Continental Recalls Ford SUV Tires

Continental Tire North America announced that it is recalling more than half a million tires installed on Ford Motor Co. sport utility vehicles after some of the tires lost their tread.

Tread separations led to the recall of millions of Firestone tires in the last two years that were used primarily on the Ford Explorer. Ford officials said they discovered the Continental problem through a process put in place after the Firestone recall to quickly identify possible tire defects.

The recalled Continental tires were installed as original equipment on 106,701 two-wheel-drive Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs from the 2000 and 2001 model years. About 60,000 additional tires were sold as replacements on light trucks, for a total of 596,610.

The recall involves the P275/60R17 size of the ContiTrac AW and General Grabber AW tires. Those involved in the recall have Transportation Department codes that end with numbers ranging from 109 to 4400, meaning they were manufactured between March 1999 and October 2000.

Owners should get a letter from Continental within a month advising where to get free replacement tires.