but i cant believe they didnt realize something like this would "come up".
some of you are aware, Firestone stepped up to the plate and is doing a voluntary safety campaign on swithching out thier Steeltex A/T load range d tires that were o.e. on the Excursion. 5 deaths and multiple failures prompted them to jump right on it.......with Fords help of "course" :roll:
well..the dealeo is..firestone mailed cards to all the customers (2000-earl 2003 Excursions) with instructions on what to do. of course...the info came from ford....cause firestone has no idea who bough what where and when......
the official letter that was generated from ford stated "if a vehicle has one or more of the subject tires on it, all five tires must be replaced"..
why? because ford is having them replaced with load range E tires in lieu of D.........
at first....firestone stated that the reason they were putting on load range E..is that the d was no longer available. but guess what......? ford has an approved replacement tire list.....and states "these tires are the ONLY approved tires to be used as replacements during this safety campaign."
there is no firestone tire on that list. its 4 Pirelli's and 2 BF Goodriches.....in .......load range E hmmmmmmm those tires are available in load range D........ hmmmmmmm x4
we have 803 2000-2003 Excursions in our fleet...most of them law enforcement..but some geological survey, bur. of land management...forest service......etc..... the latters of which worry me.....because they tend to overload the vehicles...and lower tire pressures when off road....
so...... after contacting fords POC for Govt. fleet operations....and informing him that we have a number of Excursions that have already worn out the o.e. tires and gotten fitted with replacement tires...... my question to ford is: is it fords intention to upgrade the Excursion tire to load range E? he balked. i would too......think about it...... if this is the case....and the media gets a hold of that.....and the lawyers that are pursuing cases of the tire failures..... the new scenerio will be "Ford produced the Excursion and sold it with a tire that was of a load range and design not capable of performing properly in heavy duty and emergency situations"..... granted.....the D carries the GVW of the SUV......but .....under blow out conditions..or severe air loss....the sidewalls are not as stiff and the E and allow for more body sway and less steering control....
he contacted Ford tire engineering and we set up a conference call. my big BIG boss was there, me, and my boss.....
same question.... total silence...... then: "we will have to get back to you".
then i asked "did you pick load range E as a replacement for engineering reasons or because of lack of availability of the D"? a gentleman spoke up and said "performance reasons".......then their end got muffed real quick............
"we will have to get back to you, gentlemen" a stern voice said.
as we left the room....my BIG boss said, "Ken..prepare a formal letter to Ford with my signature outlining this whole scenerio and we are calling them to the table on this one....because if we have to replace all the tires on our Excursions and upgrade to E (the ones that are not involved in the recall).....then thats gonna cost mucho....". i said "not to mention....what about "joe public"....are they going to just tell us that "yes....go to e"..and expect us not to call NHTSA? the answer to that is HELL NO.
folks.....this might just real ugly...... shades of the Explorer/Wilderness situation......or worse.....for Ford.....
i dont like to see this kind of stuff.... but there had been enough deaths attributed to tire failures in the last few years.... the picture has to be painted in the right colors.....
anyway...... thats why you aint seen my ugly (_!_) on line......
laters.
im going up to have a beer.
some of you are aware, Firestone stepped up to the plate and is doing a voluntary safety campaign on swithching out thier Steeltex A/T load range d tires that were o.e. on the Excursion. 5 deaths and multiple failures prompted them to jump right on it.......with Fords help of "course" :roll:
well..the dealeo is..firestone mailed cards to all the customers (2000-earl 2003 Excursions) with instructions on what to do. of course...the info came from ford....cause firestone has no idea who bough what where and when......
the official letter that was generated from ford stated "if a vehicle has one or more of the subject tires on it, all five tires must be replaced"..
why? because ford is having them replaced with load range E tires in lieu of D.........
at first....firestone stated that the reason they were putting on load range E..is that the d was no longer available. but guess what......? ford has an approved replacement tire list.....and states "these tires are the ONLY approved tires to be used as replacements during this safety campaign."
there is no firestone tire on that list. its 4 Pirelli's and 2 BF Goodriches.....in .......load range E hmmmmmmm those tires are available in load range D........ hmmmmmmm x4
we have 803 2000-2003 Excursions in our fleet...most of them law enforcement..but some geological survey, bur. of land management...forest service......etc..... the latters of which worry me.....because they tend to overload the vehicles...and lower tire pressures when off road....
so...... after contacting fords POC for Govt. fleet operations....and informing him that we have a number of Excursions that have already worn out the o.e. tires and gotten fitted with replacement tires...... my question to ford is: is it fords intention to upgrade the Excursion tire to load range E? he balked. i would too......think about it...... if this is the case....and the media gets a hold of that.....and the lawyers that are pursuing cases of the tire failures..... the new scenerio will be "Ford produced the Excursion and sold it with a tire that was of a load range and design not capable of performing properly in heavy duty and emergency situations"..... granted.....the D carries the GVW of the SUV......but .....under blow out conditions..or severe air loss....the sidewalls are not as stiff and the E and allow for more body sway and less steering control....
he contacted Ford tire engineering and we set up a conference call. my big BIG boss was there, me, and my boss.....
same question.... total silence...... then: "we will have to get back to you".
then i asked "did you pick load range E as a replacement for engineering reasons or because of lack of availability of the D"? a gentleman spoke up and said "performance reasons".......then their end got muffed real quick............
"we will have to get back to you, gentlemen" a stern voice said.
as we left the room....my BIG boss said, "Ken..prepare a formal letter to Ford with my signature outlining this whole scenerio and we are calling them to the table on this one....because if we have to replace all the tires on our Excursions and upgrade to E (the ones that are not involved in the recall).....then thats gonna cost mucho....". i said "not to mention....what about "joe public"....are they going to just tell us that "yes....go to e"..and expect us not to call NHTSA? the answer to that is HELL NO.
folks.....this might just real ugly...... shades of the Explorer/Wilderness situation......or worse.....for Ford.....
i dont like to see this kind of stuff.... but there had been enough deaths attributed to tire failures in the last few years.... the picture has to be painted in the right colors.....
anyway...... thats why you aint seen my ugly (_!_) on line......
laters.
im going up to have a beer.
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