general problems of the 2000 Ford E-450

I have a 2000 chateau motor home built on a Ford e450 chasis which came with oem tires - firestone steeltex 256/75 r16 tires. As of the date of this complaint, the vehicle and ties have approximately 5,500 miles on them. In approximately 2004, I took the vehicle to the firestone complete auto care store located at 655 courthouse road, gulfport, ms 39507 (228. 897. 1423) to get the state safety inspection and to look at unusually cracking in the side walls of the equipment tires. I was given the state safety inspection and told that the cracking in the side walls was normal and there was nothing to worry about. After not driving the vehicle much as we lived in it immediately after hurricane katrina for over a year while we awaited our house to be repaired, I departed in it for an approximately 200 mile trip in response to evacuation for hurricane gustav. Upon the return from our evacuation on sept 2nd, 2008, after driving approximately 150 miles at highway speeds, the outer rear passenger side dully experienced a tread separation where the tread outer tread simply separated from the tire. As I was traveling at a very low speed, the tread did not come completely off the tire but just rather separated from the tire and thus caused it to go flat. This did however cause additional damage to the tire hub-cap. I email firestone/bridgestone the next day via their on line contact form and was contacted the next day. I was asked to take the tire to the local firestone complete auto care (referenced above) to have it inspected. I took the tire their the next day and the store manager stated that he had never seen anything like the failure of this tire at it looked as it was a re-tread. I reminded him that all tires were experiencing similar cracking on the side walls where the tread attaches to the tire. The store manager then said he would replace all 7 tires but after taking the vehicle back to his shop, he has now declined to do so based on advice from firestone.

Firesstone steeltex r4s.

No summary listed for above vehicle.

During a period of between 13000 and 16000 miles on these tires I lost 4 out of 7 of the original tires delivered on this vehicle. The blow outs were massive tread seperations. One blow out caused approximately $1200 in damage to my motorhome.

The driver at the time of the occurrence:[xxx]. He indicated he had been driving for 6 hours on interstate 70 at 65 mph on a hot day in utah. They heard a flopping sound and felt a vibration and apparently pulled over to investigate. None of the 4 people on board were hurt and there was no accident. The tires on the vehicle are firestone steeltex radial r4s. The vehicle is a 29' 2000 winnebago minnie class c motor home on a Ford f-450 chassis. The VIN#: 1fdxe45s9yha13064. The tires on the vehicle are original equipment. Vehicle had approximately 16,500 mile on it. The tires on the vehicle are firestone steeltex radials r4s. The dot#: vd1l 1xd 339. The tire size: lt 225/75r16 m/s. There is a small sticker on the inside of the tire which reads: 6009-483. It was located on the inboard side of the right rear. The owners of the tire still have the tire. The owners contacted a firestone service center in denver. The center indicated it was a tire separation most likely caused by underinflation and a possible overweight condition. The center offered to adjust for mileage and replace the tire. The center indicated one of their tech's would inspect the tire then destroy it or send it to their reseach people for further anaylsis. The owner elected not to give them the tire at that time until the NHTSA was contacted in case they wanted to see the tire themselves. The owners also have pictures of the tire if the NHTSA wants to see them in lieu of physically inspecting the tire. The owners would like to know what if anything the NHTSA would like to do so that the tire can be returned to firestone for a replacement. The owners of the vehicle (tlt inc. ) are the ones who are filling out this form and the ones who should be contacted. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

First two blowouts blew out the side, tread stayed with tire. Third blowout was catastrophic, nothing left of the tire. All blowouts were on rear inside tires. Fourth failure was on left front and id'd prior to blowout. Defect was identified by visible shift in tread on about a 20 degree sector of tire.

First time traveling 55-65mph for approximately 100 miles on interstate, motorhome (Ford e450 dual rear axel) started to shake and within a few seconds we heard a loud bang. Pulled over and saw that the right outside rear tire had all of the tread come off. The second time (approximately 10 days later) after driving 60-65mph about 100 to 150 miles of interstate the vehicle started shaking and we immediately pulled over. We found this time that the left inside rear tire had approximately 1/4 of the tread off the tire. We had both tires inspected seperately by tire repair persons and both times each had indicated that the failure was not due to the tire hitting or scraping anything. . (dot number: vd tiresize: lt22575r16).

While driving at 50 mph the right rear outer duel tire had tread separation.

No summary( dot number: vd1l tire size: lt225/7516 ).