Firestone Tire & Service Center, Southwest Perry-Rose Firestone Defrauds, Ripsoff, and Discriminates Against Female Customers Austin Texas

 I love it. If ya got a big mouth use it. I do. More people should.

I found it ironic that Firestone tried to tell you that your Goodyear tires were separating from the inside.

30 plus years ago Firestone was forced to recall their "Firestone 500" steel belted radial tires because they were defective. Apparently, the belts would separate from the inside resulting dangerous blowouts. I believe that there were deaths caused by these defective tires, but honestly don't recall the details except my personal experience.

I was 16 at the time and obviously not an experienced driver. I had heard of the tire recall but didn't realize that my 73 T-Bird had the 500s on it. My parents owned the car and took care of maintenance. I figured if the recall affected this car they took care of it. I assumed wrong.

Anyway, here I was an inexperienced young woman driving this car on the highway when one of my rear tires just exploded. Had it been a front tire I might have lost control of the vehicle. I proceeded to change the tire and when I pulled the tire off the car I got a huge surprise. As I grabbed the tire to pull it off the car, my hands were cut very badly. The steel belt had totally separated and was exposed. This was attributed to "tired failure" by Firestone.

Firestone replaced all the tires on the car.

Firestone has a history of large scale tire failure due to poor manufacturing controls. How many lives have to be lost or people seriously injured before they put safety first over profits?

Cyd

I found it ironic that Firestone tried to tell you that your Goodyear tires were separating from the inside.

30 plus years ago Firestone was forced to recall their "Firestone 500" steel belted radial tires because they were defective. Apparently, the belts would separate from the inside resulting dangerous blowouts. I believe that there were deaths caused by these defective tires, but honestly don't recall the details except my personal experience.

I was 16 at the time and obviously not an experienced driver. I had heard of the tire recall but didn't realize that my 73 T-Bird had the 500s on it. My parents owned the car and took care of maintenance. I figured if the recall affected this car they took care of it. I assumed wrong.

Anyway, here I was an inexperienced young woman driving this car on the highway when one of my rear tires just exploded. Had it been a front tire I might have lost control of the vehicle. I proceeded to change the tire and when I pulled the tire off the car I got a huge surprise. As I grabbed the tire to pull it off the car, my hands were cut very badly. The steel belt had totally separated and was exposed. This was attributed to "tired failure" by Firestone.

Firestone replaced all the tires on the car.

Firestone has a history of large scale tire failure due to poor manufacturing controls. How many lives have to be lost or people seriously injured before they put safety first over profits?

Cyd

I found it ironic that Firestone tried to tell you that your Goodyear tires were separating from the inside.

30 plus years ago Firestone was forced to recall their "Firestone 500" steel belted radial tires because they were defective. Apparently, the belts would separate from the inside resulting dangerous blowouts. I believe that there were deaths caused by these defective tires, but honestly don't recall the details except my personal experience.

I was 16 at the time and obviously not an experienced driver. I had heard of the tire recall but didn't realize that my 73 T-Bird had the 500s on it. My parents owned the car and took care of maintenance. I figured if the recall affected this car they took care of it. I assumed wrong.

Anyway, here I was an inexperienced young woman driving this car on the highway when one of my rear tires just exploded. Had it been a front tire I might have lost control of the vehicle. I proceeded to change the tire and when I pulled the tire off the car I got a huge surprise. As I grabbed the tire to pull it off the car, my hands were cut very badly. The steel belt had totally separated and was exposed. This was attributed to "tired failure" by Firestone.

Firestone replaced all the tires on the car.

Firestone has a history of large scale tire failure due to poor manufacturing controls. How many lives have to be lost or people seriously injured before they put safety first over profits?

Cyd

I found it ironic that Firestone tried to tell you that your Goodyear tires were separating from the inside.

30 plus years ago Firestone was forced to recall their "Firestone 500" steel belted radial tires because they were defective. Apparently, the belts would separate from the inside resulting dangerous blowouts. I believe that there were deaths caused by these defective tires, but honestly don't recall the details except my personal experience.

I was 16 at the time and obviously not an experienced driver. I had heard of the tire recall but didn't realize that my 73 T-Bird had the 500s on it. My parents owned the car and took care of maintenance. I figured if the recall affected this car they took care of it. I assumed wrong.

