Minimize your chances of crashing

As waiting lists for new tires grow, here are tips for avoiding a wreck

By James R. Healey, USA TODAY

If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of people still driving on Firestone tires that have been recalled, you probably wonder how to minimize your chances of an accident and what to do if the tread does peel while you're driving.

Before you worry too much, check to see if your tires are part of the recall. Those are all ATX and ATX II tires in size P235/75R-15, and the same-size Wilderness tires built at Firestone's Decatur, Ill., factory. The Wilderness tires have the letters VDHL stamped into the sidewall — usually the inside sidewall.

If your tires aren't among that group, you can't get free replacements. If they are, you get a free swap for the same-size Firestone or rival tires — once the tire store gets around to you weeks or months from now when enough tires are available.

If you have to drive on recalled tires meanwhile, here are some things you ought to know about what to do if a tread separation occurs and ways to try to prevent that.

The problem is that the tire tread peels from the tire carcass without warning, which can send the vehicle into a skid. Federal safety investigators have hundreds of reports of that, including at least 62 deaths.

Tread separation can happen on any one of your tires but seems more common at the rear. Sometimes a vibration precedes the tread separation, sometimes by a day, sometimes only an instant. People who've been through it say that there is a bang when the tread comes off, similar to a loud blowout. Many times, oddly, the tire stays inflated even after the tread peels.

If you are driving when the tread separates, expect a skid, because the wheel where the tread peeled will suddenly slow, as if a brake were on it. Your job then is to keep that spin or skid from turning into a rollover. Rollovers are more likely to kill than other accidents.

Driving instructors and auto engineers say the best way to avoid rolling over is to do some things that could go against your instincts:

Steer straight. Don't yank the steering wheel. Try to do as little steering as possible as gently as possible. The more vigorously you steer, the more the vehicle will swerve, and that makes a rollover more likely.

Slow gently. Don't use the brakes if you don't have to. Braking could exaggerate a skid and turn it into a rollover.

Pull over carefully. Get off the road only when the vehicle is nearly stopped, especially if you're leaving pavement and pulling onto an unpaved shoulder. If you pull off when going faster, that could trigger a rollover.

Those are the instructions for dealing with an ordinary blowout, too, regardless of its cause.

The other part — how to avoid tread separation in the first place — is even tougher. Many of the reports in federal files are from people who had inspected their tires recently, or had a tire shop do it, and no problem was found. Yet the treads peeled soon after. There appears to be no obvious sign, such as cracks or bubbles in the tire.

Making the situation even scarier, engineers at Firestone, which recalled the tires, and Ford Motor, on whose Explorers most of them are installed, don't know why the treads come off. That means they aren't sure how to prevent it.

But they have theories about why, and they say these steps could help.

Check the pressure. Ford and Firestone suspect underinflation contributes to tread separation. Ford recommends that the recalled tires be inflated to 26 to 30 pounds per square inch (psi) pressure. Firestone recommends 30. Other automakers that use the same-size tire on similar vehicles prefer more pressure. Ford says Explorers could be harder to control in an emergency if the tires are inflated to more than 30 psi.

Stay cool. More than 80% of U.S. complaints have come from four hot-weather states: Texas, Arizona, California and Florida. The problem was first noticed last year in Saudi Arabia, then in South America. Ford and Firestone suspect that heat contributes to tread separation, though Ford wasn't able to duplicate the problem at its Arizona proving ground earlier this year. And there are reports of tread separation in northern states. Still, you might want to reconsider that driving trip to Arizona or watch carefully which tires are on that rental vehicle on your Florida vacation.

Drive slowly. Many of the cases have occurred at highway speeds — 70 miles an hour is typical — though tread separation has occurred at speeds as slow as 20 mph. Speed builds up heat in tires, so Ford and Firestone think that can contribute to the problem. Also, a skidding vehicle is harder to control at high speed than at a lower speed.

Load carefully. Explorers might carry less than you expect. A truckful of college-bound kids and their belongings could be too much weight, which puts too much pressure on the tires and makes them hot. Problem is, there's no decal anywhere on sport-utility vehicles specifying the maximum load. To figure it out, you must know what's called the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). That's a number that tells how much weight the truck can carry, usually limited by the vehicle's springs. Then you must subtract the vehicle's own weight from the GVWR. The amount left over is the weight of people and cargo that safely can be carried.

The payload capacity goes down as the vehicle's weight goes up, so that hefty, option-laden, four-wheel-drive model you thought was such a tough customer hauls less than the bare-bones, two-wheel-drive version, unless the deluxe model has a heavier-duty suspension.

Ford data show that recent-model, four-door, two-wheel-drive Explorers have springs rated to carry 5,160 pounds. Ford says that model weighs 3,875 pounds, which would leave a cargo capacity of 1,285 pounds. But that's a base weight. If you have a heavily optioned model that weighs more, it can carry less.

Four-wheel-drive models are rated 5,660 pounds. But four-wheel-drive and typical accessories can negate the 500-pound extra capacity.

The only way to know for sure is to weigh your empty truck. In rural areas, you could do that at a grain facility. In urban areas, finding scales could be tough.

Ford and other automakers say they build in a fudge factor because they know people will overload the vehicles. But at the moment, lighter loads seem safer than heavier ones.

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