Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire today announced that it is voluntarily recalling about 297,000 Steeltex Radial A/T tires sold with Ford Excursion sport utility vehicles manufactured in 2000-2002 and some 2003 models.
The Steeltex Radial A/T tires, which were made in Canada, are in size LT265/75R16, Load Range D.
“In order to avoid any future problems, Firestone, in consultation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and in cooperation with Ford Motor Company, will replace these tires to enhance safety and to ensure customer satisfaction,” Bridgestone/Firestone said in a statement.
Bridgestone/Firestone said consumers will receive free replacement tires.
The recall comes after Steeltex tires were linked to 14 sport utility vehicle accidents that resulted in the deaths of five people. Attorney Joseph Lisoni said the recall is a “classic case of too little too late.”
Mr. Lisoni in August 2002 filed a national class-action lawsuit against Bridgestone/Firestone for alleged defects in the Steeltex tires series. He claims the company “has known for years that the tires have serious defects in their design.”
“Already, ambulance companies in 33 states have voluntarily begun replacing Steeltex tires at their own cost due to sudden tread separations which have led to injuries and deaths of patients being transported as well as injuries to their employees,” said Lisoni.
21 responses so far ↓
Shaune Touhey // Mar 1, 2004 at 10:05 am
I would just like to know why only the suv’s are recalled? We have a 1999 f250, with the same tires. Why aren’t they being recalled?
Please respond
Milton Matthews // Mar 4, 2004 at 8:25 pm
I have a 2000 Ford F350, with the Steeltex tires and The law office of Lisoni & Lisoni is representing me! I believe that the LOAD D tire was designed and installed on the SUVs, however, Ford installed the same tire on PUs. Contact LISONI’s office and I’m sure it’s the TIRE that’s an issue, not the type of vehicle.
Matthew HArris // Mar 12, 2004 at 4:02 am
I have a 2003 GMC p/u with these same tires on it and am not happy with the way the tread is looking. I had a ford Excursion with the same tires on it that were treading the same way and 3 of the 4 blew out between 22000 and 25000 miles. Can the ones on my p/u be replaced before I have problems with them?????
mary furrow // Mar 19, 2004 at 11:03 am
We have just purchased a 2002 ford f250 from Shelor Motor Mile. Does this recall apply to us. Our tires do not look the best along the sides and we are very concerned since they are relatively new and now the recall. Is the recall only for excursion and suv vehicles? If we are uncomfortable because we have those tires on our f250 and purchased it that way, what are our options? Can we have them replaced?? in full, partial etc. Please respond ASAP. My husband travels a lot and I would like to know he is safe. Thank you for your time and attention in this matter. Mary Furrow
Cindy Fleck // Mar 22, 2004 at 9:30 am
I have a 2002 F350 Super Duty 7.3 Litre Diesel. Are my tires affected?
sean // Apr 22, 2004 at 9:37 pm
I have a 2001 Ford Excursion. When I purchased the truck it had the Firestone steeltex AT. I asked the dealer if they were safe, because of the rash of Firestone tire stories. The dealer assured me that the tires were safe. Last summer while on vacation in Oregon the rear tire separated on the freeway. Fearful of just replacing the one tire I replaced all four. Now I come to find out that Firestone is recalling the tires. That’s what I thought our local news said. Well come to find out after one month of run around, They are calling it a VOLUNTARY SAFTEY CAMPAIN. They say it’s not a recall. They are refusing to reimburse me for the tires. They said that ONLY if the tires were still on the car and under warranty, and ONLY if something was wrong with them would they be able to exchange them. They strongly emphasized that since I bought my tires because of lack of confidence in the Firestone tires, that’s not a reason for reimbursement. If anyone has any advice please feel free to email me.
Sean
M Page // May 1, 2004 at 11:45 am
My tire has just gone bad on my F350, load range E, W/50,000 miles.