Anyway, here I was an inexperienced young woman driving this car on the highway when one of my rear tires just exploded. Had it been a front tire I might have lost control of the vehicle. I proceeded to change the tire and when I pulled the tire off the car I got a huge surprise. As I grabbed the tire to pull it off the car, my hands were cut very badly. The steel belt had totally separated and was exposed. This was attributed to "tired failure" by Firestone.

Firestone replaced all the tires on the car.

Firestone has a history of large scale tire failure due to poor manufacturing controls. How many lives have to be lost or people seriously injured before they put safety first over profits?

Cyd

D,

I have spent about 6 hours now researching the Firestone Tire Recall Crisis for a paper I'm writing. You suggested to someone that they do their research before commenting, well here is someone that has done plenty of that. It may very well be true that the Explorers are not the safest, but that is a separate issue all together. It's possible that people confuse the issues; However, it has been well documented and ADMITTED by Firestone that there was infact a defect in their tires. Not only did they confirm there was a defect, they disclosed exactly what manufacturing errors there were, they disclosed where most of the defects happened, and then they tried to rectify the problem by putting out a recall. If there had not been an issue with "Firestone" then why did they put out a recall.

The initial post was not saying that as of today Firestone "tires" were bad she said the "service" was bad. Also, to the coupon issue. You need to read the initial post, the "MAIN" post, before you comment on people. The "Scam" is because they tried to give her back the coupon as if it was a new one and still charge her full price. She is the one that gave it to them and they tried to give it back like it was from them and still charge her full price hoping that she wouldn't notice. That is the scam.

I'm not trying to attack you, I'm just letting you know that if your going to attack people on here and preach that people should be informed prior to posting then maybe you should do the same prior to posting.

Just a bit of friendly advice.

If Firestone was such a safety issue on Explorers, then why are there 114 reports of fatalities in Ford Explorers since 2002? ALL OF THE FIRESTONE TIRES HAD BEEN REPLACED BY THEN!!
These fatalities are directly attributed to 'tire failure', and NONE of these cases involved Firestone tires. Check NHTSA's site for proof.
Pull your head out of your backside, and do a little research yourself before commenting on something. And Bradley? I didn't realize using coupons to attract business was a 'scam'. I will assume you have never used one nor will you ever in the future.

Melissa,
on behalf of all hard working, honest service personnel out there I apologize to you. I've been at this business for over 18 years and take great pride in the quality of work and integrity of my employees. Women are a large part of my cleintel, and personally, I enjoy assisting them more often than the men, becuase women tend to be more introspective and actually listen to the concerns that their vehicle has.
Men however, often try to impress or intimidate with their "knowledge" of cars.
As far as Ford being to blame for the Firestone tire failures, HOGWASH!! I personally was involved in the changing of thousands of the defective tires. I NEVER repeat NEVER saw a defective tire! I saw plenty of tires worn out, underinflated, and driven that way . If Ford were to blame , why were tires recalled on f-150s, rangers AND explorers (are all those vehicles defective?) hard to believe so since the f150 is the number one selling vehicle in the country!!! My personal opinion is that SOME of the tires were ineffectively made and Firestone AND Ford stepped up and attempted to make it right in the consumer's eye.

As far as vehicle repairs go, my biggest suggestion is to find a dealership that you can trust, establish a relationship with that dealer and have your vehicle inspected, MAINTAINED, and serviced with them.
GOOD LUCK

My name is Stephanie I worked at Firestone here in Chesapeake Virginia when I was 18 years old. ( I'm now 20) I was G.S. General Service. Tire Repairs, Roatation, Mounting, Balancing and oil changes. I cant believe what they told you about your tires seperating on the inside, in all my time at firestone i had never seen that happen. Now dont get that confused for driving on a flat or low on air tire, that can break down the side wall and belts causing it to be very dangerous and legally we cannot repairs those. I know as a female I hate being taken advantage of, I'm in the middle of 2600.00 situation with AAmco right now, only difference there is they didnt know who they were lying to and what expierence i had in the field. It really upsets me to hear about Firestone Companies doing stuff like that. But! It does not shock me in the slightest. I worked under a man we are gunna call HAL. Hal told me I should be in his kitchen cooking him breakfast not in his garage working on his cars. but I brushed it off, besides MY shop manager was an awesome guy his name was wayne. THE BOSS IS HAL. The only thing I have ever seen someone do at firestone that was not honest was tell a guy right before closing time who walked up to us with a wad of cash and said big tip for changing the tires on his benz. someone told him we didnt have much in stock and only the most expensive tires in the magazine were in the back. of course he declined. and drove off. but he was very arrogant and rude to me personally. Its hard to know who to trust anymore. which is sad. But if you can prove what you are saying i would make a claim under Title 7 Civil rights act ( legal student now) and take his a*s to court. if you dont,who will? thanks for yalls time.

