Firestone recall hurts dealers little

About three weeks ago, without warning, employees at Bloomington Ford could not find a free phone line to call customers.\nThe August 9 announcement of a voluntary recall on Firestone Radial ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires had prompted so many inquiries from concerned drivers that the staff was forced to use cell phones because of the rush of phone calls into the business.\n"The first five or six days of the recall there were so many phone calls coming in it almost shut down our switchboard," said Mike Hartman, parts and services director for Bloomington Ford. \n"We couldn't do business regularly because there were so many questions coming in."\nDespite initial setbacks for local dealers, they have met the need in tires and service without an extremely heavy burden on every day business.\nHartman said that even with up to 120 tires replaced a day and a steady daily average of about 10 customers coming in for service, Bloomington Ford has been able to meet demand. He said he has purchased tires from places as far as Evansville, Fort Wayne and Louisville to sustain inventory.\nBridgestone/Firestone, Inc. initiated the recall of an estimated 6.5 million tires found on vehicles such as Ford Explorers, Broncos and Rangers produced from 1991 to 2000. As of August 26, one million of the 6.5 million tires had been replaced. \nComplaints claim the tires peel off their casings, sometimes while cars are moving at high speeds.\nFord Motor Co. has allowed tires to be replaced with non-Firestone brands. For Bloomington Goodyear dealers, this also has not taxed their reserves too heavily.\n"If we've gained any business from it it's been minimal," said Tom Denk, manager of Bloomington Tire Co., a Goodyear dealer.\nAbout 40 customers have come into Larry Bird Ford in Martinsville to have their tires inspected, said Steve Wheat, service manager. He said although 14 car owners have replacement tires on order, the dealership has been able to keep up to speed with the recall demand by utilizing all employees to do free inspections. \nHartman said four additional workers have been hired since the recall, and employees have been working overtime for three weeks.\nThe impact on Ford Explorer sales in the area has varied. \n"It's the best month I've had this year," said Larry Bird Ford Sales Manager Don Moore. "We haven't noticed any effect whatsoever."\nHartman said although he did not know official sales figures, Explorer sales have decrease slightly. He said he would expect this with any kind of recall.\n"It's somewhat adversely effected Explorer sales, I'm sure," he said