Susan Gardner // Jun 16, 2004 at 7:49 pm
I have a 2000 Ford Excursion which came with the Firestone Steeltex tires which have now been recalled. I experienced a high speed blowout in July of 2001 and was told by the Firestone dealer that it was due to under inflation. I know my tires were properly inflated since I had my tires balanced and rotated prior to my trip.Since Firestone was not willing to replace the tires, I took my business elsewhere and purchased 5 Michelin tires. I have now received a letter from Firestone regarding the defective tires. The problem I am having is that I replaced my tires prior to March of 2003 and they are claiming they are not refunding or replacing tires that were replaced by the consumer prior to March 2003. Regardless of when I experienced problems or when I chose to replace my tires, the ones that came on the vehicle were faulty. How can I continue this fight against Firestone to either reimburse my expense or provide a voucher for new tires??
Don Waski // Jun 19, 2004 at 6:33 am
I have a 2001 Excurtion in March I recieved the campain notice. After visting 8 ford dealerships and 1 Firestone dealer I still had not recieved new tires because of backorder. I blew tire on the way home from a Ford dealer which did $2440 damage. I sent the tire in to Firestone for damage reimbursement. Anyone have any problem being reimbured?
steve below // Jun 28, 2004 at 10:12 am
I’ve had three tire seperations with two seperate sets of steeltex radials on my 2000 F-250. In 32 years of driving I’ve never had these kinds of problems. Looks like I’m headed to small claims court in my county to get reimbursement for the damage the last seperation did to my truck…Don’t really know if Firestone will help…I got tired of staying on hold for hours and still haven’t gotten to talk to anyone. Firestone needs to be out of business. They continue to exhibit worst business practices at the expense of trusting consumers.
April Letts // Jul 9, 2004 at 2:33 am
My problem is the same as Susan Gardner. I have a 2000 Ford excursion and replaced my shredding tires nov. 26, 2002 after repeated trips to a dealership where i purchased the vehicle, to see if the tires had been recalled. When i bought the vehicle new I purchased a full bumper to bumper warranty on it. Even when the miliage was low the tires looked awful. They refused to do anything about it and they mailed the nice little notice in the mail a few months ago. As much as we pay for vehicles these days i dont see the problem in righting the wrongs done to consumers. I think the majority of people work hard for there money. I’m sure the price of the tires were included on what i paid for the vehicle. Why did I have to buy them again so soon? If Ford Motor Company and Firestone dont want to step up to the plate, Ill buy something else.
gary salow // Jul 18, 2004 at 2:30 am
I have a f250 2002 crewcab i have the steeltex tires load range E, the driver front tire seperated like a recap and caused 3 thousand dollars worth of dammage to my truck, firestone wants me to send my tire to them? I dont trust them at all, what should i do? anyhelp?
email me at aboveknee@aol.com thanks for your time.
Blair Reuther // Sep 10, 2004 at 8:52 am
If you have any Bridgstone tires take them off a get a good brand of tire. They will blow out, I guess I am a licky one that I only received about $1200 in body damage when my LT265/75R16 Load Range D blew at 50 miles an hour. My 5 year old in the back seat when the tire blew was not impressed either. Don’t save a few hundred dollors to risk your life or others. Get new tires. The company is a crook just weighing its crime before fessing up to a plea bargain.
angelina nixon // Oct 6, 2004 at 8:25 am
I purchased a 2003 ford f250 with firestone steeltex a/t 265/75r16 load E. The tires are fairly new but are beginnning to fall apart like a retread. I now have an aproxx.3inby8in chunk of tread missing. what should I do.
Joel Copeland // Nov 17, 2004 at 11:51 am
I have a 1999 F250 w/ load range E. These tires have had cracks in them after the first year… I only have 32,000 miles on truck. Can I get any replacement/relief for these tires?
garre mathis // Jan 13, 2005 at 3:03 pm
I have a 2001 Excursion and I replaced 3 separated tires 9/02 31k and I just received a 2nd denial for r/b
Andy Dreyer // Feb 28, 2005 at 4:19 pm
Just this past X-mas 2004 I had purchased a used Ford F250 Super Duty.
