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Comments
The guy at the F-stone 800 number said the dealer should replace the tire.
The major league you know what at the f-stone dealer told me that it was my fault that the tread came off.
I called NHTSA they are sending me a prepaid shipping label so they can analyze the tire.
Michelins are on sale at Sam's Club this month.
Floridian
Sept 8 issue of the NY Times about the Ford-Firestone Tire fiasco. Decide for yourself if Ford and Firestone are hiding anything from us!
www.nytimes.com/2000/09/08/business/08SAFE.html
Do I believe BFS is partially responsible, you bet, they knew the tire on the Explorer was going out UNDER INFLATED. They should have pulled the tires from OE, on that vehicle, at that air pressure.
Is it the tire or Explorer killing people. It is the Explorer rolling over. Now I'm sure with all the scrutiny of the press we will find every Explorer that has rolled over to have Firestones. This has not and will not be the case. However with this massive recall and change in air pressure recommendation the tire failures will be greatly reduced. You Michelin fans, I've run them and sold them, they have failures too. Generals I would not have on a Ford Explorer but I speak from experience of selling those 4 years ago, maybe they are better now.
What this all boils down to is AIR PRESSURE recommended by Ford, a tire built to Ford specifications, and a vehicle that has a inherent handling defect. Look at the new 2001 Explores suspension, I understand there has been many changes.
I'll ride on Firestones or Michelins Or BFG's before I'll ride in a Ford Explorer.
Floridian
Saw the same cracks on a friends ancient blazer firestone tires. These tires are really old and are on the recall list.
I wonder how dangerous it is to drive a vehicle with what looks to be the beginning of tread seperation. Have heard just before the tread seperates you get a thumping noise. Are there any other indications of tread seperation.
Maybe the sharks will do us a favor and eliminate this product from the road.
At Fords low 26psi, 50K is a lot of miles of heat degradation.
Now you who call them Deathstones and Gravestones, tell me how long you have been in the tire business, suspension business, or built cars. I may be biased, but I am also talking about something I know.
Ask any Explorer owner before this media and attorney fiasco, what tires they had on, how many miles they got and why did they replace them with Firestone again.
The legal fall-out from this will go on for the next ten years and untold millions if not billions will be paid by Firestone and probably Ford too before it's over. This is a lawyer's dream come true. The screamer ads for representation in liability cases are going full blast in the papers and on TV. A Firestone ad cannot be found in ANY of the local Sunday papers by any of the local tire dealers and all the local Firestone Service Centers have taken down the Firestone sign and parked it out in the alley ! Firestone and Ford deservive whatever they get out of this maby this is a long overdue wake-up call for ALL the big boys in the auto business.
Floridian
1. Link Between Explorers'Crashes and Firestone Tires Found
2. Firestone, Ford, Finger Pointing; Did NHTSA Wait Too Long to Open an Investigation?
Pocahontas,
Town Hall Roving Host
BUT- I called Firestone's Hotline prior to my dealer visit. They "did not know" if the tires made at my tires' plant had any reported separations. That was not comforting as a father of a 3 year old and who has an expecting wife driving an Explorer. I suspect Firestone is not being honest about the other plants. I then called Ford and they told me to call Firestone.
The fact that Ford was adamant in defending the quality of the Wilderness tires from other plants is not comforting. RELEASE THE DATA FOR ALL PLANTS MAKING WILDERNESS TIRES!!!! Ford dropped the ball in not demanding the release of data from other plants! Hear that Jacques, that's why I will not buy another Explorer. You are not doing right by your customers.
Three further observations:
1. The Wilderness AT tires were an optional tire ($230). Ford deserves to be liable since they profited from these tires.
2. Anybody notice? When the strike at B/F was averted on the Sunday night before Labor day, B/F workers were angry that there was no company picnic on Labor Day (CNN). They still had the day off. So much for trying to save the company (and their jobs) by working 24/7 getting new tires out. Remember union guys, you made these crap tires, not the executives.
3. Number 2 maybe mute anyway, because who wants new replacement Wilderness AT's now?
Floridian
Your host, Bruce
Floridian
I wonder if the relationship between Ford and F/B will survive this mess. When all the dust settles I don't see how Ford will be able to sell vehicles with those tires as OEM equipment. My bet is Ford will tell Firestone to take a hike. Firestone NEEDS Ford. Ford does NOT need F/B. When the ceo's of both companies will not even set at the same table during the congressional hearings and engage in finger pointing I think the rift will not be closed. The fact that Firestone is foreign owned does not set well with all the "good ole boys" either.
Floridian
A real off road vehicles will have a higher center of gravity than other vehicle types, which will increase the likely hood of rollover. Of course this fact certainly doesn't give Ford and Bridgestone the right to hide information from it's customers.
Anyway, back to the topic of the Firestone tires.