...twice!

First time was in 1998. I took my car to Firestone in Dallas (only because it was within walking distance of my apartment) to have all the hoses replaced. Got the car back, drove home. An hour later when I went out to my car, I saw a pool of coolant underneath my engine. Popped the hood and saw that Firestone had not reconnected the main radiator hose (they neglected to screw it back onto the radiator). Since the shop was less than a block from my apt, I drove the car, as-is, to Firestone and demanded they reconnect the hose, flush out the resevoir, and refill the lost coolant. They probably would have screwed THAT up, too, had I not demanded to watch them complete the work.

Second story: Drove to Dallas in March for my birthday. Noticed, upon arrival, that there was a tear in the sidewall of one of my rear tires. I'm lucky I made it to Dallas sans a blowout. My father offered to take my car to get the tire replaced, and I obliged. He came back and gave me the receipt, upon which I noticed he had taken the car to Firestone (this is a different car than the one in the above story). I didn't say anything, but I was fuming inside. All the way back to Austin, and for the next month - until I took the car to Sears to be fixed properly - I noticed an alignment problem. You're probably saying, "So? Cars have alignment problems from time to time." Well, I had JUST had the alignment fixed and the tires balanced/rotated three months beforehand. So I had to waste money getting it aligned again. My dad had gone ahead and gotten both back tires replaced at Firestone that day. Now I worry about having future problems with said tires.

I think it is interesting to note that most (if not all) of the "bad tires" have been traced to firestone plants in Decataur, Illinois that was having labour problems that ultimately led to a strike...hmmmm

You should never fall for the coupon scam, its sad that firestone has to resort to the coupon scam to get customers.

It sounds like the firestone boyeez were trying to make goodyear look a little unsafe eh?

My walmart goodyear vivas have lasted over 80,000 miles so far- cost around 50 bux a piece.

For years we've all see consumer reports of women being treated like this, and it's a sad fact that it continues. We would all like to believe people are "better than that," but it remains to be true that unscroupulous people take advantage of women when it comes to car repairs. It's happened to my wife, and to both my daughters, and as a result of that I try to be the one who handles all car repairs.

As a result of this situation, my wife sometimes feels that I think she can't handle getting the tires replaced, or whatever car repairs are needed. That's NOT true - I know she's an intelligent person who can handle the transaction, but she is jumping needlessly into a pool full of sharks! I'm sure other men and women have the same type of situation to deal with.
My suggestion is this: Women should realize their husbands/beau's are not part of some huge "male thing" against women. It's only the nasty guys at stores like the cited expample that are the problem - NOT ALL MEN! We only want to help you avoid this kind of crap, and we're NOT part of the problem.

There are a few things the general public doesnt know/understand about the Firestone tire recall a few years back. I'm not trying to point the finger at Ford, however I believed they (Ford) ruined Firestone's reputation and should have issued some sort of apology explaining the situation.

To begin, Firestone and all it's LLC's are owned by Bridgestone in Japan. The corporate offices in Nashville, at the time, were dominated by Japanese business men. Not to make any harsh generalizations, but the Japanese are a culture which avoids the spotlight. When the heat was turned on about the "unsafeness" of a certain line of Firestone tires, the presidents and vice-presidents stuck their tails between their legs and more or less gave up in the fight with Ford (and who can blame them, Ford spends more advertising money in one month than Firestone does in one year). The point I'm making is that Firestone took the heat because you can't put a forest fire out with a 2 dollar water pistol.

