Drivers Rush to Retailers for Safety Checks

A deluge of sport-utility vehicles streamed through the lots at Firestone retailers Wednesday as worried--and sometimes angry--drivers across Southern California rushed to have their tires inspected after the company issued a nationwide recall.

James Rabb, anxious owner of a 1998 Ford Explorer, postponed a road trip from San Dimas to San Francisco on Wednesday until his tires could be replaced. Rabb’s Ford dealer in Glendale referred him to a nearby Firestone Tire & Service Center.

“I want to make sure we’re rolling on good rubber,” Rabb said. “This is one lottery I don’t want to be the winner of.”

Other consumers flooded dealers with phone calls and skipped their lunch breaks to have their cars checked as word spread that the tire maker was recalling 6.4 million Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires. Federal investigators have linked the tires to at least 46 highway deaths.

The national recall began Wednesday in California and several other states deemed the most-heavily affected. Many of the tires came as original equipment on models of the popular Ford Explorer.

So strong was the demand for inspections and replacements Wednesday that at least one Firestone store in Orange County told consumers they would have to wait until September to have their tires replaced with new ones.

With federal investigators saying the tires appear to be particularly susceptible to rupturing at high temperatures and speeds, such as those reached on freeways in the summertime, long-distance commuters were taking no chances. They said they were especially concerned that casual inspection of the accident-prone tires does not reveal their potential for failure.

Mark Eggenweiler, a Lancaster resident who works in Burbank, drives about 130 miles round-trip each workday in a 1998 Ford Explorer. He is on his second set of Firestone tires, after getting 80,000 miles out of the original set.

Eggenweiler went to the Glendale Firestone store to have mechanics determine whether his tires were among those being recalled. “I didn’t want to crawl under my car and get all greasy,” said Eggenweiler, as he waited for a serviceman’s verdict. He learned minutes later that, indeed, he will need replacements.

Carol McNairy, a Santa Monica resident, said she was in Orange County on business when she received frantic telephone calls from her sister and husband, telling her to get the tires checked on her Explorer.

“They were both very nervous about my being here and having to drive back to L.A. tonight. My husband told me to drive slowly and carefully in the slow lane,” McNairy said.

Although the Glendale store said drivers will have to wait until the end of the week for a new shipment of replacement tires, a Firestone service center in Orange told customers Wednesday morning that it had no appointments available until the third week of September.

That drew frowns from drivers such as Ana Chavez, owner of a 1995 Ford Explorer. “I’m happy with the way they’re handling this, but I really hoped to get [the tires] changed today,” the Santa Ana resident said. “We’re going camping this weekend and we’ll be going off-road. Anything can happen when you’re off-road.”

In addition to the delays, many customers were frustrated by what they said was a lack of clear information about the recall provided by the company.

Although Firestone’s Laguna Hills district office faxed some area stores a one-page briefing sheet listing which models were affected by the recall, workers at a store in Fountain Valley appeared not to have received the sheet and were unable to answer basic questions from drivers early Wednesday.

Tom Russell of Westminster brought his SUV to the store only to storm out later in the day, frustrated that workers could not tell him whether his tires were on the recall list. “My wife uses this truck to ferry our kids around. I’ve got to find out whether I need to replace the tires or not,” he said, noting that he had tried calling Firestone’s toll-free number but could not get through.

And Ruth Dunham did not find reassurance at a Hollywood Firestone store when she was told the Wilderness series tires on her 2000 Nissan Frontier were not affected by the recall. She criticized the company for not moving sooner.

“It took lawsuits just to get them to recall the tires. Unfortunately, deaths get this to happen,” she said, referring to several lawsuits filed against Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. in recent years. The tire company is a unit of Japan’s Bridgestone Corp.

The recall has generated plenty of headaches for Firestone franchise owners and workers.

“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing since 7 this morning,” said the manager of the Glendale Firestone store, Terry, who would not give his last name. “It’s been hectic.”

Still, the recall came at the right time for drivers such as Lauren Kuehn. The Burbank resident, who is a student at a state university in Utah, said she faces a 12-hour drive back to school next month. “I’m glad we found out now,” she said after being told that Glendale Firestone would replace her tires later this week.

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Times staff writer John O’Dell contributed to this report.

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Tire Recalls

The 10 largest U.S. tire recalls, as compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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* Bridgestone/Firestone estimates that, of the 14.4 million tires affected, 6.4 million are still in use.

** The reason for the Bridgestone/Firestone recall is still under investigation by the NHTSA, but incident reports allege tread separation or tire blowout.