Yokohama Tire Corp

Foreign tire manufacturers, following the lead of foreign auto makers, are landing in force in the United States. The primary target is America's $13.6-billion-a-year replacement tire market, the world's single most lucrative new-tire bazaar. Foreign tire makers also are going after the original-equipment market--firms manufacturing passenger cars and trucks on U.S. soil--which bought or received new tires valued at about $6.4 billion in 1986.

Steve Mazor was driving home from Burbank on the Santa Ana Freeway three weeks ago when the right-rear tire on his company car blew out at 70 mph. He backed off the gas, made his way from the fast lane to the right shoulder while decelerating and gently braked to a stop--the proper procedure to follow to avoid loss of control when a tire suddenly loses pressure. Mazor--chief automotive engineer for the Automobile Club of Southern California--has had a bit of practice at it. Less than a month earlier, the left-front tire on the same car blew out as it bumped over a Botts dot lane marker as Mazor drove in the fast lane on the Glendale Freeway.

Steve Mazor was driving home from Burbank on the Santa Ana Freeway three weeks ago when the right-rear tire on his company car blew out at 70 mph. He backed off the gas, made his way from the fast lane to the right shoulder while decelerating and gently braked to a stop--the proper procedure to follow to avoid loss of control when a tire suddenly loses pressure. Mazor--chief automotive engineer for the Automobile Club of Southern California--has had a bit of practice at it.