As posted on CRF, Christoc.com Racing Forums:
http://www.christoc.com/cgi-bin/ubb/Forum37/HTML/000001.html
Posted Message:
Speaking of statistics.... How many of the people in these accidents that died
or were injured were not wearing their seat belts?
---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Bill Ozinga <oz@tirerack.com>
Reply-To: Bill Ozinga <oz@tirerack.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 16:33:03 -0700
> I'm curious about how this adjustment will work. The last time I tried
> to adjust a tire (due to a blowout on a 10-ply Goodyear), the price
> that was being adjusted was a price that NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND
> would pay for a tire! Sure, I got a 50% credit, but I'd have been
> better off to go to Tire Rack and buy retail!
That, of course, is excellent advice (I'm biased, check my address). But in
this case, Firestone is replacing with no pro-rating or labor charges. They
are buying any suitable name brand tires for their company stores from every
source they can.
> Let us know if they're seriously interested in recovering from this
> media nightmare, or just putting out sound bytes that turn into
> irritation at the tire store. I've also wondered how statistics were
> accumulated on such failures.
Interesting math....
They have made about 47 million of those tires since 1990. If they had 470
failures, that is 1/100 of 1% (0.00001) failure rate. I don't know the
actual number of failures, but when you look at the percentages...
I think I screw up a bit more often than that. My coworkers will vouch for
it.
Autox content: I hit a lot higher percentage of cones on any given course
than Firestone has tire failures. So do you.
My personal opinion (NOT my employers)? Glad you asked...
Ford should have specified extra load tires, like they do on most of their
other light trucks and vans, but were probably too concerned about ride
quality (or cheap).
The Explorer is more unstable than other SUVs.
OE tires on mass market vehicles aren't chosen because they're the best -
they're cheap. Ask any Neon ACR or 1.6L Miata owner about the OE tires...
The general population doesn't check their air pressure.
You shouldn't drive overloaded and/or underinflated in high temps or at high
speeds in any vehicle.
Sometimes tires will fail. So do engines, transmissions, airconditioners,
furnaces, hot water heaters, hearts, blood vessels, marriages, businesses,
etc. Probably more often than tires. They too require some basic
maintenance.
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Bill Ozinga - webmaster@tirerack.com
Webmaster - The Tire Rack
http://www.tirerack.com
Ph.(888)541-1777 or (219)287-2345
Order your tires online!
Suddenly had a run on 235/75R15 light truck tires...wonder why?
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Christopher Hammond
http://www.christoc.com
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