John Lampe, the tiremaker's chief executive officer, gave Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta a lengthy report Thursday in which the company contends that the world's best-selling sport utility vehicle is harder to handle than some of its competitors when a tire fails. Lampe acknowledged past problems with the company's now-recalled tires, but said investigators must consider whether the Explorer played a role in the rollover accidents triggered by a tire failure.
All vehicles have spare tires because tires can lose air.
Tires can loose tread. What we are concerned about is when something like this happens, a person should be able to pull over and not roll over. The government's auto safety agency has the information under review, said Rae Tyson, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ford's John Rintamaki reaffirmed the automaker's position that the accidents are the result of faulty tires. We are replacing Firestone Wilderness AT tires because they have elevated rates of tread separation in the real world.