Las Vegas Firestone Tires Lawyers

Sam Harding Law Firm have experience in handling Firestone Tires cases in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you or a someone you know has suffered serious injury from Firestone Tires in the state of Nevada, we can help.

On August 9, 2000, Ford Motor Company and Firestone Tires decided to recall its tires. This was due to the large number of accidents involving the Ford Explorer fitted with Firestone tires. On October 16, 2000, US regulators have put the number of deaths at 119 but experts believe that as many as 250 deaths and 3000 serious injuries have occurred. The accidents occurred due to the tendency of the Ford Explorer to turn over when one of the tires bursts. After testing Ford determined that the 15" ATX and ATX II models and Wilderness AT tires had a very high failure rate in that the tread peels off. When this happens the vehicle often turns over killing the occupants.

The Firestone tire recall is perhaps the most deadly Auto Safety Crisis in US history. Ford and Firestone disagreed on how to break the news after deciding on the recall. Firestone wanted to just give a statement without answering questions while Ford disagreed saying that it would be a public relations disaster if they did not answer questions. In the end questions were asked but many remained unanswered.

Firestone officials denied that there were any problems with the tires and claimed that the accidents were due to high speed driving with low tire pressure. Ironically, Ford refuted this suggestion saying that Goodyear, a rival tire manufacturer, supplied around 2 million tires with the same specifications as Firestone tires with no incidents. Firestone stated that a tire pressure of 30 psi was required but Ford officials do not believe this as most drivers maintain a pressure of 28-31 psi and Goodyear tires maintained a spotless record with tires of 26 psi.

The Ford Explorer SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) rolls over more than other SUV's in tire tread accidents. Ford Explorer also has suspension and vibration problems, which Ford cannot explain and cannot always fix. This raises the question as to whether the Ford Explorer is itself contributing to the accidents that caused the Firestone tire recall.

Internal documents from the Ford Motor Company, collected by Congressional investigators, indicate that Ford officials knew that there was little or no margin of safety when driving the Ford Explorer equipped with Firestone tires at high speeds. Even in Venezuela 46 deaths have been linked to the Ford/Firestone connection. Investigators believe that Ford/Firestone officials knew of the dangers before warning owners in May 2000.US officials see Venezuela as clear evidence that Ford/Firestone officials knew of the danger months before they took action.