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Can the Rubber Grip the Road?

© Maggie Herman

In May, Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., announced plans to end their 95-year business relationship as tire supplier and finished good manufacturer in the United States. The day after the companies made the announcement, Ford indicated that it would replace all Wilderness AT tires manufactured by Firestone and used on Ford vehicles.

According to Ford, the voluntary replacement program will cover as many as 13 million Wilderness AT tires, not involved in the federally mandated recall last year, regardless of size or place of manufacturer. The federally mandated recall only covered 15-inch Wilderness AT tires manufactured at the Decatur, Illinois Firestone plant. The program will replace the tires, which were provided as original equipment on certain Explorers, Expeditions, Mercury Mountaineers, Rangers, and F-150s. The tires were also provided as replacements during the federally mandated recall in some instances.

Ford announced the decision based on an analysis of tire failure rates in the population that, the carmaker claims, showed the tires were on average three times more likely to fail than other tires used on sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) and pickup trucks. Although Ford has stated that the program is a precautionary one and that the tire failure rates are no where near those seen in the recalled population, Ford has expressed that the failure rates will increase as the tire population ages. So far, Ford claims that the tires have been linked to nine fatalities and 22 injuries from the introduction of these tires during the 1996 model year.

In outlining it plans for the program, Ford has indicated that it will replace tires that are three years old or older first because it believes these tires present the greatest risk of harm. It has also stated that it is considering replacing tires in warm weather states before those in colder weather states, although no concrete plans have been announced regarding this criteria. Warm ambient road temperatures appear to be linked to higher numbers of tire blow outs.

While Ford is publicly expressing concerns about Firestone tires, Firestone is publicly denouncing the safety of the Ford Explorer SUV. Firestone contends that its analysis of claims data revealed that the number of claims associated with tread separation on Explorers equipped with Firestone ATX radial tires is about 10 times greater than the number of claims associated with Rangers equipped with the same tires. Additionally, the tire maker claims that the analysis revealed no claims involving Wilderness AT tires installed on Rangers, even though the claims rate for Explorers equipped with the same tire was 23 per million vehicles. Firestone has also released anecdotal press accounts collected in Venezuela that the company says shows that the Explorer rolled over when equipped with Goodyear tires.