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Firestone's In More Hot Water–PART I

© Maggie Herman

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is requiring Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., to recall an additional 3.5 million tires because the agency has determined that the tires have a safety-related defect.

The tires subject to the recall are 15- and 16-inch Wilderness AT tires manufactured before May 1998 and installed on Ford sport-utility vehicles (SUVs). The tires were installed as original equipment on the Ford Explorer and the Mercury Mountaineer SUVs, as well as some other vehicles, including the Ford Ranger pickup truck. About 768,000 of these tires are still in use.

NHTSA's decision is based on its findings from an investigation it conducted called an engineering analysis. The engineering analysis was started after the agency asked Firestone to recall about 6.5 million tires in August of last year. Following the announcement of the recall, which involved 15-inch ATX and ATX II tires and 15-inch Wilderness AT tires produced at the Decatur, Illinois factory, the agency decided to study all ATX and Wilderness AT tires.

Noting that the Wilderness AT is the successor to the ATX, NHTSA traced the design similarities between the two tires and discovered several similarities that created concerns over the Wilderness AT's safety. First, the belt wedges-strips of rubber located between each tire's two steel belts near the belt edges on each side of the tire-are narrower on the Wilderness AT and the ATX than they are on other comparable tires designed by Firestone's competitors. The agency concluded that based on the ATX and Wilderness AT design, these tires are more likely to develop belt-edge cracks that will spread between the tires' belts.

Additionally, the inter-belt gauge-the rubber between the two steel belts-on the tires is also generally narrower than on comparable competitor tires. Furthermore, the inter-belt gauge on the tires is narrower than even Firestone engineers designed it to be, as indicated by the ATX's original design specifications. A narrow inter-belt gauge reduces a tire's resistance to crack growth and can contribute to belt adhesion problems.

Finally, the shoulder pocket design has a series of weak spots around the tire's circumference. This can lead to the creation and growth of cracks in these tires earlier than in their peers. NHTSA stated in its engineering analysis report that cracks was a significant factor contributing to tire detreading in the recalled ATX tires.

Additional information on this topic will be posted next week!!! Stay tuned!!!

To find out if your tires are covered by the Ford replacement program visit the company Web site at http://fordfirestonewildernessatprogram....

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