Facts and Data Prove Wilderness AT Tires Safe;
Firestone Continues Push for Explorer Examination
Nashville, Tenn., (July 19, 2001) -Bridgestone/Firestone,
Inc. (BFS) today reaffirmed the safety of its Wilderness AT tires, informing
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the
facts and the data do not support an agency action that could result
in an expanded recall of any Wilderness AT tires, including those equipped
primarily on Ford Explorers.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure
the safety of the driving public. If one of our tires might jeopardize
that safety, then we’ll take it off the road. We’ve done it
before and, if it becomes necessary, we’ll do it again. But, that
is simply not the case here,” said John Lampe, Chairman, CEO and
President of Bridgestone/Firestone.
To date, NHTSA has failed to make its analysis available
to BFS for the company to review in any meaningful way. BFS’s own
extensive examination and evaluation of its tires, competitor tires
and the Ford Explorer clearly show that the Wilderness AT tires are
safe and that further action against the tires is unnecessary and counterproductive.
As this matter moves forward, the company will use every available step
in the process to prove the safety of its tires, including public hearings,
and if necessary pursuing this issue in the courts.
“We appreciate NHTSA’s diligence on this
issue, but we strongly disagree with any suggestion that a recall action
might be warranted and believe any such action could have potentially
serious consequences for the driving public and the entire tire industry,”
said Lampe, referring to the testing that shows the Firestone tires
perform well within industry levels on all tests. “This much is
clear. Our tires are safe. And, we will use every opportunity available
to us to make that point.”
“If the real issue at hand is the safety of the
driving public – and we believe it is – then taking more of
our tires off the road is not the solution. It doesn’t solve the
real problem: the vehicle,” Lampe added. “We now know this
to be a fact: you can take every Firestone tire off every Explorer and
the rollovers and fatal accidents will continue. We’ve seen it
in Venezuela, and we are now seeing it in the U.S.”
Among the points the company cites in support of its position:
- Wilderness ATs are comparable to competitors’
tires. Exhaustive tests show that across
the board, Firestone tires perform the same as, if not better than,
similar competitor tires that are currently being fitted to Ford vehicles,
including Explorers. The tests conducted include: peel force, belt
edge temperature tests, SAE high speed testing and holography/shearography.
- Wilderness AT tires have extremely low
claims rates. A tire’s performance
and safety must be judged by a number of factors. Claims rates alone
are not an accurate measure of a tire’s performance. However,
even if claims rates were to be used as a determinative factor, the
claims history of Wilderness ATs shows that the tires are performing
well in the field.
- A tread separation is not always a tire
defect. Rather, tread separations can
result from a number of different causal factors related to tire use.
All tires, no matter what brand of manufacture can experience tread
separations, and some will. This can happen whether as a result of
low inflation, improper repair, a road hazard that causes a slow leak,
an impact break or a similar incident. It is one of the most common
failure modes for any steel belted radial tire, regardless of brand.
- The vehicle must also be investigated. The
very same Wilderness AT tire performs very differently on the Ford
Explorer than it does on the Ford Ranger. At the same time similar
Wilderness AT tires mounted on non-Ford vehicles perform at virtually
flawless levels. In addition, published reports show that tread separations
leading to rollovers and other accidents continue, no matter what
brand tire is fitted on the vehicle. A report issued by Dr. Dennis
Guenther suggests certain models of the Ford Explorer are plagued
by significant safety problems because of inherent flaws in its design.
For supporting documents click
here.
About Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.
Nashville-based Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., is
a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tire
and rubber company. Bridgestone/Firestone manufactures and markets Bridgestone,
Firestone, Dayton and house and private brand tires. The company also
produces Firestone air springs, roofing materials, synthetic rubber
and industrial products. The company employs approximately 35,000 employees
in North America. For further information, please visit our website
at www.bridgestone-firestone.com.
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