Firestone Hearings

[Alan Reagan]

Anybody watch the Firestone congressional hearings on CSPAN yesterday. Gotta say, the CEO of Firestone (Lampe) was about as straight up as I've ever seen. Not once did he skirt the issue of tire problems. He was requesting that Ford open up, partner with Firestone to figure out the problem and implement the solution. He said the same tires come on the Ford Ranger but have a separaton rate that is eight times less than the Explorer. The Ranger is more in line with the overall average of all manufacturer separation rates. Also, he pointed out that there have already been two fatal accidents involving Explorer's that changed from Firestone to Cooper, then had a tread separation resulting in a rollover. Finally, Argentina is experiencing the same problem with Explorer's rolling over after tire tread separation. Interestingly enough, they are running mostly Goodyear tires on the vehicles down there. It sounded like he wanted to scream "Design flaw" but was very businesslike and called for more independant testing to determine why these vehicles are rolling over after a tread separation. He said that separation is a failure mode of all tires and that vehicles are theoretically designed to still be controlled after a tread separation occurs. Final note, I didn't realize until he pointed it out that the most common separation occurs on the left rear of the vehicle.

 

[John Berger]

I still think Ford screwed the pooch by recommending the low tire pressures on those big SUV's.

 

[Alan Reagan]

Mr. Lampe mentioned that Firestone had told Ford that the pressure needed to be at 30 minimum. Ford's response was to tell the consumers that 26-30 was acceptable. Later, Ford's chief engineer told Lampe in a meeting that once they had accepted and gone to 30, the problem of separation was reduced significantly. Rollover, however, remains because of the weird steering setup. I was very impressed with Lampe and his knowledge of the facts. He didn't/wouldn't talk about his competitors and wouldn't speak badly about Ford. His whole argument is to find the problem and develop a solution.

 

[Bill Lins]

Originally posted by Alan Reagan

Rollover, however, remains because of the weird steering setup.

What kind of setup do they have? I've never looked under one of them.

 

[NVR FNSH]

My wife drives one and I've never thought the steering was weird - tracks a hell of a lot straighter than my truck



Quoting the thread about DVD screens in the dash - "you can't fix stupidity" People need to learn how to drive AND Ford needs to fix any design issues. Hmm, the '02 Explorer is completely redesigned... ... Yes, I realize they were working on the '02 model in '98 if not before.



Brian

 

[Alan Reagan]

"Weird steering setup" is probably the wrong phrase. What I believe is that either through a narrow frame and seemingly top heavy body, the steering appears to over correct or oversteer the vehicle which causes it to go sideways when this is done at highway speeds. Another "weird" part of it is how the rear "squats" and the front end appears lifted on most of the vehicles. That makes for a weird setup IMHO. NVR FNSH, I agree they track well and drive reasonably good. The Coast Guard unit in Savannah has one that I drive and it runs straight. However, on the Interstate this year on a trip to Brunswick on 95, the guy driving had to make a quick lane change to miss a tread separating from a tractor trailer. I thought he was going to lose it. At first it leaned hard to the right and then back to the left even before the change was complete. It was like we had a heavy weight strapped on top.

 

[TDickerson]

Just another opinion

I, as probably everyone else blamed Firestone right off the bat for the tire problems. After reading alot of different articles on this, especially one where it said that Ford engineers tried to advise their people that certain design changes needed to be made on earlier models of the explorer, but Ford didn't listen. Probably would have cost more money I guess. So they just recommended to lower the tire pressures to make up for certain design flaws. It is kind of funny though that the new Explorers are incorporating those design changes that the engineers suggested long ago. As this is my opinion, I feel that Ford is much more responsible, if not totally, than Firestone is for the tire problem and Ford don't give a crap about Firestone and their long standing relationship because we all know the bottom line is money and profits. I feel better now.