Bridgestone Firestone recalls 297,000 tires

Deja vu for Bridgestone as the company recalls some Steeltex tyres including 297,000 tyres on Ford Excursion sport-utility vehicles following at least five fatalities. The Steeltex Radial A/T tyres were made at a factory in Joliette, Quebec, from March 1999 through December 2002, the tyremaker said. The tyres will be replaced without charge, Firestone said.

The Steeltex tyres fail “in a situation where the vehicle is overloaded or the tyre is way under-inflated,” Firestone spokesman Dan MacDonald said. One of the fatal accidents involved a vehicle hauling a trailer that lost control, while in another the sport-utility vehicle was loaded with 1,500 pounds of bottled water, he said. The NHTSA twice previously investigated Steeltex tyres without finding any defects.