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New Firestone recall
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February 20, 2001: 3:53 p.m. ET
Nearly 100,000 tires used on Nissan Altima SE recalled due to design flaw
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. recalled nearly 100,000 tires Tuesday used primarily on the Nissan Altima SE sedan.
The company said an examination of the tires, the P205/55R16 Firehawk GTA-02, showed a design problem that could result in cracks at the edge of the tread and shoulder. The company said the tires were primarily sold as original equipment on about 22,000 Altima SE, the sports model of the sedan, in model years 2000 and 2001.
 The tiremaker, still struggling to get over a recall of 6.5 million tires last year used primarily on Ford Explorer sport/utility vehicles, said unlike that large recall, it is not aware of any accidents, injuries or claims resulting from problems with the Firehawk tires.
About 148 U.S. deaths have been tied to the earlier recall.
The company said its analysis of the affected Altima tires found that the original belt width specification created too narrow a distance between the steel belt edge inside the tire and the surface of the tire. The company said indoor and road testing of the tires shows that even if a crack reaches to the belts, the tires continue to perform adequately without any air leaks or any visible failures.
"It's not unusual for tires to experience some cosmetic cracking, and that is what we initially saw in this situation," said a statement from John Lampe, CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone. "As it became apparent that this was a unique circumstance, we decided a recall was the best course of action. With the design specification change, we believe we have taken the necessary steps to make sure this issue has been resolved."
But Christine Karbowiak, spokeswoman for Firestone, said that the company made a change in the design of the tire last November, when it thought the cracking was purely a cosmetic problem. She said the company decided to go ahead with a recall when further tests suggested the problem could eventually cause a loss of tire pressure or other problems such as uneven wear or vibrations.
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Karbowiak said the company's investigation found that this was the only model affected by a too-wide steel belt, and that changing the design was a relatively simple matter. She did not have an estimate of the cost of the recall, which will be paid completely by Bridgestone/Firestone. Ford Motor Co. is sharing the cost of the earlier recall.
While most of the tires were sold as standard equipment on the Altima, about 10,500 were sold into the replacement tire market. Firestone said it believes it has enough replacement tires available that it will not need to use competitors' models as replacements, as it was forced to do in the case of last summer's recall.
That earlier recall was prompted by an analysis of tire claims by Ford (F: Research, Estimates), as well as an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the refusal of some tire retailers to sell the defective tires. This time Firestone appears to have acted without outside pressure. Liz Neblett, spokeswoman for NHTSA, said the agency was not conducting any investigation before it was informed of the problem by Firestone.
"We're pleased they discovered the problem and are stepping up to the plate and are making good on it," she said.
Bridgestone/Firestone is a unit of Japanese tiremaker Bridgestone Corp. Shares of Bridgestone lost ¥4 to ¥988 in Tokyo trading Tuesday. 
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