Gross income can exceed $60,000, but Jean, echoing many drivers, said she had to pay nearly $800 a month for her truck, $125 a week for gas, $55 a week for business equipment, $4,000 a year for insurance policies, plus outlays for tires, maintenance and repairs.
The Firestone situation "definitely has raised awareness of tires, tire care and tire maintenance," said Tim Galloway, an assistant vice president of Discount Tire, a retail chain.
But when Arizona complained in July 1996 that tires on state vehicles were losing treads in hot weather, Firestone blamed poor tire maintenance.
At the news conference, the tire critics discounted assertions -- some by Ford, some by Firestone, some by both companies -- that problems with the tires resulted from poor manufacturing practices, hot weather, overloaded vehicles or inadequate tire maintenance by motorists.
He said that over the last few months, Firestone had instituted new quality assurance programs, had begun efforts to educate the public on tire maintenance, and had introduced a marketing and advertising campaign called Making It Right.
In the last few years, he has accelerated the automation of Goodyear plants, pushed the company's purchasing onto the Web and, with Goodyear dealers, is gathering information about consumers, with an eye toward selling them tire maintenance and other services.
A manufacturer can't assume perfect tire maintenance, but it can't design against gross abuse, either.
(Even NASCAR recommends good tire maintenance to boost fuel efficiency, noting that 90percentt of drivers neglect this simple routine).
It is not often that a properly maintained tire blows out, so it is very important to follow these guidelines for tire maintenance: Replace your tires sooner rather than later and/or at the first sign of dry rotting (cracking), or when you see your treads are worn shorter than 0.3 inch (2mm).
Mr. Fortino's relatives note that the state once brought him old tires from maintenance vehicles, police cars and Thruway wrecks.
Basically, if balconies look as if they're being used as extra storage space holding multiple bikes, boxes, old tires etc.–maintenance and enforcement issues come into question.
