TxDoc
03-03-2004, 07:27 PM
Tread failures lead to recall of Firestone Steeltex tires
By Earle Eldridge, USA TODAY
Bridgestone Americas Holding recalled more than 300,000 Firestone Steeltex tires Thursday after reports of five traffic deaths possibly related to Steeltex tread failure.
The tires were made in Canada exclusively for 2000-03 Ford Excursion full-size sport-utility vehicles and have been discontinued. The tires are implicated in 14 accidents that killed five and injured 20.
Bridgestone estimates that 297,000 of the tires remain on the road in the USA, an additional 20,000 in other countries. They are identified as Steeltex A/T LT265/75R-16 tires with a load-range rating of D.
Firestone stores and Ford dealerships will swap the tires, free, for heavier-duty, load-range E Steeltexes or similar tires from other brands.
The tire company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say they decided last week on a recall but said nothing until Bridgestone and Ford could stock enough replacement tires. It could not be determined whether any additional injuries or deaths occurred in the time between the decision and the announcement Thursday.
NHTSA twice has investigated a variety of Firestone Steeltex tires but found no pattern of defects. The first probe was in response to owner complaints and ran from September 2000 to April 2002. The second, at the request of a law firm suing Bridgestone, ran from November 2002 to May 2003.
NHTSA says it received more data from Bridgestone last December, as required by a 2000 tire-safety law called the TREAD Act. Analysis of that data was completed this month and indicated that the tires could be faulty. Had Bridgestone refused a recall, NHTSA could have spent 18 months working through steps needed to order a recall, according to agency spokesman Rae Tyson.
In August 2000, Bridgestone recalled a near-record 14.4 million Wilderness AT, ATX and ATX II tires for tread failure problems similar to those reported with Steeltex tires. Tires in that earlier recall were linked to more than 200 deaths and more than 700 injuries. Most of those tires were on Ford Explorer SUVs.
Lawyers suing Bridgestone over Steeltex models R4S, R4S II and A/T, which are not included in Thursday's recall, say that tire quality was reduced by a cost-cutting program begun in 1994 and known as Project 95 and C95 within the tire company.
Bridgestone has denied that cost-cutting caused tire failures.
About 41 million Steeltex tires of various types have been produced and have been standard on 71 types of vehicles, including pickups, SUVs and recreational and emergency vehicles.
Information about the recall is available from Firestone at 800-465-1904 and Ford at 800-392-3673.
By Earle Eldridge, USA TODAY
Bridgestone Americas Holding recalled more than 300,000 Firestone Steeltex tires Thursday after reports of five traffic deaths possibly related to Steeltex tread failure.
The tires were made in Canada exclusively for 2000-03 Ford Excursion full-size sport-utility vehicles and have been discontinued. The tires are implicated in 14 accidents that killed five and injured 20.
Bridgestone estimates that 297,000 of the tires remain on the road in the USA, an additional 20,000 in other countries. They are identified as Steeltex A/T LT265/75R-16 tires with a load-range rating of D.
Firestone stores and Ford dealerships will swap the tires, free, for heavier-duty, load-range E Steeltexes or similar tires from other brands.
The tire company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration say they decided last week on a recall but said nothing until Bridgestone and Ford could stock enough replacement tires. It could not be determined whether any additional injuries or deaths occurred in the time between the decision and the announcement Thursday.
NHTSA twice has investigated a variety of Firestone Steeltex tires but found no pattern of defects. The first probe was in response to owner complaints and ran from September 2000 to April 2002. The second, at the request of a law firm suing Bridgestone, ran from November 2002 to May 2003.
NHTSA says it received more data from Bridgestone last December, as required by a 2000 tire-safety law called the TREAD Act. Analysis of that data was completed this month and indicated that the tires could be faulty. Had Bridgestone refused a recall, NHTSA could have spent 18 months working through steps needed to order a recall, according to agency spokesman Rae Tyson.
In August 2000, Bridgestone recalled a near-record 14.4 million Wilderness AT, ATX and ATX II tires for tread failure problems similar to those reported with Steeltex tires. Tires in that earlier recall were linked to more than 200 deaths and more than 700 injuries. Most of those tires were on Ford Explorer SUVs.
Lawyers suing Bridgestone over Steeltex models R4S, R4S II and A/T, which are not included in Thursday's recall, say that tire quality was reduced by a cost-cutting program begun in 1994 and known as Project 95 and C95 within the tire company.
Bridgestone has denied that cost-cutting caused tire failures.
About 41 million Steeltex tires of various types have been produced and have been standard on 71 types of vehicles, including pickups, SUVs and recreational and emergency vehicles.
Information about the recall is available from Firestone at 800-465-1904 and Ford at 800-392-3673.