I was told this at a training class a few years ago.
As many as 62 deaths and 100 injuries may be due to faulty Firestone tires, including many that contributed to rollovers by sport utility vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
When Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. last week said it would recall all of its Firestone P235/75R15 size radial ATX and ATX II tires, and Wilderness AT tires, the complaints had totaled 46 deaths and and 80 injuries.
Most of the 6.5 million 15-inch tires in question were installed on Ford trucks, notably the Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle. A majority of the reports of tire failure involved tread separating from the tire, sometimes at high speed, causing blowouts and rollovers.
John Lampe, executive vice president of Bridgestone/Firestone, said he couldn’t comment on the agency’s numbers released Tuesday until he received more information about their makeup. But he said he was not surprised that NHTSA had recorded a growing number of complaints and attributed the rising claims to mass media coverage.
“Obviously as more media attention has been played on this, more claims will become known,” Lampe said.
Lampe added that the company was still investigating the complaints.
Rollovers Examined The data released Tuesday shows that while front and rear tires are subject to failure, rear tire failures caused all but two of the 131 rollovers reported to regulators, The New York Times reported. But it also said that determining the frequency of rollovers due to tire failures is nearly impossible because the government does not collect the data and tire makers do not share their data on their own brands.
Sports utility vehicles are more prone to rollover that other cars because of their higher centers of gravity.
Sen. John McCain, consumer advocacy groups and personal injury lawyers have called on Firestone to expand its tire recall, saying its voluntary recall in four states is not enough to protect consumers. In a letter to Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater, McCain, chairman of the committee responsible for highway safety, said he has serious doubts that drivers and passengers in all states will be adequately protected by Firestone’s recall.
Firestone said Tuesday it would reimburse customers who had to exchange tires included under the recall. Firestone said tires purchased between Jan. 1, 2000 and Aug. 8, 2000 would be covered under the reimbursement policy. Recalled tires that are replaced between the first day of the recall, Aug. 9, and Aug. 16 also fall under the policy.