The uproar followed Firestone's announcement on Wednesday that it would recall 6.5 million tires, installed mainly as original equipment on Ford Motor Co. Explorer sport-utility vehicles and other light trucks, that have been linked with fatal traffic accidents.

Because Firestone doesn't have enough tires in stock to replace all those being recalled, the company announced a phased recall process, meaning many consumers may wait months for replacements.

That isn't good enough for Carlos Perdue, 79 years old, who was fuming as he waited for his 1998 Explorer's tires to be replaced at Firestone Tire & Service Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. He wasn't alone. By 10 a.m. Thursday, concerned Ford sport-utility owners were crowding into the shop, while the work area and the parking lot were full of Ford Explorers and Mercury Moutaineers.

Michigan is one state where consumers are supposed to be among the last to get new Firestone tires. ''I'm not going to wait for a year to get my [recalled] tires replaced," said Mr. Perdue, a retired Ford facilities manager. When he arrived at the tire center, he said, the store manager told him he would have to wait until next week when Firestone replacement tires would become available.

But Mr. Perdue persisted, and the store manager agreed to replace his tires with Goodyear tires free of charge. The manager, Mark Ewers, declined to comment, instead showing a fax from Firestone that directed him not to talk to reporters.

Firestone faces growing pressure to accelerate the recall process. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sent a letter to Firestone demanding the company either expand its recall program immediately or make provisions for all consumers to obtain immediate replacements.

Mr. Spitzer warned that he found "the terms of the recall wholly inadequate because of the failure to treat all affected consumers equally." New York would be among the last states reached by the recall sometime next year.

"Such a delay is unacceptable in light of the reports of deaths and catastrophic injuries resulting from accidents caused by the defective tires," Mr. Spitzer wrote.

Firestone spokesman Ken Fields said, "We're working to address the situation as quickly as we can where there appears to be a larger number of reported incidents. New York ranks well below the states in the warm-weather climate in terms of the reported incidents."

As for the general confusion felt by many consumers, Mr. Fields said, "We're communicating with everyone as quickly as we can and in as much detail as we can about how this is going to proceed."As envisioned by Firestone, consumers in Caliornia, Arizona, Florida and Texas would be targeted in the first phase of the recall, ending in October. Firestone, the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., says 80% of the incidents involving the problem tires occurred in those states. The federal government is probing 300 incidents involving Firestone tires that have resulted in 46 deaths.

Most of the accidents and deaths have occurred when the tires are used on Ford vehicles, particularly the company's popular Explorer model.

The second phase of the recall would target Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Firestone says the timing of the second phase and the final phase - covering the rest of the country - isn't clear, but should be complete by next summer.

Competing tire makers are looking to fill the gap. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio, said it has boosted by 250% capacity in certain Goodyear tires that could be substituted for the recalled Firestone tires. The company won't provide actual numbers."There's been a run on this size in the last few days - both in terms of people ordering and in terms of selling," said Goodyear spokesman Chuck Sinclair. "I don't know if we'd call it a panic situation, but the level of customer concern has intensified." The company is also now shipping some of the tires in question directly to retailers from the factory, instead of going through distributors.

Michelin North America Inc., the U.S. unit of France's Groupe Michelin, is also moving to help fill the void and notes that the annual output of a midsize tire plant is about 6.5 million tires a year, roughly equal to the recall number.

The company, based in Greenville, S.C., says it worked with Ford over recent days to allot "a certain number of tires" to Ford's dealer network.

"Clearly, Ford wants us to buttress their existing inventory with appropriate Michelin-, BF Goodrich-, and Uniroyal-brand products," said Michael Fanning, a Michelin spokesman.

Michelin, also shifting production between plants to maximize output, is posting information on its Web sites to allow consumers to key in the name of their recalled Firestone tire and learn which particular Michelin tire can be used to replace it.

-- (The Wall Street Journal)