DEFECTIVE TIRES: In August of 2000, Firestone announced a recall of over 14 million tires sold in the United States. Many of these tires had been used on Ford products, including the Ford Explorer. It was determined that a belt separation in the tire was the cause of tire blow outs resulting in the loss of control over the vehicle and, in many cases, catastrophic injury and death. NHTSA (The National Highway Transportation Safety Association) determined that a defect existed in Firestone Wilderness AT P235/75R15 and P255/70R16 tires manufactured before May, 1998 and ordered the recall.

15 PASSENGER VANS: There are more than 500,000 15 passenger currently on the road and most often these vans are purchased by community organizations, schools, day-care centers, senior centers and churches as a method of transportation. These vans, when fully loaded pose a serious risk of rolling over and hundreds of deaths have resulted from 15 passenger van accidents. NHTSA has studied the rollover propensity of the vans and has issued national warnings to users of such vehicles that they have an increased risk of rollovers under certain conditions. They stated that fully loading 15 passenger vans caused the center of gravity to shift rearward and upward, increasing the likelihood of a rollover occurring. The shift also increased to potential for loss of control in panic situations. They also stated that the design of these vans was not conducive to handling side impacts and many injuries and deaths attributed to these larger vans were a result of passenger ejection.