Firestone Recalls Millions of Tires

Aug. 10 -- Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. on Wednesday recalled 6.5 million tires for light trucks and sport utility vehicles 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 ATX and radial ATXII tires produced in North America, including Mexico, and P235/75R15-size Wilderness AT tires produced at the company’s Decatur, Ill., plant.

Bridgestone/Firestone said about 14.4 million of these tires have been produced.

“The company estimates that the number of tires still in use and involved in the recall is 6.5 million, which includes 3.8 million radial ATX and ATXII tires and 2.7 million Wilderness AT tires,” the company said in a statement.

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

“At Bridgestone/Firestone, nothing is more important to us than the safety of our consumers,” Gary Crigger, Bridgestone/Firestone executive vice president, told a news conference in Detroit.

“We felt we must take this extraordinary step as a precaution to ensure consumer safety and consumer confidence in our brands,” Crigger said.

“So, no matter how many tires, no matter how many miles they have on them, we will replace them with new tires.”

The company said it will replace the recalled tires with tires made by other manufacturers if there are not enough Bridgestone/Firestone tires to meet the demand.

The company says the number of reported incidents with tire size P235/75R15 has been higher than with the other sizes in the lines. Crigger said the data show that accidents involving such tiresare rare considering the millions of tires produced.

As of Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had received more than 270 complaints about failing Firestone truck tires — the vast majority installed on Ford Explorer sport utility vehicles. These complaints involved 46 fatalities and at least 80 injuries.