I have 2 Firestone Wilderness tires.....?

Question

They are the ones that were recalled by Ford and Firestone about 7-8 years ago...you know the ones that would fall apart while driving and send your car into a barrell roll. Well my question is...can I get money from Firestone still? They are brand new and never used, but Firestone only offered refunds on 4 tires. So I got my 4 tires replaced but I also had 2 others. What can I do? Should I contact Firestone and see if they will give me a credit?

Maybe I can get something for them on ebay? Would that be illegal? Even if I say in the auction they are the recalled tires.

Answer 1

First, the only way a car is going to go into a barrel roll, is if the driver exceeds safe and rational driving limits for the given conditions. Nobody driving 20 miles an hour on a dry, level road ever went into a barrel roll, even on purpose! The issue was that, due to poor manufacturing, the tire treads fell apart, even at low speeds, when they were improperly inflated and the vehicle was driven beyond reasonable limits.

Second, here is the crux of the recall, copied from a legal website which had too many unrelated things to include as a link: "The settlement excludes anyone who has filed actual claims of personal or property injury related to the tires. Class members (other than 45 named plaintiffs who will receive $2,500 each) will get no monetary compensation, but will have the right to trade in the tires if they did not respond to the earlier recall . . . " Although there was no specific expiration date for the recall, in the legal world, there is a reasonable time for such (i.e., should a company be expected to make good on a recall from 50 years ago?). In this case, the offer expired in March 2002.

Third, though it would not be illegal to sell the tires, it would certainly be immoral to do so, even with a clearly posted warning. However, that might not stop the authorities from crashing through your door to find out what other bad things you're trying to get away with! Legal or otherwise, most rational people wouldn't want that to happen. Look at it this way: if the person you sold it to got injured or died as a result of using the tires on his/her vehicle, guess who is going to be held criminally and civilly liable for monetary damages and/or incarceration, and, potentially, worse, if charges of manslaughter are brought?

Fourth, the best thing you can do with the tires is either hang them from a tree for kids (or yourself!) to swing on (hopefully, the tire won't explode after a few hundred swings!) , or use them as "bumper guards" in your garage. At the very least, drill large holes through the inside of the sidewalls and tread, not only to make them unusable, but also to prevent mosquitos from laying eggs, if they should become filled with water when left outside (you should also do that if you like the other suggestions!).

The first link, below, offers old info; I suppose it couldn't hurt to contact the listed toll-free number, but, most likely, it is disconnected or re-assigned, by now. The second link offers a searchable database of recalls; there are three listings for this situation, but all have expired.

Answer 2

The first thing you need to do is take them to a Firestone dealer who can then check the size and DOT codes to determine if they are recalled tires. My understanding is they will only be replaced if they are still in service on a vehicle, but you will need to discuss that with the Firestone dealer.

If these are tires subject to the recall then that, combined with their high age means they should not be put back into service, even though NHTSA determined these tires were only defective if mounted on Ford Explorers - don't ask me how that works.

Answer 3

YOU CAN CONTACT FORD BUT THEY WILL NOT GIVE YOU ANYTHING FOR THEM.