Editorial Comment:

I agree with your opinion that the dealer or even Ford should be responsible for this kind of situation.

One thing that most people don't know is that all tires are designed to operate at a certain diameter after they have been inflated. If, considering the weight of the vehicle and it's load, the pressure is too low, the tire will have a smaller diameter -- measured from the road to the center of the axle.

The fix for this is to add air until that operating diameter is reached, however, one effect of adding air is to make the tire harder and the ride may not be as soft as it was previously.

Suggesting that a vehicle use less pressure to correct a deficiency in engineering design of the van is a last-minute attempt to salvage an error which should have been fixed when the vehicle was being designed.

The very least the company should do is disclose that they recommend using a lower pressure for increased ride comfort, but that this will result in lower tire life and possible problems with the tire because of the increased heat generated through lower pressure.

TG