Wednesday April 25 11:15 AM ET
By Tim Dobbyn
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer advocates on Wednesday demanded a wider recall of Firestone tires linked to deadly rollover crashes, alleging fundamental design problems affect more than the 6.5 million tires already replaced.
They urged Firestone, a unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp (news - external web site)., Ford Motor Co., and federal regulators to act quickly ahead of the summer driving season when heat tends to exacerbate tire problems.
A voluntary recall announced last August should have included all 15-inch Wilderness AT tires regardless of where they were made and the 16-inch version as well, said Public Citizen and plaintiff lawyer research group Safetyforum.com.
``Based on an analysis of all of the available evidence, the tires fail because they are poorly designed,'' said a 48-page report by the two groups.
But Firestone said its own data, based on customer claims against the tires, backed the scope of its recall.
``We continue to believe the recall is more than adequate to protect the public,'' said Firestone spokeswoman Jill Bratina.
U.S. highway safety regulators have gathered reports linking 174 deaths and hundreds of injuries to rollovers that occurred after Firestone tire blowouts and tread separations.
On August 9 last year, Firestone announced the recall of all P235/75R15 15-inch ATX tires and same-sized Wilderness AT tires made at its Decatur, Illinois plant.
The majority of the recalled tires were fitted as standard equipment to Ford's popular Explorer sport utility vehicle and the two companies shared the cost of the recall.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has so far taken no steps to require an expanded recall, although it did warn consumers about 24 additional Firestone tire sizes and models last September.
A study commissioned by Firestone said manufacturing problems at the Decatur plant were partly to blame. In that study, University of California engineering professor Sanjay Govindjee said heavy loads, low tire pressures and hot climates also played a role.
Ford insists blame for the accidents lies solely with the Firestone tires that were failing at a higher rate than other brands. It presented a separate report to NHTSA earlier this month.
Report Hardest On Ford
But Public Citizen and Safetyforum said although poor quality control may have exacerbated tire design flaws, the root problem lay with Ford which set the specifications for the tires and ignored stability problems in the Explorer.
``The devastating rollover crashes occur because the poor design of the Ford Explorer makes it difficult for motorists to maintain control of their vehicle if a tire's tread belts separate from the tire,'' the two groups said.
Ford declined to comment on the report without having seen the details. ``We hope if they have any data they will present it to NHTSA,'' said Ford spokesman Ken Zino.
To support the charge that other Firestone plants were producing tires with more problems than the Decatur facility, Public Citizen referred to a table in Govindjee's report citing higher rates of cracking near the steel belts in tires that went to southern U.S. states from Joliette in Quebec, Canada and Wilson in North Carolina.
But Firestone's Bratina said the data came from a small sample of tires and ignored Govindjee's reservations about those tests compared to real world experience.
The tire maker says it received 165 claims for 15-inch Wilderness tires from Decatur out of 3.4 million made. By comparison, the Wilson plant had 31 claims on 3.3 million made.
For 16-inch Wilderness tires there were no claims against tires made at Decatur or at Aiken, South Carolina. The most claims against the larger tires were 18 for 16-inch Wilderness tires made at the Wilson plant, Bratina said.