Jason,
Very well stated. I remember being in my father's car business in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I changed a lot of tires back then. There were three brands that I would not have on my car, which are General, BFGoodrich and Uniroyal. All frequently developed bubbles on the outside of the tire, and General and BFG developed bulges in the sidewall along the tire bead.
My wife bought a new Buich Skylark in 1966 and before the car had 25000 miles on it (within a couple of years) all four original Uniroyal tires had blown out. One at 90+ miles an hour in Nevada, which did not have rural speed limits back then. There was no problem controlling the car and stopping. My wife was driving and said "What's wrong with the car?"
I am still of the belief that the difference in tire brands is very significant with respect to catastrophic failure.
Of course, any tire can fail if there is significant under or over-inflation, etc. Too many people don't properly maintain their tires and then blame the manufacturer when a problem occurs. I remember when my son turned 16. He thought that he would do me a favor and air up the tires. The car was sitting on the driveway when one of the Goodyear tires exploded. The remaining tires had something like 90 psi in them!
I have a 1982 Buick Riviera convertible that has a set of Goodyear tires which are around 15 years old. It only gets driven occasionally in the summer. I have no hesitation of driving it at highway speeds. And, I am not ready to buy a new set of tires in view of the TV documentary.
Best regards,
Jim
On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 7:01 AM, Jason Rogers
<jasonrogers@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
That is an interesting video clip.
Not to dilute the severe risk associated with tire failure, how many MILLIONS of tires are currently (a) in service, and (b) on store shelves that would be considered "too old" - and compare that with how many tires actually fail within the population of millions? I should take note for myself: My '55 Belvedere has 20-year-old tires installed so, by definition of the 20/20 video, it is a rolling death trap by its tires alone.
As usual, the mass media has presented an issue almost entirely one-sided. The US rubber spokesman asked a very good question in return, "What SCIENTIFIC basis is there for imposing an age limit on tires?" - but he was given very little air time, relative to the air time given for the "other side" of the story. The casual viewer may construe the rubber dude as unsympathetic and/or callous, but let's stick to the facts. If tire age was the leading factor in the failures that have resulted in tragic accidents, SCIENCE would dictate that there would be MILLIONS of tire failures (and accidents) every year.
There are many other factors to consider that contribute to a fatal vehicle accident. Notice that most (if not all) the vehicles shown were SUVs or vans - vehicles with high centers of gravity compared to normal passenger cars. Unfortunately there are MILLIONS of SUVs/vans in this country, and there are some with better handling characteristics than others. What about vehicle speed? What about inflation pressure? What about accelerated wear due to misalignment? What about the tire load (weight on the tire; was the wrong load-rating tire applied to the vehicle)? Are there only certain tire brands/model families that have proven more susceptible to failure than others? What is it exactly about age that allegedly makes the tires more susceptible to failure? Does this age factor do more damage to unloaded/unused/unsold tires than to loaded/used tires?
Remember the Firestone/Ford fiasco from a few years ago? Isn't this 20/20 issue pretty much the same thing - but with a new title? (Yes, the unfortunate subject family's car was a GM Astro/Safari minivan.) Whatever was resolved with the Firestone/Ford issue?
Anyway, 20/20 does do good to raise awareness of the issue, but it falls short of presenting facts. I, too, would like to learn more about the issue, before running to a tire store in vain hysteria to replace tires just because they are old.
Jason.
*************************************************************
To unsubscribe or set your subscription options, please go to
http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=l-forwardlook&A=1
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network