For those that aren't aware, there are also 8 other firestone tires on the governments investigative list: more Wilderness AT tires and Wilderness HT tires, ATX VD and HY tires, Firehawk ATX, ATX 23 degree, Widetrack Radial Baja and Widetrack Radial Baja AS tires.
These are not currently under recall, but according to dateline: "Firestone will replace them if they match the serial numbers on the government list." Btw, here's more consumer information from Dateline.
Talk to everyone later. Drive safely.
Pocahontas,
Edmund.com/Roving Host
Floridan, well, some people like trucks, as Pocahontas said, they should be treated accordingly.
Yeah B/F and ford are pretty bad for what they have done. How do you feel about one of more of your elected representatives in the midst of this controversy attaching this no testing rider to a piece of appropriations legislation.
I will send an email to Senator McCain requesting he identify the culprits. Wonder how much it cost to buy that little piece of work.
to sell these TRUCKS ( and that's what they are)on
the premise that they were big ,rugged,macho
machines that you could put your wife and family in and be perfectly safe. SHAME, SHAME Ford et al."
i currently own and drive a full sized chevy pickup and my wife drives a gmc jimmy (similar to the chevy blazer). i would rather endure 100 comparable accidents in either of those vehicles than virtually any 4 door passenger sedan any day of the week and twice on sundays. if you ask me, they're safer.
not to get off subject and start a political debate, but you cannot hold a piece of machinery liable for the actions of the person controlling it. guns don't kill people, people kill people. cars don't roll over, people roll them by driving carelessly.
the most poignant thing i heard on the dateline special last night was a woman in the opening segments who said (paraphrasal), "the american government needs to send a message to big business that human lives come BEFORE profits do." and that's the truth. i have all the faith in the world that heroes like john mccain will do this for us...
bco
What i fault Ford (and all the SUV mfgs) for is that in their zeal to sell these things to the public they lured all the "soccer moms" out of their Bimmers, Saabs and Volvos and did NOT educate them as to the totally different type vehicle they were dealing with. They pretty much tried to promote the big rugged machine image and never really told them that in any given situation that the things would swap ends or roll over in the blink of an eye. Regardless, most of the new to the SUV class would be horrified if they really thought for one second that they werein reality driving a lowly "truck". Especially those poor misguided souls that bought into the insanity of the Caddy Escalade.
John McCain will try to do his best but it will be like a Salmon swimming up stream i fear.
Floridian
Pocahontas,
Edmunds.com/Roving Host
----
Hope this helps!
This time, the Firestones had begun to 'thump'. I just thought it was out of balance. Rebalancing them did nothing to get rid of the problem, so I bailed imediatley. This was, of course, before we heard of this current problem.
My spare is still original, and IS coded with the dangerous 'VD' plant code. I will replace it in a week or so. Were the inner bands starting to seperate on my tires? Who knows. Now that this has all come out, the money I spent on top of the line Michelins was unquestionably well worth it.
It is more hassle, but I would advise people to consider buying Michelin's instead of the Goodyear's that Firestone is replacing the bad tires with. You have to fill out more paperwork, put up your own money up front, surrender your tires to a Firestone dealer, then hope that Firestone doesn't file bankruptcy before they can refund your money.
Michelin is just the best, and you can't place a value on your family's safety. I feel I got lucky when I sensed something wrong with my Firestones and bailed out early.
I will never consider a new vehicle that has Firestones mounted on it. I simply will never be able to trust them again.
One can simply buy the tires from another non-Firestone tirestore, and bring your Firestone tire + the form to the Firestone store. They'll refund you the money in 1-2 weeks.
The rest are copycats trying to fulfill a macho image and want to sit high up so they can see over normal automobiles. No doubt they can, but there are so many of THEM it doesn't matter. They can't see over each other!
Most SUV drivers don't appear to realize that with their vaulted position they also give up a lot of stability and need to drive accordingly, but many of them don't. Here in the Southwest, tire separations are not a new thing, but we hardly ever hear of normal automobiles losing control and rolling over when it occurs. This became a big deal because of the inherent instability of the SUV type of vehicle.
I believe a lot of the intelligent posters on here who write about how people drive SUVs like they are invincible. How many "soccer moms" and yuppie commuters have you seen blazing down a highway at speeds in excess of the speed limit with barely 10 feet between them and the car in front?
Come on people! These are TRUCKS! For those of you who dont know, the Explorer is a 4 door, closed cab, 4x4 built on a RANGER platform!
Have some common sense! Drive carefully, maintain your vehicle, and use common sense.
A QUESTION...Anyone out there with Michelin All Terrains and/or Mud/Snow tires? I ask, because I too am not a routine off roader, but an EMS provider from NJ. Need a truck with good traction in snow. Which do you think is a better tire? My tire dealer is pushing the Mud/Snow (even though he won't be able to get it until who knows when), claiming the All Terrain is a "harsh" tire (costs 20 bucks less than M/S too).