Frantic Drivers Besiege Dealers for Tire Change

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.

Joyce Roupoli, the owner of a 1996 Ford Explorer, found little comfort and few answers after driving to a Firestone store in Fountain Valley where she learned that even if her tires were on the recall list, the shop didn’t have any replacement models anyway.

“I’m nervous about driving on the freeway,” she said before pulling away from the tire shop. “How long before the tires separate?”

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

“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 with models of the popular Ford Explorer.

So strong was the demand for inspections and replacements Wednesday that at least one Orange County Firestone store warned consumers they would have to wait until as late as September to have their tires substituted for the 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 frightened that casual inspection of the accident-prone tires does not reveal their potential for collapsing.

Alison Cicciarella, who lives in Dana Point, said she finally succeeded in getting through to the manufacturer’s toll-free number after about an hour, only to be put on hold for another three hours before finally reaching a customer representative.

After learning that her tires indeed were on the recall list, Cicciarella drove to a Fountain Valley tire shop only to learn she’d have to wait at least a week for replacements. Eyeing the shop’s tiny but bustling parking lot, Cicciarella said, “everyone with an Explorer thinks their tires are being recalled.”

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 who told her to get the tires on her Explorer checked.

“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.

While the Glendale store said drivers would 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 with 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 the company’s toll-free number but had been unable to get through.

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

“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 the Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. in recent years. The tire company is a division of Japan’s Bridgestone Corp.

To be sure, the recall has generated plenty of headaches for Firestone franchise-owners and workers.

In Santa Ana, the Firestone store on South Bristol Street was besieged by SUV owners who wanted to know if their tires were being recalled. The telephone was ringing nonstop and going unanswered as employees attempted to calmly talk to a long line of customers.

One of those customers, Tom Pashlaides, discovered that the tires on his Explorer were not on the recall list. But, he reasoned, they were still Firestones and he was not taking any chances.

“It makes me a little nervous. I’m going to get rid of them. I’m not going to take any chances,” he said.

*

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