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Firestone complaints add up
Company reports it logged more than 1,400 customer claims involving tread separation on recalled ATX, Wilderness tires
BY ED MEYER
Beacon Journal staff writer
WASHINGTON: Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. logged more than 1,400 customer claims involving tread separation on its ATX and Wilderness tires during the past nine years, a figure far exceeding those previously disclosed by the federal agency investigating accidents involving those tires.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration previously said it had received 750 complaints about the tires, which have been linked to 62 deaths and 100 injuries.
The new figure -- contained in documents filed with the federal agency by Ford Motor Co., whose vehicles carry the tires as standard equipment -- suggests that the scope of Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford's problems may be wider than previously believed.
Tread separations have been blamed for causing Ford Explorers and some other vehicles to roll over in accidents, leading to the deaths and injuries. Earlier this month, and after the federal government launched its investigation, Bridgestone/Firestone recalled 6.5 million of its 15-inch ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires.
In the first comprehensive data supplied to the government by Ford, the automaker said that it received about 8,300 complaints involving tires subject to the recall. The complaints were received from 1991 until May 10, 2000, the date NHTSA formally requested the information.
Jason H. Vines, Ford vice president of communications, said that the 8,300 reports received from vehicle owners covered ``an incredibly broad array'' of claims and complaints, which he described as ``noise in the system.''
``I'm not being facetious here,'' Vines said, ``but some of them were: `I don't like the lettering on my tires,' or `I think these tires make too much noise . . . ' ''
But the data supplied by Ford also showed:
The automaker received 718 claims of blowouts on Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires mounted as original equipment on its Explorers, Rangers, Mountaineers, F-150s, Broncos and Expeditions.
That of 2,030 customer claims reported by Bridgestone/Firestone during the same nine-year period, 92 percent involved the 15-inch ATX tire models.
Of those claims made to the tire maker, 1,424 claims involved tread separation for the ATX and Wilderness models, 118 claims involved blowouts, and 488 claims were for what Bridgestone/Firestone described as ``unknown'' or ``other'' reasons.
Cynthia McCafferty, a Bridgestone/Firestone spokeswoman, said the numbers of complaints ``are not that surprising'' because they were logged over a long period of time.
She also said consumers are more likely to report complaints to manufacturers than to a government agency.
``That's a natural instinct that people would have,'' she said.
But public safety advocates say Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford need to do more to explain the numbers -- and release additional data.
Ralph Hoar, director of safetyforum.com, a public safety research firm based in Arlington, Va., said he and other independent research firms have been asking the two companies for ``full disclosure'' all along.
Ford and Firestone, Hoar said, should release ``how many reports of tire failures, deaths and injuries they have received from all tire sizes and from all production plants, not just the recalled sizes.
``Until the two companies do that,'' he said, ``I'm prepared to say that the public should not believe anything Ford and Firestone have said thus far.''
More data should be forthcoming. Rae Tyson, a NHTSA spokesman, said yesterday that tire investigators received 41 boxes of documents from the two companies -- 37 of which were turned over by Ford on Friday and four turned over by Bridgestone/Firestone on Monday.
Company reports it logged more than 1,400 customer claims involving tread separation on recalled ATX, Wilderness tires
BY ED MEYER
Beacon Journal staff writer
WASHINGTON: Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. logged more than 1,400 customer claims involving tread separation on its ATX and Wilderness tires during the past nine years, a figure far exceeding those previously disclosed by the federal agency investigating accidents involving those tires.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration previously said it had received 750 complaints about the tires, which have been linked to 62 deaths and 100 injuries.
The new figure -- contained in documents filed with the federal agency by Ford Motor Co., whose vehicles carry the tires as standard equipment -- suggests that the scope of Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford's problems may be wider than previously believed.
Tread separations have been blamed for causing Ford Explorers and some other vehicles to roll over in accidents, leading to the deaths and injuries. Earlier this month, and after the federal government launched its investigation, Bridgestone/Firestone recalled 6.5 million of its 15-inch ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires.
In the first comprehensive data supplied to the government by Ford, the automaker said that it received about 8,300 complaints involving tires subject to the recall. The complaints were received from 1991 until May 10, 2000, the date NHTSA formally requested the information.
Jason H. Vines, Ford vice president of communications, said that the 8,300 reports received from vehicle owners covered ``an incredibly broad array'' of claims and complaints, which he described as ``noise in the system.''
``I'm not being facetious here,'' Vines said, ``but some of them were: `I don't like the lettering on my tires,' or `I think these tires make too much noise . . . ' ''
But the data supplied by Ford also showed:
The automaker received 718 claims of blowouts on Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires mounted as original equipment on its Explorers, Rangers, Mountaineers, F-150s, Broncos and Expeditions.
That of 2,030 customer claims reported by Bridgestone/Firestone during the same nine-year period, 92 percent involved the 15-inch ATX tire models.
Of those claims made to the tire maker, 1,424 claims involved tread separation for the ATX and Wilderness models, 118 claims involved blowouts, and 488 claims were for what Bridgestone/Firestone described as ``unknown'' or ``other'' reasons.
Cynthia McCafferty, a Bridgestone/Firestone spokeswoman, said the numbers of complaints ``are not that surprising'' because they were logged over a long period of time.
She also said consumers are more likely to report complaints to manufacturers than to a government agency.
``That's a natural instinct that people would have,'' she said.
But public safety advocates say Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford need to do more to explain the numbers -- and release additional data.
Ralph Hoar, director of safetyforum.com, a public safety research firm based in Arlington, Va., said he and other independent research firms have been asking the two companies for ``full disclosure'' all along.
Ford and Firestone, Hoar said, should release ``how many reports of tire failures, deaths and injuries they have received from all tire sizes and from all production plants, not just the recalled sizes.
``Until the two companies do that,'' he said, ``I'm prepared to say that the public should not believe anything Ford and Firestone have said thus far.''
More data should be forthcoming. Rae Tyson, a NHTSA spokesman, said yesterday that tire investigators received 41 boxes of documents from the two companies -- 37 of which were turned over by Ford on Friday and four turned over by Bridgestone/Firestone on Monday.
