Another thing, when a Pinto with Firestone 500 tires on it came into the shop, we would cover our ears and go to the back room. The customer would jump out of their car and want to know what was wrong ?? We would explain the gas tank exploding reputation coupled with a Firestone 500 spare tire as a fuse! Some didn't appreciate the humor.
For the youngsters, the first major tire recall came about in the early 70's when radial technology had not been perfected and many, many steel belted radial tires suffered from tread separations and blow-outs.
Thus the referring to the tire as a fuse