Firestone ATX and Wilderness AT tires are eight times more likely to be associated with tire failures than a comparable SUV that does not have ATX or Wilderness AT tires according to Safetyforum.com, a web site dedicated to using the internet to promote the safety of vehicles and other consumer products. An analysis of government fatal crash statistics performed for Safetyforum.com shows that Ford Explorers, all of which had Firestone ATX or Wilderness AT tires as original equipment tires since 1991, including current models, are reported to have tire failures in fatal crashes eight times more often than Jeep Cherokees, another popular SUV that never had Firestone ATX or Wilderness AT tires as original equipment.
“This is the first statistical confirmation of anecdotal reports that Firestone’s ATX and Wilderness AT tires are over represented in vehicle deaths and injuries,” said Ralph Hoar, Director of Safetyforum.com. “In three decades of involvement in vehicle safety efforts, I’ve seldom seen such clear statistical confirmation of a problem.” Hoar said. “It is true that tires are rarely identified as the cause of a crash. That is all the more reason that these figures and this problem are so critical,” Hoar said. “Based on these data and the mounting anecdotal evidence of a severe problem with these tires, Safetyforum.com is joining others in calling for Ford and Firestone to recall and replace these tires.
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The analysis of NHTSA’s Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS) data was performed for Safetyforum.com by noted public health researcher Leon Robertson. Dr. Robertson served on the faculties of Harvard, Yale and Wake Forest, and serves as a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control. He has also worked as a consultant to Ford Motor Company on job related injuries. Robertson established during the 1980’s that the “vehicle stability index” could be used to predict the likelihood that a vehicle would rollover. NHTSA now proposes to use the index as the foundation for a public information program to indicate vehicle stability.
The government’s FARS data base consists of police reports of all fatal crashes. It includes basic information about fatal crashes, such as tire involvement. However, FARS does not provide sufficient detail to determine whether the specific mode of failure was tread separation.
Ford has acknowledged that it used Firestone ATX and Wilderness AT tires on all Explorers since the vehicle was introduced in 1991. Firestone has published a list of all vehicles that had ATX and Wilderness AT tires as original equipment. However, it is believed that manufacturers of those vehicles used tires from other tire makers as well. Robertson compared the Ford Explorer with the Jeep Cherokee because Jeep never used Firestone ATX or Wilderness AT tires as original equipment tires on those vehicles.
Robertson examined data in FARS for calendar years 1991 through 1997 and for vehicle model years 1991 through 1998. During those years there were 872 fatal Explorer crashes and 310 fatal Jeep Cherokee crashes. Police reported that 22 of the Explorer crashes involved tire problems (2.5 percent), while only one fatal crash with a tire problem was reported for Jeep Cherokees (0.3 percent). “Thirteen of the 22 tire problems occurred in the third and fourth years of use and 18 of the 22 occurred in the first four years of use suggestive that they were mostly aging original equipment tires,” Robertson said.
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By GlobalDataSafetyforum.com was established in 1996 as a service of Ralph Hoar & Associates, an Arlington, Virginia consulting firm that specializes in research and analysis of product safety issues. The purpose of safetyforum.com is to provide citizens and attorneys a platform for teaching and learning about product safety issues. Attorney’s who have successfully litigated product safety issues are invited to become a safetyforum.com “Attorney of Record” on those issues. Citizens whose lives have been affected by hazardous products or who have concerns about the safety of specific products are invited to use safetyforum.com to create public awareness and support for their issue. Safetyforum.com’s “Attorneys of Record” for tires is Tab Turner of Little Rock, Arkansas and Taras Kick of Los Angeles, California.
