Reply #4: I disagree [View All]

[Wcross]

If any of my family members owned an explorer and refused to sell it I would light it on fire. I hate to say it but more people are going to die on the "better" replacement tires.
Bridgestone/Firestone had the misfortune of being the main supplier for the Ford explorer.
"Firestone was using a cheap-ass method for producing the tires that made the rubber less stable."- Because our cheap-ass customer (ford) wanted cheap tires.

Ford could have requested a spiral layer construction tire but opted to save the expense (a buck per tire). Even if they had requested the more expensive tire, people would have rolled their explorers.

"Ford under inflated tires on the Explorer to improve the ride, even though they knew full well it was dangerous."

The reason they specified a lower inflation was the center of gravity was too high. They built the explorer on the ranger pickup frame. It would have been costly (again money over safety) to modify the frame of the ranger to lower the engine and achieve a safe center of gravity.

I hope the guys at Ford can sleep well at night knowing their quest for profits resulted in avoidable deaths.