700 Firestone tyres swapped in NZ

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Firestone has replaced hundreds of tyres in New Zealand, amid reports of a growing international death toll from blowouts and tread separation.

The Japanese-owned company has already recalled more than 6.5 million tyres internationally since August 9, as investigators probe more than 130 deaths in North and South America.

The Land Transport Safety Authority said yesterday that between 1000 and 1500 vehicles might have been imported here with the problem tyres, while Ford put the figure at 750, plus private imports.

The tyres concerned are American-built 38cm P235/75R15 ATX, ATXII and Wilderness AT, mostly found on big vehicles such as the Ford Explorer.

They are believed to lose their tread or blow out more often than other tyres, causing vehicles to crash.

There have been no problems with New Zealand-made tyres.

Bridgestone/Firestone NZ spokesman John Staples said the company had replaced up to 700 of the tyres here since the recall started.

Most were found on Ford Explorers imported since 1996.

Mr Staples said people who were still not sure whether they had the problem tyres should take them to the nearest Firestone shop.

Any problem tyres would be replaced free of charge.

This came as United States authorities put their Firestone death toll at 88, with 250 injured.

Venezuela reported 46 people killed from tyre blowouts at high speeds.

The latest suspicious death was of 10-year-old Mark Rodriguez, killed when his father lost control of a Ford Explorer in Texas after one of its Firestones exploded.

Shares in Firestone's parent company, Bridgestone, have slumped to a seven-year low in Japan as company officials brace themselves to meet tough questions from lawmakers.

Top officials from Firestone, Ford and the US traffic safety administration are being hounded for answers about when the problems first surfaced.

In New Zealand, authority spokesman Craig Dowling said the tyres were not believed to have caused any deaths here and it appeared they had failed in the United States because of high temperatures and long-distance driving.

The officer in charge of the Auckland police crash analysis unit, Sergeant Sandy Beckett, said the tyres did not seem to have caused any crashes there in the past month.