It was a used vehicle with about 36,000 miles on it. When I had purchased the truck, I bought the extended warrantee and before signing all my paperwork to complete the sale, I looked over the truck and it was very clean… Too clean. Tires were wiped down with an excessive amount Amor-All. After about a day or so I notced the tires lost their shine and the side-walls were in bad shape… I think they were cleaned up real well so i wouldn’t notice at the sale. Then I had noticed the rear tires making loud noise after going 50 MPH. I assumed there were high spots on the tires. After numerous phone calls to Norristown Ford in PA I have gotten nowhere. The tires look, sound and drive like crap! I have never been so unhappy with any tire. Long story short, I bought a nice truck with BAD tires, and I want to get them replaced… So I feel safe, and I don’t KILL somebody in an accident. It’s hard enough just being human, and getting through the day without having to worry about defective tires.
If anyone can help me with more information reguarding the RECALL of these ‘Firestone’ Tires I would greatly
appreciate any information or help you can give me. Thank You!
Andy Dreyer YoDjMixItUp@aol.com
Lance // Mar 3, 2005 at 8:36 pm
The Load Rating E maybe manufactured in a different plant instead of Canada. Has anyone checked to find out where the Load Rating E is manufactured? I haven’t had any problems on my 2002 F350 7.3 Diesel. I have put them in stress situations (towing, carrying full weight in truck bed) and also driven at the top speed on the truck on the expressway. I had about 40,000 miles on them and replaced them because of the standard wear and tear I did.
Virginia M // Mar 23, 2005 at 11:39 pm
We had chunks of the sidewalls of our Excursion coming off right before a trip we were going to make. Ford and Firestone argued about who was at fault. I took no for an answer and used media. Ford passed the buck, but Firestone did the right thing…they replaced the tires. We haven’t had a problem yet. It was explained that proper tire pressure is key along with proper tires for certain car weight. Firestone says Ford goofed by using Load D for our Heavy Excursion…especially after towing a trailer behind us, which is why we bought the vehicle in the first place. We have pictures of our old tires. I am happy to say I am glad my family is safe. Again, we did not experience problems until we started to pull a travel trailer. PS they got replaced with load E, and I didn’t know other people where having problems with these too. So far ours look ok.
Ken Hanna // Sep 14, 2005 at 8:49 am
Yesterday we discovered a bulge in the tread one of the tires on our 2001 F-250 (diesel). These are Firestone Steeltex A/T 265/75 R16 (load range E)tires. This was a matter of hours before the truck was headed into the Idaho mountains loaded heavy on a hunting trip. Approximately a year ago, my brother’s 2001 F-350 with the same tires had a front tire blow out on the freeway which didn’t cause an accident but it was expensive to repair. The inner fender well area had considerable damage when that big tread let go. We’re taking the F-250 to the shop to get new tires today. For our family, those tires have proven in 2 out of 2 cases to be unreliable and unsafe. Now that my nephews have started driving those trucks, it scares me a bit to think of what could happen to them, especially on the mountain roads here in Idaho. If you have these tires, I’d recommend you check them often for tread separation. For us it has not been a question of “if”, but “when” this would occur. Needless to say, we are a bit disgusted with Ford and Firestone for not standing behind what they’ve sold.
Mike Mitchell // Oct 23, 2005 at 7:50 am
I am a police officer in California. I was driving to work where I was supposed to be at a high school foot ball game. Suddenly my truck felt like some one had hit it in the rear. Only problem was that no one was around! I saw tire tread fly out from under my vehicle. My left rear tire tread had seperated form the rest of the tire and I was riding on the steel belts. God must have been with me because the tire itself did not deflate. My truck sustained damage to its fender. FIRESTONE or FORD never contacted me about this problem! I bought my Ford F250 New in 2000 and I have 47k on it.
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