Replacement Tires May Have Problems

W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 10 -- The safety of some of the very tires being used by the Firestone company to replace 6.5 million it recalled Wednesday is now being called into question.

A group called the Safety Forum and lawyers who are suing Firestone and the Ford Motor Co. say they have conducted a “preliminary review” of 16 claims against the companies involving incidents in which the tread separated on tires. And, they say, 11 of those claims involved the very Wilderness tires that Firestone says are safe — tires that will be used to replace those tires those that may be failing.

The company plans to use Wilderness tires from three of its plants as replacements. Company officials say they are recalling Wilderness tires from another plant, but that Wilderness tires made at those three plants have excellent safety records. But Safety Forum and the attorneys say the tires from those three plants also may have safety problems.

Firestone issued the recall as investigators examine the tires in connection with road accidents that caused 46 deaths.

The voluntary safety recall affects all size P235/75R15 Firestone radial ATXand radial ATXII tires produced in North America, including Mexico, andP235/75R15-size Wilderness AT tires produced at the company’s Decatur, Ill., plant.

The majority of the targeted tires were on Ford vehicles. The vehicles included the Ford Explorer, Ranger, F-150 pickup, Mercury Mountaineer, and also Mazda’s Navaho and B-series pickup.

Companies Stand by TiresFord spokeswoman Ann Doyle told ABCNEWS the company’s main aim was, when making the recall, to ensure customer safety. She said the automaker did extensive analysis before reaching the decision that the replacement tire was a good tire. She also said there are “accidents involving tires all the time” and they don’t necessarily involve tire separation. She said such incidents might now draw attention, but stood by Ford’s findings, based on Firestone’s data for failure of the tires.