Bridgestone/Firestone
Inc. Focuses Its Investigation
Company Recommends 30 PSI Pressure
for Explorer Tires
Washington, D.C.
(Sept. 21, 2000)- A Bridgestone/Firestone
Inc. (BFS) official told Congress today that the 100-year-old
company is focusing its investigation of the small percentage
of tires involved in fatal rollover crashes equipped on Ford
Explorers on the Decatur, Illinois plant. Additionally, Firestone
is now recommending air pressure on tires equipped on Explorers
be no lower than 30PSI. BFS Executive Vice President John
Lampe said the company yesterday urged Ford to immediately
change the specification on the sport utility vehicles outfitted
with P235/75R15 tires to reflect the safer tire pressure.
While saying it would
be inappropriate to engage in speculation, Lampe said that
the company’s team of investigators had found fruitful areas
to review in its search for the cause of the tread separation
phenomena to the interaction between the design of the tires
and "potential manufacturing variances at the Decatur
plant."
"A
comprehensive review of the Decatur production process has
been conducted to determine whether variances in any production
process could have caused or contributed to this problem,"
Lampe testified before the House Commerce Committee. While
making clear that Firestone has not yet been able to identify
the exact root cause or causes of the problems, which appear
in a very small percentage of the tires, the company is closer
to finding an answer. Additionally, an independent investigator
into the root cause, Dr. Sanjay Govindjee, began his work
yesterday in Akron.
Because the number of
tires involved is so small, Lampe said Firestone’s field engineers
and other technical experts have a difficult job. Answering
the problem would not be unlike "finding a needle in
a haystack."
Firestone’s own investigation
into what Lampe called "tragic accidents" also revealed
that Ford’s recommended tire pressure of 26 PSI, which gives
a softer ride for the vehicle, resulted in a "very low
safety margin for the Explorer" as compared to other
SUVs. "The vehicle manufacturer sets the air pressure,"
Lampe told the lawmakers, adding that Firestone "must
rely on that judgment" so long as the pressure is set
within Tire and Rim Guide parameters. Since the recall, Firestone
has concluded that "running an Explorer at low tire pressures,
overloaded, particularly in hot climates appears to be a serious
part of the problem."
Reiterating that the company
takes full responsibility when the problem is with its tires,
Lampe also said that the "tire is only part of the overall
safety problem shown by these tragic accidents." Lampe
told the committee, "Let me be very clear; we could remove
every one of our tires from the Explorer, and rollovers and
serious accidents will continue."
The hearing also focused
on testing. Lampe told legislators that the recalled tires
were subjected to "a series of exacting tests" before
they were introduced. He also revealed that those tests were
performed by either Firestone or Ford as "directed by
Ford in its engineering specifications."
The auto maker required
a series of tests before the tires could be certified; Firestone
also fully tested the tires in accordance with government
regulations, and thirdly at Ford’s request for the 1995 model
year, Firestone tested the tires under standards developed
by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
