to take ford with them. It really does get stupider every day.
  • obyoneobyone Member Posts: 7,841
    It's so easy to blame Ford. They changed the tire psi, covered up explorer death related and other accidents. They are no way innocent on this one. The real question is how much are they to be blamed and what is it going to cost them in future sales? And what their liability will cost them in legal costs and associated awards on all the class action suits.
  • eagle63eagle63 Member Posts: 599
    ford didn't "change" the tire psi. firestone originally recommended 26-30 as the appropriate range. they changed their story later on, however, and said the psi should really be "at the high end of that range." ford is not alone in recommending 26 psi. goodyear recommends 26 psi for their tires also. as I've said a million times, 4 psi is not the problem here. -eagle
  • obyoneobyone Member Posts: 7,841
    The point of my post addresses guitardude's post on how ford can be blamed. Whether it's right or wrong, doesn't matter. The verdict will be out shortly and Ford stockholders will not be smiling.
  • mahimahimahimahi Member Posts: 497
    Wow!!! Watching Dateline right now, it's about the Firestone/Ford issue. Pretty embarrassing for both sides.
  • mahimahimahimahi Member Posts: 497
    I still think that Ford had no place recommending 26 psi, that just might be cause! Seems low to me, even if you think that 4 psi wouldn't make a difference...how come it hasn't happened to any other vehicle? Vehicles, that might have the same tires but, those manufactures DIDN'T recommend a change in the psi. The Explorer might need fully inflated tires for the tire to 'support' the weight or load of the Explorer. Don't forget that if the pressure is already lowered and if the tire over time looses some pressure say 4 more psi now the tire is 8 psi lowered than the CORRECT psi!!! That is dangerous at 60+ mph. They BOTH are at fault and BOTH should be punished...88 deaths that could have been avoided.
  • tacoma_trdtacoma_trd Member Posts: 135
    Ive seens many other brands of tires on explorers and the same recommendations are used, only the firestones are the ones to have blow outs. Firestone is to blame
  • obyoneobyone Member Posts: 7,841
    that the Explorers were the only vehicle that rolled with Firestone's on them....
  • scottssssscottssss Member Posts: 147
    I just got a letter from ford explaining the recall and that my truck was uneffected.. the PR guys also through in the fact that Ford Trucks and Suv's all have exceptional safety ratings from the Nhtsa.

    Ford will not be using Firstone at this point next year.. IMHO
  • meredithmeredith Member Posts: 575
    Fine, I'll freeze and link, to a correctly titled topic....

    this weekend....

    Front Porch Philosopher
    SUV, Pickups, & Aftermarket and Accessories Host
  • obyoneobyone Member Posts: 7,841
    statistical analysis cannot compensate for the power of the press. Also the fact of the attempted coverup. The tire failure rate and the explorer rollover rate may fall within acceptable tolerances had it been just that. Unfortunately, people died. I believe there were many more cases that went unreported or were settled.
  • timothyadavistimothyadavis Member Posts: 322
    Oh, I don't disagree with you. People died and that is never acceptable, especially if the people involved had a chance to prevent it and blew it.

    Did you see the Dateline report last night? They pointed out how the NHTSA, even after a State Farm investigator notified them of 21 Firestone failures he had noticed, failed to do anything about it. According to the NHTSA representative they were looking at the statistics and saw far more significant complaints for other tires. A bad mistake.

    Similarly, Ford should have followed up further -- especially after their Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asia voluntary recalls (even though Firestone did not back them up sufficiently on those and Firestone denied to Ford the existence of any US problem). For whatever reason -- bad assumptions, incompetence, selfish profit interest, lack of information sharing, whatever -- many share responsibility for this causing so much heartache through injuries and deaths.

    I am a bit impressed with the Nassar response of late, but saddened that it had to come so late. I only hope Ford learns from this and truly has changed their corporate philosophy to place their customers' safety as the highest priority....
  • obyoneobyone Member Posts: 7,841
    in that they are the only manufacturer to retain control of tire warranty. The other manufacturers all pass the tire warranty to the tire manufacturers. This way, GM had a database similar to Firestone where they could track trends, failures, defect rates. I don't think Ford is going to be caught depending on defect tire data from any tire manufacturer again. Not after Firestone. In fact in one of the later articles in I believe it was Newsweek, Ford has been studying the GM model for tire warranty.
  • scape2scape2 Member Posts: 4,123
    I read an article today that Ford may stop selling Firestone tires completely within the next year. Stats are showing that more and more people won't buy Fords with Firestone tires and are requesting they be exhanged with another brand if they do purchase the Ford vehicle. Also read that Ford went behind closed doors with Goodyear.... Hmm......
  • spoogspoog Member Posts: 1,224
    And now they are backing out of it...........
  • guitardudeguitardude Member Posts: 44
    Some claim that the explorer design is at fault. That is a dumb claim. It's all a matter of physics. Regardless of how your vehicle is designed, if it has x center of gravity and x ammount of ground clearence, then add a blown tire, at 70mph, you are asking for a bad accident. This risk is something u assume when buying an suv. There's no way around it, unless u want the auto company's to start making suv's that look like station wagons. If firestone had made good quality tires, those deaths would not have occured. The accidents could have happend with any vehicle, and the fact that there are so many more explorers out there with many more inexperienced drivers definetely didn't improve the death toll #'s.
  • spoogspoog Member Posts: 1,224
    "If firestone had made good quality
    tires, those deaths would not have occured. The
    accidents could have happend with any vehicle, and
    the fact that there are so many more explorers out
    there with many more inexperienced drivers
    definetely didn't improve the death toll "

    The problem is THIS:

    Those accidents HAVE NOT happened with other vehicles!

    Kind of tells you something, doesn't it?
  • obyoneobyone Member Posts: 7,841
    that's nothing new. Ford owners are in denial on this one saying Ford is not to blame...go figure.
  • meredithmeredith Member Posts: 575
    I shouldn't work when I'm tired....

    This topic is a corrected continuation of Topic 2143....

    Toyota TACOMA vs Ford RANGER - X. Please continue these discussions here. Thanks!

    Front Porch Philosopher
    SUV, Pickups, & Aftermarket and Accessories Host
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