NHTSA Complaint #731290 — 1997 FORD EXPLORER

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT I HAVE NOT HAD AN INCIDENT WITH THE TIRES AS OF YET. I FORWARDED AN EMAIL TO YOUR ORGANIZATION ON 11 SEPT. 2000 TO ADVISE WHAT I THINK IS A POTENTIAL PROBLEM WITH MY CURRENT TIRES AND RECEIVED A RETURN EMAIL FROM YOU ON 12 SEPT. 2000. PER YOUR RETURN EMAIL I WAS ADVISED TO FILL OUT THE "OWNER'S QUESTIONNAIRE" FORM AND SUBMIT IT. UNFORTUNATELY CERTAIN FIELDS HAVE TO BE POPULATED, WHICH WOULD INDICATE I HAD AN INCIDENT ALREADY. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. THE TIRES I CURRENTLY HAVE ON MY 97 FORD EXPLORER ARE FIRESTONE WILDERNESS, DOT CODE VNHL, P235/75R15 105S M/S. AS I'M SURE YOU'RE AWARE THESE ARE NOT ON THE RECALL LIST BUT MY DILEMA IS THE TIRES SHOW, IN MY OPINION, SIGNS OF "TREAD SEPERATION" IDNTICAL TO THE TIRES BEING RECALLED. I DISCUSSED THIS WITH THE FORD DEALERSHIP AS WELL AS FIRESTONE ON THE PHONE AND THEY ADVISE IF THEY ARE NOT COVERED BY THE RECALL THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO. I'VE TAKEN DIGITAL PICTURES TO SHOW THESE LINES UNFORTUNATELY I DON'T THINK I CAN ATTACH THE PICTURES TO THIS QUESTIONNAIRE. PLEASE NOTE THAT I WILL TRY AND RETURN EMAIL YOUR MESSAGE OF THE 11TH TO YOU AT "HOTLINE, AUTO <NHTSA>" <[email protected]> WITH YOUR REFERENCE WT20000911_0000000518 / RE: WILDERNESS TIRES (FORD EXPLORER) AND I WILL ATTACH ALL OF THE PICTURES. PLEASE ADVISE WHAT COURSE OF ACTION I HAVE FOR (IN MY OPINION) DEFECTIVE TIRES THAT ARE CURRENTLY NOT COVERED BY THE RECALL? THIS IS A REAL SAFETY ISSUE FOR ANYONE WHO IS IN OUR VEHICLE AND I AM EXTREMELY CONCERNED ! ! ! PLEASE ADVISE. *AK( DOT NUMBER: VNHL TIRE SIZE: P235/75R15 )