Firestone, GM Mexican Recall Urged

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas--Lawyers for a Mexican family suing Firestone and General Motors are calling for an investigation and recall of Firestone FR480s made in Mexico. The victims’ family members also are participating in the publicity campaign.

Jose Hernandez, part of the family that lost seven members in the Firestone-tire related crash in Mexico last summer, Thursday held a press conference in Corpus Christi, Texas, asking Bridgestone--Firestone’s parent corporation--to extend the scope of its recall investigation to tires made in Mexico.

On Aug. 3 of last year, the Hernandez and Macias families were driving near Guadalajara in a General Motors sports utility vehicle called a “Silverado” (not related to the U.S. pickup truck of that name), which is similar to the GM SUV retailed as the Tahoe in the U.S. According to Billy Edwards and Doug Allison, lawyers for the families in a suit against Bridgestone, GM and the driver’s estate, the left rear tire experienced tread separation, and the tread wrapped around the axle, throwing the vehicle out of control and into a rollover.

Seven people were killed in the crash--including children--and others were badly injured. One young girl suffered a serious brain injury and is undergoing treatment at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi. Another girl lost her entire family--both parents and two sisters--and was herself injured in the crash.

The SUV in the crash was assembled in Mexico, and its Firestone tires, model FR480, were manufactured in Mexico. A front tire on the same vehicle had experienced tread separation only a month earlier; the vehicle was taken to a Firestone dealership at that time, although the FR480 is not the same tire recalled in the U.S.

Last year, Edwards said that it has “similar design features rendering it equally defective.” More than a hundred complaints have been filed about the FR480 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration here in the U.S., he added.

The family is asking Firestone “to act responsibly in Mexico. Firestone should extend its internal U.S. investigation to all tires made in Mexico,” said Edwards. He also noted that many cars sold in the U.S., most notably GM’s popular Suburban, are now often assembled in Mexico with inadequate tires--“even more reason to hold GM and Firestone to a responsible standard there.” On Jan. 2 of this year, Firestone recalled 8,000 tires manufactured at the Cuernavaca plant in Mexico. Those tires were mostly fitted on model year 2000 GM Suburbans sold in the U.S.

“But that is only a drop in the bucket. Firestone should recall any of its tires that pose a danger to the public, no matter where they are made or sold,” said Allison. Hernandez noted that “no one should have to go through this kind of tragedy, no matter where they live.”