Consumer Complaint Detail

FIRESTONE / STEELTEX R4S / 9999

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 002262492 Incident Date: May, 31 2002
Consumer's City: SPRINGFIELD Consumer's State: IL
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER CO.
Model Name: STEELTEX R4S Model Year: 9999
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Tires:tread/belt
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 1FMNU41SXYE Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Feb, 27 2004 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: Aug, 31 2001
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 10 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: I own a 2000 ford excursion. original tires were firestone steeltex radial at lt 265/75r 16d. on 6/1/02 my family and i were on i-70 in illinois. we had a blowout of the right rear tire. the tire completely shredded. steering immediately became difficult. i swerved into the median of i-70 and slowed to a stop. i got out and observed the damage. i located an area dealer who had replacement tires. i did not want to further endanger my family. i had the tires replaced. i took photos of the tires. when we returned home, i contacted ford and firestone about these tires and inquired if they were part of the 2002 tire recall at firestone. i was informed that these tires were not part of the recall and that they were "perfectly safe" to operate on my vehicle. i informed them that they should investigate these tires too because of my recent accident. they offered to sell me new firestone tires which i declined. now, it is apparent that these tires were also defective and firestone has begun another recall of these tires. i then contacted firestone. i related the account of the incident and gave them the data on my tires. they stated that these tires were part of the recall and they started to give me information on how to have the tires replaced and to be reimbursed. when i told them that i obviously had to replace the tires back in june of 2002, they informed me that their recall and reimbursement plan only covered tires that were replaced after march of 2003. i replaced my tires too "early" to be involved in this recall! given no other recourse, i am now filing this complaint. how can firestone not reimburse me for tires that were obviously defective? they endangered the safety of my family and caused me to replace the tires long before their service life. now they tell me that i replaced them too early? please let me know what other avenues might be available to get firestone to take responsibility for their defective tires and reimburse me for the cost of new tires.*ak