I have been discussing the following problem with my neighbor. She has a Ford with the bad Firestone tires that have been recalled. She took the car to the dealer to get new tires. They had none, so they put her on a waiting list. In the meantime, they checked her tire pressure and told her to try not to go over 45 mph, and they told her to check the tire pressure every week until the replacement tires arrive. No estimate on when she'll get tires, but news reports say Firestone is going to replace tires in the hotter areas of the U.S. (heat increases the risk of tread separation) before they get to our region. It will be 85-90 degrees here this weekend, so this is not exactly a frigid climate.

Should she accept this temporary solution? She is thinking that she shouldn't drive her family in a car with a known, fatal defect that has killed over 60 people. She is thinking of going back to the dealer and telling them to give her a free loaner until they can give her what she paid for -- a safe vehicle. If they refuse, she might pay for a rental car if they won't provide a free loaner, and maybe sue them for the expense. She is really worried about what to do, and thinks maybe she'll have her husband drive on the bad tires because he only has to go 5 miles to work.

It would be helpful to her if any experts out there who know what her rights are and how she should proceed -- do what Ford suggests, ask for a loaner, rent a car and try to make them pay for it. Any other ways to handle this, or are we both blowing the risk out of proportion?

Hi SUV,

My husband has a 1999 Ford Ranger and his tires have already been replaced. If you e-mail me I will pass the info on to you for your neighbor. Ford and Firestone were very helpful to us. I think it's possible that someone has been misinformed (maybe the person at the dealer).

Good luck.

I respectfully suggest that you move this to some other Internet forum. This is a TRAVEL forum and Fodor's kindly supplies the advertising free bandwidth that allows it to exist - it shuld be reserved for travel specific issues.

Since when does travel by vehicle not qualify as travel? Would you feel better if the vehicle owner told you she was going to take her kids to a museum in her SUV?

Sorry, I agree with Owen; that was not put in the context of a travel issue - but more along the lines of one of those people who find any forum possible to air their greivances. Give us a break - tell us about your most recent trip, ask questions, but leave the tire situation to the experts and let us focus on the reason we come to this wonderful site.

I agree with Jenn and Owen, this is a complaint not a travel issue. Why don't you contact your state attorney general's office or Ford/Firestone instead of whining here!

I can understand the point that "huh" makes but if one extended that rationale to any number of other topics we could relate just about anything to "travel" and this forum would become increasingly diluted by topics that veer off on tangents and hve little to do with actual "travel" (as in taking a trip) per se. Thanks for your support Jenn - I'll absent myself from the discussion at this point to return to travel issues!

I apologize to anyone who was offended by my question. I thought maybe some would find it misplaced on the forum, but I wanted to help out my friend, but I can't commit a huge amount of time to figuring this out for her. I guess I assumed anyone who wasn't interested would just not respond. There are lots of experienced people on this forum, and I thought someone could help, and I sent an e-mail to Lily and hope to hear something.

I have seen threads about the safety of lap babies on planes, and no one said those posts were inappropriate. I don't see how my question is different -- both deal with transportation safety.