The spare tire of my Ford Explorer truck is normally threaded with a wire rope and winched up into place beneath the back of the truck. It works well and is easier to use than the traditional bolt/plate. However, last summer, I drove over a railroad track (with a big bump) and the tire flew off from beneath my truck and bounced wildly down the highway. Fortunately nothing and no one was hurt (this was a remote highway location) - but there was potential for a very serious accident if there had been other vehicles or people in the vicinity of the accident.
I retrieved the errant tire and went on my way to the Ford dealer to notify them of this incident. Ford Motor Company was notified by the dealer of the defect - i.e. defect being the tire holding system - it becomes defective as the wire rope corrodes over time - so the tire can fall off the vehicle. The problem requires re-engineering to secure the tire with bolts/plates rather than relying on the thin wire rope.
There has been no word from Ford yet - no acknowledgement of the complaint and (obviously) no word on what is being done to address the concern. This is a legitimate concern and I insist that the Ford company makes a recall to notify the public of the potential safety risk and for Ford to fix this problem of using a wire-rope to secure the spare tires on their trucks/vans.
On an additional note: the dealer recently offered to fix the wire rope and reinstall the spare tire on my truck - for free! I said "NO!! You don't get it!! Your system is a hazard and I will carry the spare in the back of the truck until a new design is made for safely securing and holding the tire in place." They seem to have missed the point!