Next I would like to talk about the Ford Explorer that just happened to have the tires which were recalled. A few months after designing the Ford Explorer, the accountants and marketing personnel agreed to make the wheelbase larger (thus adding more metal all around + giving it a larger gas tank = more weight) and to save money would use the same tires it originally ordered from Firestone. See, without upgrading the tires to a tougher class to take on the new weight, ANY tire within the same class would fail - reason why explained in the next paragraph. All the while, Firestone had no idea the longer wheelbased Explorer went into production - otherwise something would have been said and the right tires would have been put on and the whole mess would have been avoided. For whatever reason, Ford decided to place the gas tank - not centered on the rear axle, but dangerously to the left while also placing the full-sized spare tire over the left-rear wheel. Any idiot can deduce that too much weight is being put on the left rear tire, and sooner or later 'stuff' is going to hit the fan.

As for tire care, tires are not 'just tires.' If that were the case, Formula One racing wouldn't have the Michelin/Bridgestone duel, and NASCAR wouldn't be fought over by Goodyear and Firestone. Tires are important and most drivers don't realize that. On the one side you have passenger tires, and on the other light truck tires. Next time you are in a automotive service store, stand two same-sized tires next to each other with one being Passenger, the other Light Truck. You will notice how much stiffer the LT tire is. Tires get hot when you drive as a result of friction and vibrations, and this heat is what weakens the tires. At full inflation, the tire is designed to take the heat produced from driving. If a tire is deflated beyond manufacturer recommendations, the tire gets many times hotter - thus weakening it much, much quicker - than if it were full of air. Or, similarly, if the tire is overloaded (meaning too much weight is being placed upon it), the weakening of the tire is sped up. Once air escapes from a tire, the amount of weight it can support is reduced, if the pressure falls too much, even the weight of the car can be a burden.

Now, take a look at the left-rear heavy Ford Explorer, and put any brand of tire on the wheel within the same class as Firestone's and see how long it will last. ANY passenger tire would fail on the left-rear wheel if it were to drop even a little below pressure recommendations, because it would be overloaded. So whose fault is the recall?

The finger could be pointed both ways, but certainly the company size of Ford and its media domination plays a huge factor in the FORD/firestone recall. I'm asking those who read this to stop attacking the reputation of Firestone tires, because the tire itself is not to blame - the actions taken by Firestone in the process of vehicle construction were to blame.

And a word of advice to those shopping for tires - if Wal Mart carries the tire, don't purchase it. It might get you down the road okay, but would you put your life on some cheap tires?

Finally, and I'll try to say this without venting, to anyone who has had a bad experience in an automobile repair shop - the entire business as a whole has been painted with the "I just want your money" stereotype. Unfortunately, this will never go away. If a salesmen tells you that you need brakes (and I know they always say that, right??) and you just get the least expensive pads put on, he's going to tell you that you need your brakes worked on the next time you go in for a checkup. There are so many functions to a braking system (i.e. fluids, cylinders, lines, pistons, shoes, drums, rotors, calipers, and of course - pads) that sometimes the cheapest way out is not the permanent solution - and that rule applies to any problem a mechanic points out. By law, auto-repairers cannot sell you something you don't need. this is why there is so much confusing paper-work. Sure there are some bad apples, and they are the ones who have so kindly placed the stereotype on the business. If the salesmen tells you to spend money on your car, it is either to make it safer or to make your ride more pleasant. Now, if the mechanic refuses to work on your car, it's because they don't want to have you come back in a fury because what they told you was going to happen happened. In the event that you are asked by a salesmen to get one of your lights replaced, it's not to be greedy and take your money, it's because your vehicle needs to be maintained in the same condition as when it first left the dealership or you can get a ticket. Finally, if your car takes longer than expected to get done there is a legitimate reason for it - either the parts are on the way, Mr. James showed up 10 minutes late and threw off the rest of the slated work rotation, the missing part is for the car on the alignment rack and can't be moved and there's a line behind him, or one of a million other things to upset the smoothness of the business. Patience is a virtue, and if your car takes longer than expected (or even much longer) it's usually not the shops' fault, and chances are you'll live if you have to wait an extra hour or two for your car. Cars are expensive, realize that and take care of your vehicle for not only you, but for others on the road as well.

What you did was great! I really liked the
part about Firestones' safety record. It is hard to believe that they have the guts to still sell
their faulty tires!!

Unfortunately, businesses are allowed to
sell faulty products way too long. This site
needs to be commended, because it gets the
information on scam artists out so quickly.