Tina Carrillo from El Paso, TX writes:
Case description: On 4/28/2000 I was driving home from work
in El Paso, TX in 5 pm rush hour traffic and was traveling at
about 65 mph when I heard a loud bang. Within a second, the 93
Jeep Cherokee I was driving started shaking violently. Then the
back end of the vehicle swung around to the right across three
lanes of traffic. The jeep was on the verge of flipping over
when it started to spin several times. I spun around several
times before coming to rest about 6in from the concrete central
divider. When I finally got out to see what happened I found
that the tread had separated on the rear driverside tire. The
tire was still inflated but the tread was almost completely ripped
off. The tires were Firestone Firehawk ATX R15 tires that I purchased
from Firestone in 1996. My Jeep sustained extensive damage to
the wheel well as well as body damage from where the tread flew
up and hit the body of the Jeep just behind the rear tire. I
wish I would have know about the recall at that time because
I went the next day after the accident and had all four tires
replaced with a competitors tires since I did not feel safe buying
Firestone after what had just happened. I also did not save the
tires because I figured it was just a fluke. I feel extremely
lucky that I was not injured in the accident but I am very angry
that my life could have been changed in an instant by something
that could have been prevented.
