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April 01, 2006
EXPLORER ROLLOVERS: DEFECTIVE TIRES, DEFECTIVE SUV OR BOTH?
Ford has routinely blamed the Explorer’s OEM Firestone-Bridgestone tires for rollovers that led to more than 200 deaths, but evidence in a recent lawsuit indicates the car company ”approved replacement tires for its Explorer sport utility vehicle that made it just as likely to roll over as the originals,” Bloomberg’s Margaret Cronin Fisk reports. The evidence – Ford’s own test results of replacement tires – was introduced last month in an Explorer trial in Mississippi. It “may support hundreds of pending lawsuits contending that the vehicle is unstable and can flip over amid evasive driving maneuvers,” the report said, adding:
“In computer simulations used to test substitutes, the Explorer tipped onto two wheels -- a Ford indicator of rollover risk -- on tires made by Goodyear, Michelin's Uniroyal, Continental and other manufacturers, the records show. The company approved some failed tires as replacements, according to Ford documents. The Explorer tipped most frequently in the vehicle's two-wheel-drive model.” A Ford spokesperson reportedly responded that the company “performed extensive testing and analysis before approving any replacement tires. No single factor determined whether a specific tire was approved as a replacement tire.''
Posted by MVHAP at April 1, 2006 04:49 PM