Bridgestone/Firestone to recall 3.5 million more tires

WASHINGTON -- Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. agreed Thursday to recall 3.5 million more Wilderness AT tires mounted on sport utility vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered the tire maker to replace the tires after a 1 1/2-year investigation.

The recall involves the P235/75R15 and P255/70R16 Wilderness AT tires manufactured before 1998 that were supplied as original equipment to Ford Motor Co. or sold as replacement tires for other SUV brands.

Bridgestone/Firestone says only about 768,000 of the tires are still on the market. Many of the tires have already been replaced by the owners or as part of a replacement plan announced in May by Ford in response to the August 2000 recall of 6.5 million Bridgestone/Firestone tires.

"We do not agree with NHTSA's findings," Bridgestone/Firestone CEO John Lampe said in a statement. "Our testing and science show our tires perform extremely well. However, we have decided that it is in the best interest of our company, our employees, our dealers and our customers if we replace the limited number of tires in question and close this chapter in the company's history."

Ford spokesman Ken Zino said the automaker would consider trying to recover some of the $3 billion cost of the replacement program.