Call to Reopen Bridgestone Tire Probe Denied

U.S. regulators Monday denied a petition by a California man to reopen an investigation of Bridgestone Corp.’s Firestone Steeltex tires, saying there is no reason to reverse a 2002 finding of no defect, despite evidence that tread separation has caused 13 deaths.

At issue are 39 million Steeltex Radial R4S, R4S II and A/T tires made since 1990. The tires generally are used on motor homes, commercial trucks, passenger vans and light trucks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initially looked into the tires because of reports of injuries and deaths linked to tire blowouts. It closed an 18-month investigation last year after concluding that the 39 vehicle crashes linked to tire defects represented a very low failure rate when compared with the number of tires in use.

Roger Littrell of Cathedral City, Calif., petitioned NHTSA to reopen the investigation in November. Littrell, who is suing Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone/Firestone in state court, alleges that the company knows that Steeltex tires have a defect that can cause tread separation.

Littrell said NHTSA had 2,972 complaints about the tires in its database when the investigation was closed. However, the agency said Monday that there were 550 complaints related to Steeltex tire failure due to tread separation.

The agency added that as of last month, it had identified 54 crashes that allegedly were caused by tread separation on Steeltex tires. Those crashes killed 13 people and injured 160.

“The numbers of tread separation failures in those tires are functions of the large volume produced and the more severe service conditions associated with light truck radial tires,” NHTSA said.