Tire Sidewall Problems of Ford Excursion - part 1

I purchased a 2005 Ford Excursion limited used in may of 2011. The vehicle was purchased with new bct radial a/p lt265/75r16 tires. After approximately 2 months the vehicle would shake and vibrate at highway speeds. One of the tires was found to be out of round and was replaced with a bf goodrich tire. Now 13 months after purchase one of the other bct tires has sidewall separation in several locations. I am now replacing all of the bct tires to prevent a sudden and catastrophic tire failure.

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The complaint is in regard to the bf goodrich rugged trail t/a lt265/75r16 tires as supplied on my Ford Excursion vehicle. I had to replace the tires prematurely due to large cracks opening up on the side-walls of all 4 tires, in fact pieces of rubber starting flaking off of the side-walls. I was afraid that I was setting my self up for a blow out during my many trips from ky to chicago. At the tire dealer-ship where I had them replaced they wondered why I was replacing them, until I pointed out all of the cracks. Tread life appeared good ,but the side-walls sure lacked the same ability.

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2000 Ford Excursion had cracks in the sidewalls of all four tires. The cracks were 2-3 inches long and in multiple spots on all four tires.

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: the contact stated that all four of the tire sidewalls are splitting. The tires are the original tires that the vehicle was purchased with. The tires pressure has been kept at the recommended levels. The tires were regularly serviced, rotated and had the pressure checked on them. There has been no vibration while driving and no abnormal bulging. The contact has pictures of side wall splitting available upon request. A representative of the firestone company contacted the consumer and informed him that the problem was usually caused by under inflated or over loaded tires. The representative also stated that Ford recommend psi was 35. The consumer stated he has always kept 65 psi in the tires as stamped on the sidewall of the tires. It was also stated that the vehicle should have load e range tires instead of d load range. Updated 07/07/06.

Sidewall tire failure with instant release of pressure, vehicle was stationary at time of failure.

While driving there was a blow out of the front passenger's tire. After contacting the tire company the tires were replaced. Two months later the left driver's tire melted from the inside. Manufacturer stated that tire was too large, and he needed to discuss it with the dealer.

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Sidewall failure of 4 firestone steeltex r4s 265/75/16 tires that were oem on Ford Excursion.

The sidewall on the right front tire on my 2001 Ford Excursion seperated from the ply exposing the cord. This happened during highway use, with the tire properly inflated to vehicle specs. The vehicle has never been off road.

Dealer called the consumer for a possible recall on firestone tires. A date was set. But when the consumer arrived for the appointment he was told that the recall was not for the tires on his vehicle. However, consumer did find splits in three of the four tires, splits extended from the rim to the tread.

4/4/04 I rec'd a flat ti,e told it was irreparable since air was seeping out of the sidewall. 4/5/04, I receive letter from firestone/Ford reagrding tire recall on my 2002 Ford Excursion. . 4/6/04 I phone 3 Ford dealerships and 5 firestone stores trying to locate replaceable tires. Told they had no idea when tires would be avail. I called Ford corp. , they blame firestone, call firestone hotline, they blame Ford. Ford corp- keisha, cust. Service told me to - drive as little as possible, wear my seat belt, ck air in tires and drive under the speed limit. 4/6/04 I ordered 5 new recommended b. F. Goodrich tires fromjim babbitt Ford, flagstaff, az. I ck each wk on order. Still have no idea when tires will be in. Called Ford corp. , cust service -charmaine today & was told "it is not Ford problem", even though the replacement tires were advised & ordered thru Ford. Ford certainly does not take this tire replacmeent seriously nor cares !! meanwhile I am driving with no spare due to a faulty tire already !.

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Bridestone dueler a/t d693 lt285/75r16 tlowlps d, article number 298581. Tires purchased 9/18/03. Failure occurred at 6 months, 10,000 miles after purchase. 2000 Ford Excursion 4wd, diesel. Catastrophic blowout on front left drivers side while driving on I-30 in grapevine, texas at 2:00 pm, good conditions, dry, speed 65 mph. No warning, loud explosion, truck whipped left immediately and slammed into cement highway dividers. Literally on two wheels on top of dividers before coming to a stop over 100 yds away. Children in car. No injuries as were all belted. Entire left side truck damaged, left rear tire damaged. Frame damage. Truck still being repaired. Repairs exceeding 6,000. 00 so far. This is the second blowout on these tires I have experienced. The first occurred at 6 or 7 months as well as it happened in July or August and tire was purchased 1/4/02. Tire was replaced as dealer stated it was a defective tire. Is anyone looking into this yet?.

Consumer received a recall on the firestone steeltex tire. The tires were replaced by the consumer. Contact was made with the manufacturer, and it was acknowledged that the reimbursement would be made upon receipt of the special forms which were never received by the consumer.

Consumer received a recall letter for firestone tires one year ago. The tires had already been replaced with bridgestone. Consumer was told that he would be reimbursed. After sending the receipt to dealer it was returned. Since he did not replace the tires with firestone tires the claim was denied.

