The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "tire" ...
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Brian Ross Investigates: Tires-Cracking the Code
This report investigates the little-known hazard of the road - aged tires that have exceeded their shelf life. Most motorists only look at the depth of a tire's tread to determine if it is safe enough to use. However, our investigation revealed that as tires get older, even if they've never been driven a mile, they can dry out, and after six years of age, can become dangerous. Experts say aged tires have led to numerous fatalities, yet motorists have been kept in the dark about the issue.
Tags: tires; public safety; car care; automobile; tire industry; tread separation
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Tread Secrets: Evidence Disappearing
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company settled many plaintiffs, hired an ex-con to retrieve evidence of tread failure at fatal crash sites, and were able to make judges seal the records in wrongful death and product liability cases.
Tags: Cooper Tire; Tires; Tread; car; car crash; traffic; accident; Frank Ruggier; scandal
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Tired Pilots
"This is an investigation of the prevalence of fatigue among pilots at regional airlines, its effects, and the failure of airlines and the FAA to do anything about it."
Tags: FAA; pilots; fatigue; regional airlines; NASA
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Tread Secrets
In this story, KNXV created a database of lawsuits against Cooper Tires relating to accidents caused by tire tread separation by obtaining internal documents from an inside source at Cooper. The documents reveal that Cooper knew of the tire defects but chose not to remedy them in order to save money. The story led to legal action by Cooper against KNXV to prevent rebroadcast and uncover the inside source of documents.
Tags: computer assisted reporting; automobiles; accidents; tread separation; Cooper Tires; product liability; wrongful death; tires
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Blowout. How the tire problem turned into a crisis for Firestone and Ford. Lack of a database masked the pattern that led to yesterday's big recall. The heat and the pressure.
According to the article, "Yesterday, ine the face of a federal investigation into 46 deaths and more than 300 incidents involving Firestone tires that allegedly shredded on the highway, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. said it would recall more than 6.5 million tires, the majority of them mounted as original equipment on Ford Motor Co. Explorers and other Ford light trucks. The Firestone brands affected are certain 15-inch Radial ATX and Radial ATX II tires produced in North America and certain Wilderness AT tires with product code P235/75R15 that were manufactured at Firestone's Decatur, Ill. plant."
Tags: Firestone; Ford; tires; blowouts; Ford Motor Company; Ford Explorers; Decatur; IL; deaths; danger; recall
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Motel Children: A community of children lives behind the tired faces of Orange County's aging residential motels. This is the story of their troubled world.
This story details and explains the stories of little children living in motels. The story includes multiple pictures and interviews with children. The story is told through the children's eyes.
Tags: children; motel; poor; needy; kids; residential motels
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Opening Lines: Tired of Costs, Delays of Railroads, Firms Lay Their Own Tracks
"Around the country, small, quasi-railroads are being built by companies tired of slipping rail service and high freight rates."
Tags: railroads; rail service; freight rates
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Tire Dump Attracts Attention of Agencies
Story concerned a used tire dump neat Siloam Springs, Arkansas, in which a manufacturer had dumped 250,000-1000,000 used tires. Part of the story focused on an effort by official of the Arkansas Dept. of Environmental Quality to make the manufacturer clean up the dump, and the abandonment of that effort by the ADEQ.
Tags: Waste; Bureaucracy; environment
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Firestone
CBS News reports on "new dimensions of the Firestone Tire/Ford fiasco, as the first lawsuits were heard in court and new allegations involving other Firestone tires surfaced." The series exposes legal tricks Firestone used to delay trials and frustrate victims, and sheds light on some recently discovered problems with Firestone rescue vehicle tires. The major finding is that there is a pattern of cover-ups in regard to the tire blowouts both in Firestone and Ford. The investigative team has conducted off-the-record interviews with Firestone employees who confirm information on continuing flaws in production.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; consumer affairs; defective tires; road accidents; whistleblowers; SUVs; deaths; drivers; Ford Bronco; courts; lawyers; cars
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Dead Tired: On the Road with Weary Truckers
The Kansas City Star reports on the effects of deregulation on the trucking industry. As truckers work long hours for low pay, the result is disturbing: "Fatigue behind the wheel of 40-ton rigs is now so pervasive on American highways that drivers regularly nod off and drift into oncoming lanes or slam into the backs of slower-moving cars." The series reveals that federal regulations have not solved the problem with truckers' fatigue, and that the NAFTA agreement has left unaddressed the exhaustion of Mexican drivers, who sometimes drive for more than 24 hours. The analysis of accident databases has shown that many transportation companies with known safety problems have not been inspected by the government.
Tags: CAR; highway traffic safety; accidents; injuries; crashes; American Trucking Association; hauling; freight; FARS