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View Poll Results: Who's fault in the recent Ford-Firestone problems?
Ford 6 37.50%
Firestone 1 6.25%
Both 8 50.00%
Neither 1 6.25%
Voters: 16. You may not vote on this poll

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  #1  
Old 08-14-2001, 01:42 AM
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Stoga Stoga is offline
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Question Who's at fault? Tires or Vehicle?

Yes, this is another post about the Ford-Firestone Fiasco. To simply things, I'll just state that Ford's opinion is that the wrecks would have never happened if not for defective tires.
Firestone's opinion is, Blowouts are a semi normal occurance in driving, and that just because a tire has a blow out, the vehicle shouldn't immediately end up on it's top.
Personally, I've had a few blow outs on various vehicles, and I've never had one even remotely try to flip. Anyway, here is the latest link on a ongoing trial, if you need anymore background information to decide.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/08/13/fi...uit/index.html
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  #2  
Old 08-14-2001, 03:03 AM
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krawdaddy krawdaddy is offline
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I have never had a blow out.... I think that Ford is right, if the tire didn't explode in the first place, there would be no chance for the Exploder to go belly up.

I had an 02 explorer last week, it had michelin tires.. guess Ford learned their lessons
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  #3  
Old 08-14-2001, 12:34 PM
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52 M37 52 M37 is offline
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I feel that these accidents have alot to do with the way some idiots drive these top heavy vehicles.
They jump out of a car never having driven anything top heavy and feel they can run 80 mph and weave in and out of traffic like a sports car. Alot of people do not think ahead, do not look ahead and are so wrapped up in getting there before the next guy that they are not prepared for an emergency situation.
Ride down any stretch of road and take note of the vehicles weaving and driving the fastest.
I have driven just about every type of vehicle you can imagine with all types of loads and the bottom line is if you don't know how to drive the vehicle any emergency can be disasterous.

my 2ยข
Ric
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Old 08-14-2001, 02:45 PM
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I know you guys probably think I am an idiot for driving past the posted speed limit but... About 15 years ago I bought a comuter car that had shItty Goodyear tires on it with almost new tread on them. I was late for work and sped up to 90ish when BAM, the tread came off the tire. It felt worse than a flat tire does at speed. I was barely able to get the car pulled over even though I was going in a straight line. When I got out of the car I was suprised to see nothing but steel belts where tread used to reside. The tire looked like a doughnut and was no longer round but still was holding 32psi. When you lose the tread it feels and handles totally different than a flat tire. If I had been driving a vehicle with a high center of gravity, be it a ford or dodge, I quite possibly could of lost controll of the car and put others in danger. I am VERY selective about my speeding now and always think about that day every time I am in a hurry.
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Old 08-14-2001, 03:30 PM
Mother304 Mother304 is offline
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I think Firestone's arguement was that the recommended tire pressure by Ford was WAY to low, causing overheating of the tire.
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  #6  
Old 08-14-2001, 03:37 PM
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wile e. coyote wile e. coyote is offline
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i dont think it is fords fault, suvs are top heavy, if you want a vehicle that is not top heavy then go buy a car. most people that drive suvs dont really need them anyway. i place sole blame on the tires.
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  #7  
Old 08-14-2001, 04:44 PM
Mopar_nutz Mopar_nutz is offline
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I personally think that there has probably been alot more blowouts than crashes. most likely the people driving these things when the tire went overreacted a little and theres no room for mistake on a top heavy SUV. So yeah, the tires suck, and yeah the truck will flip easy. But I think it's those 2 things combined with the odd driver that didn't handle it too well that caused the problems. We can't assume that every driver of those things knows exactly how to handle a blowout. Just with your average car you can do the wrong thing and not end up on your roof.
If the tires didn't blow there would be no problem.
If the tires blew but this was a Rustang driven at the speed limit there would be no problem.
If the driver knew they were in an SUV and knew how to handle one in an emergency situation, I bet there would be no problem there either.
I just don't think that EVERY time an Explorer blew a tire, it ended up on it's roof.
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Old 08-14-2001, 05:00 PM
74DartSport 74DartSport is offline
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The recomended tire pressure for these vehicles is too low, leaving no margin for any loss of pressure. If you start at 25psi, and lose 20%, you're down to 20 and the tire overheats with the expected results. Ford wanted these to ride nice and soft, so the pressures were kept low......
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  #9  
Old 08-14-2001, 05:05 PM
goldduster goldduster is offline
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the ford "tire exploders" should have about 32-35 lbs of air in the tires at ALL times. driving 90 down the interstate in a 4200lb vehicle that is extremely top-heavy and quite tippy and poor handling anyway can be very disasterus with under 25psi of air in the tires.
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  #10  
Old 08-19-2001, 03:26 PM
BIG RED MACHINE BIG RED MACHINE is offline
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Default Load range possible??

One item not heard much in this on going fiasco is the claim of shipping weight,,Firestone claimed that the Explorer at shipping weight is close to or already overloaded on the load range tire that Furd is useing on them,,Now I am no rocket scientist,but take one large top heavy SUV add a FACTORY lowered tire pressure and add one stupid suburanite that is going on vacation add overloads it=ONE MAJOR MESS,,Every manufactorer does the lower inflation pressures game(if you do not believe it look at a RAM and its supplement and some of the MOPAR/DC recomended tire pressures) so is the tire manufactorer or SUV manufactorer at fault??,,Or could it be the,fail to look at ALL his paperwork in the owners pouch,owner that makes a sometimes fatal mistake,,Lower tire pressure are a major factor to accidents and do cause excessive heat buildup that will also,,Any one who has had a blowout can relate to it being a hand full,but a rollover,MMMMM,,One can only wonder what else was happening at the time of the dilemma,,Gotta feel for Firestone in this case to many other tires are on heavier vehicles and no other problems seem to be happening,,Just a thought.......
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  #11  
Old 08-20-2001, 12:17 PM
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ehostler ehostler is offline
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FORD is at fault. The FIRESTONES WILDERNESS A/T's were being bought by consumers at several different outlets and being placed on several different trucks and SUVs. The Explorer is the only vehicle to experiences roll over when tread seperation occured.

If you look at the data, you will find that the Wilderness A/T's have are in the lower midrange for tread sepeartion.

The Explorer and Expedition are among the worst when it comes to a high center of gravity. You can feel them wanting to rollover on shallow banked curves at low speeds.

A university in Michigan proved that tread seperation on the left rear (of the Explorer) at speeds over 35 MPH will (not may) cause a rollover. I'm sorry, but if the intended market is going to be driving these things at 55MPH or better, then the suspension geometry needs to be reworked.
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