Email sent to firestone today. I was disappointed to learn that the seriously flawed sidewalls on my steeltex lt265 r75 r4s tires on my 2001 Excursion would not lead to a replacement. I reported a problem on these tires to the briarwood firestone store in 2002 and again today. This is especially troubling since I was advised to replace a tire in 2002 at my cost and have had absolutely no problems with the side walls of the replacement even though I continued to use the same car wash I have used since purchasing the car new in August 2001. Also, I ran firestone firehawk 31-10. 5-15 atxs on my sema show Jeep in 1995 and 1996 only to be forced to request replacements from nashville after serious sidewall damage in completing the rubicon. The damage was due to major sidewall weakness leading to large areas of the sidewall pealing away to reveal the white sub layer. John taylor of firestone graciously replaced the atxs with bridgestone mts that performed flawlessly in all trail tests (including a run through the rubicon in 1997) and never experienced the type of sidewall destruction seen on the atxs. The type of damage to the sidewalls on my Excursion is similar to that of the atx's, but much deeper and more pronounced. It could not have been caused by the car wash as the splits run both directions (forward and back). Also, I take my other vehicle through the same car wash and have not experienced any damage on michelin or b. F. Goodrich tires on that vehicle. The fact that I have experience with trail testing firestone tires, that I am an engineer, and that I reported problems with the atx's in 1996 should show a level of knowledge not characteristic of the normal user. This did not matter to the store manager. Furthermore, one of the store personnel made a silly remark that the damage was Ford's fault because they advised users to run the tire pressure too low.

Our firestone tires are falling apart near the lettering on the sidewalls. We first noticed it on a trip to chicago. They are firestone steelteck r4s.

Firestone, steeltex a/t tires on Ford Excursion. Lateral wall slits in two tires that have just occurred with only 34,000 miles. Only one person has driven the car recently and I know nothing was hit or caused this no damage to car ,etc, and yet - dealer & firestone keep blaming it as road hazard as cause! please help!!!!.

While on a driving vacation with my family, I found all 4 firestone steeltex 265-75 a\t tires on our 2000 Ford Excursion to be experiencing sidewall failure. 2 of the tires were near immediate failure and the other two were starting to fail. I make it a habit to check my tires and vehicle closely whenever I fuel my vehicles up, and this was the only thing preventing what could have been a very serious accident ( I was towing a 24 ft boat at the time).

Freeway driving at 65 mph when no apparent reason rear left tire blowout. Further investagation found the tire had sidewall peeled away and the tread was wrapped around the axle. Not before doing damage to rear quarter panel and parking brake cable. Full tread separation.

Firestone steeltex a/t removed from service as firestone technician did not like the appearance of the sidewall. This is second of 3 failures in two month period.

At 5 mph noticed that the back end of 2002 Excursion was woobling. Found the tire had ballooned on the inside sidewall and tread. Ford replaced with same model tire.

While driving the front tires sidewall separated (size#2657516) please provide the dot#.

Firestone steeltex r45 tires which were original equipment on a 2000 Ford Excursion. The tires have 30,000 miles with minimal tread wear, however, the sidewalls on all 4 tires are splitting to the cord. Contact with firestone resulted in a verbal explanation that they would recognize this as a 'road hazard' situation and pro-rate 50% of the cost of replacement with firestone/bridgestone tires. The firestone consumer affairs/retail operations representative further advised that the ntsb has completed an investigation of these tires and found no reason for a recall.

The sidewall/tread of one of my front tires looked as if it were in the early stages of tread separation as indicated by a crack or linear indication that extended almost 75% around the perimeter where the sidewall met the tread area. There were also numerous other areas of notable separation that appeared to be a result of the rubber material being too dry perhaps. I called Ford and they said there was nothing they could do about it and referred me to this site. Before failure occurred with my family in the vehicle, I installed all four new tires, model michelin ltx m/s that I purchased from cosco. This is a 2001 Ford Excursion with approx 30,000 miles on it at the time. Unfortunates, I wasn't really thinking at the time and did not have the technicians at cosco save the old tires for me.

I had a tire inside wall failure with a firestone tire on my Excursion. There was about 22000 miles on them when the blowout occurred. No inuries but it happened at freeway speed and I could have lost control. Report was made a state trooper who came on scene.

75 mph, loud bang and complete tire tread separation. Both interior and exterior sidewalls intact but tread completely missing. Dt.

Sidewall blewout at highway speed -- lost the entire tread, rim and sidewall was severely damaged by the time the vehicle was brought to a stop. Tires had 35000 miles on them and were regularly rotated. Tire pressure had just been checked 25 miles before incident.

All four original equipment tires showed severe cracking in the sidewalls and were replced by firestone on a prorated basis. No accident was caused, problem noticed in driveway and remidied immediately.

On sat. (08/10/02) my family and I decided to take a leisurely drive into the hill country just outside of austin, texas. I was driving my 2000 Ford Excursion on hwy 71, westward at an approx speed of 65 when the front right tire completely separated from its tread. This occurred unexpectedy for there was no debris on the road and no object was hit or struck. The seperated tread tumbled over and over in the wheel well area causing extensive damage to vehicle. I narrowly escaped hitting oncoming traffic and managed to limp the vehicle over to the shoulder. The tire remained inflated - no blow out, tread simply came apart! after recovering tread from roadway, the tire was changed with spare and further limped back to austin to original dealership. Dealer service manger reviewed damage as well as drew my attention to opposite front left tire which appeared to have a "bubble" on its tread. The Excursion, under factory warranty and the firestone steeltex a/t lt 265/75r16 tires original tires purchased with vehicle - I assumed Ford would pay to replace tires and fix damage to vehicle. I am not pleased to report Ford is pointing finger at firestone and informs me any damage claims must be directed to firestone hq. I filed incident report #818333 with firestone and was required to ship both tire & tread to their hq. After only 1/2 day investigation - firestone mailed form letter in return stateing ". . Tire failure did not result from defect in either materials or workmanship". But rather "insufficient air pressure". This is not true. I am meticulous in the care and maintence to this vehicle including its tires. Pressure was checked just prior to our outing that same day. I would never put my family at risk due to negligence on my part. Its sad to see neither firestone nor Ford take any responsiblity for these defective tires.

While traveling 70-75mph on highway, heard a noise and saw smoke from rear mirrior. Consumer was able to pull over to the shoulder. Right rear tire sidewall blewout. Firestone, lt265. 75r16,119/steeltex. Consumer checked the remaining tires and found they too were defective. They had stress cracks in the rubber around the raised white lettering. You could lift the rubber as though it were hinged and some lifted as far to see the cord beneath. Consumer replaced the remaining tires at own expense. Consumer is asking to be reimbursed for monies paid.

Tread of tire detached from sidewall at speed. No damage to tread or sidewall prior to blowout. This problem sounds extremely similar to earlier "tread separation" issues. I can send a digital picture if desired.

The sidewalls of the four tires peeled from the cords/belts. The consumer was told that the sidewall rubber appeared to be too thin. Scc.

Reimbursement request solicited by firestone safety campaign. Numerous splits were discovered in the sidewall off all four tires mounted on the vehicle. After discussions with the dealer, a local firestone rep agreed to sell the consumer four new firestone steeltex radial at load range d tires at a prorated price. Ten months later the right rear tire experienced what firestone refers to as rapid air loss. The consumer was able to maintain control of the vehicle. Once again the tires had to be replaced. The vehicle was taken to a different dealer who indicated that the tire were too light duty for the size and weight of the vehicle. The consumer purchased four michelin load range e tires. The consumer received a recall in reference to the firestone tires and requested reimbursement. The letter only offered reimbursement for tires purchased after March 1, 2003.

Noticed split in sidewalls on all 4 tires at approx. 21300, we changed the worst out to the spare. Went to a firestone dealer, who did a courtesy check and told us all 4 tires were bad this included the spare that had less than 300 miles on it. He said it was "road hazard" not a factory defect and that we needed to purchase new tires. When I said I was going to pusue this farther he told us we may not make it home on the back tire (43 miles) and that we needed to change it I ask to what we had already taken the worst one off the truck. I then called the dealership I purchased the truck from and they understood but said they could do nothing and recommended I call Ford to open a folder, I called Ford they recorded the complaint and said they could do nothing. They gave me the firestone # I then called firestone they had me go get two opinions from non-firestone dealers both said tire failure, and were to contact the firestone dealer. We have not heard back from firestone. (tiresize: 265 75 r16).

We were driving down highway at posted speed (65) and had been driving for approximately 30 miles at time of tire failure. Just a few moments (approx 1 minute) before the failure, the vehicle seemed to want to "wander" a bit as if a tire were a bit low. Then there was a loud explosion, the vehicle dropped to the right rear, we got a lot of vibration and loud internal noise. We applied the brakes and manuevered to the side of the road. Both sidewalls had blown completely free of tread "belt" separating fairly uniformly along a line roughly 1 inch below the tread. Tire was in 3 distinct pieces, all 3 pieces in tact and wrapped around the wheel and axle. Only visible break in interior surface of tread was a piece of the steel belt material protruding into the tire approx 3/8 inch. Otherwise, interior surface clean and smooth. No external punctures of any kind. Explosion was violent and feel anti-lock brakes saved the day for us. Person following behind said they had never seen a tire explode like that (I. E. Very visible from several hundred feet behind). We have photos and the remains of destroyed tire, plus all 3 of the other originals if needed. Immediately replaced all 4 with another brand. (dot number: vnw81xy459 tiresize: 265/75r16).

Firestone steel tex p265/75r16, original equipment on a 2000 Ford Excursion with 20000 miles. Sidewalls of all 4 tires are splitting.