Firestone Takes ‘Full’ Blame for Tire Defect

WASHINGTON —  Firestone admitted Tuesday for the first time that it had produced defective tires, and that their design, along with possible quality control problems at one of its plants, appear to be factors in the catastrophic tread failures.

“We made some bad tires, and we take full responsibility for them,” John Lampe, executive vice president of Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., told a Senate Commerce Committee hearing chaired by John McCain (R-Ariz).

Although Bridgestone/Firestone Chief Executive Masatoshi Ono apologized last week for his company’s role in the fatal crashes, the company’s position on the tire failures until Tuesday had been that the cause is unknown and that it’s not clear whether the tires are defective.

The company’s acknowledgment Tuesday came as lawmakers, pledging to reform the government’s auto safety agency this year, shared personal stories of loss among friends.

Illustrating the urgency on Capitol Hill, Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) told colleagues how his friend Dr. Gary Haas died in a wreck after the Firestone tires on his Ford Explorer blew out. “If he had been in a different car, with a different tire, he would be alive today,” Frist said. The accident happened as Haas, a heart surgeon like Frist, was driving his son to college in Texas. It took place Aug. 15, six days after Firestone announced its recall of 6.5 million tires.

Lampe told McCain’s committee that the company believes the problem might lie in a combination of design issues and manufacturing problems at one of its plants. He also suggested that Ford’s recommendation for a lower inflation pressure on the tires used on its popular Explorer sport-utility vehicle might have reduced the margin of safety.

“We believe we have narrowed the focus and believe the solution may lie in two areas: the unique design specification of the [tire] combined with variations in the manufacturing process at the Decatur [Ill.] plant,” Lampe said.

Pressed by reporters for an explanation later, Lampe was guarded. He said the company has identified possible problems with the Wilderness AT tire, one of three models that have been recalled. The others are the 15-inch ATX and ATX II, which were installed as factory equipment on Explorers in the early 1990s. Problems with the ATX tires, Lampe said, are “a different issue.”

Lampe said “trade secrets” prevented him from discussing the design issue concerning the Wilderness model but that it is related to one of the belts used in constructing the tire. Steel belts under the treads in radial tires provide strength, durability and puncture resistance.

As to the manufacturing issues, Lampe said, “any time you have a manufacturing process, the goal is to do the exact same thing 100% of the time.” However, at the Decatur plant, he said, there were “variances.”

Again, he would not provide specifics, but he refused to blame the problem on replacement workers hired during a strike in 1994 and 1995. He stressed that the bad tires represented a tiny fraction of Firestone’s overall production.

Lampe’s statements left many unanswered questions. For example, Firestone tires used in Venezuela also experienced tread failures. But those tires were produced in Venezuela, not in Decatur.

The company’s admission that some of its tires were defective could make it easier for plaintiffs’ lawyers to win cases on behalf of scores of victims in damage suits against Firestone, although Firestone could still claim in individual cases that their tires were not the cause of the accident.

Firestone also said it appointed an independent expert--Dr. Sanjay Govindjee, an engineering professor at UC Berkeley--to help assess what’s wrong with the tires.

Lampe also expressed regrets that Firestone had gone along with a Ford recommendation for an inflation pressure of 26 pounds per square inch on Explorers. Firestone had recommended a inflation pressure of 30 psi. But Ford, worried about the Explorer’s stability, opted for softer tires.

House investigators have said they believe the lower inflation pressure--which would increase heat--is the key to the solving the tire-failure puzzle. Ford adamantly disputes that, saying Goodyear tires inflated to 26 psi on 500,000 Explorers have not experienced similar failures.

Dr. Sue Bailey, the new head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, told McCain’s committee that investigators at the safety agency believe the problem centers on the tires but have not ruled out a connection with the Explorer.

Ford CEO Jac Nasser put the blame squarely on Firestone and announced that beginning this fall, Explorer buyers will be given the option of choosing tires made by manufacturers other than Firestone. He also said he had directed Ford’s engineers to design a dashboard warning light to alert drivers to low tire pressure.

While Ford and Firestone sniped at each other, Tuesday’s hearing was notably free of political partisanship. Republicans and Democrats alike castigated both companies for failing to report a problem that had festered for years, and scolded NHTSA for failing to heed early warnings, including a detailed 1998 e-mail from State Farm Insurance.

“This is supposed to be the age of information technology, and we are not getting this information,” Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) sternly admonished Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.

McCain announced a committee vote next week on a bill to strengthen the government’s auto-safety agency. A companion bill will be introduced in the House today, increasing chances legislation might be passed before Congress adjourns.

McCain chastised the Transportation Department for hiding behind excuses that NHTSA did not have enough money to do a thorough investigation. “Never once has one of you come to me and said, ‘Look, increase our budget, we need an advocate here,’ ” he said.

Slater presented a package of reforms that include authority to levy unlimited civil penalties against companies that fail to warn of possible safety problems, a requirement that manufacturers report defects that are first detected overseas, requirements for broader reporting of lawsuits and other complaint information and extension of the three-year period for replacing recalled products.

Under questioning, Nasser and Lampe said they would not object to any of those changes. However, some members of Congress want to go further and also impose criminal penalties for safety violations.

In a related issue, McCain entered the battle about a NHTSA proposal to create a rollover rating system for new vehicles. Most of the fatal tire failure crashes involved rollovers. NHTSA ratings, which were supposed to be available as early as this fall, are being blocked by another GOP senator, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, who wants to deny funding for the plan pending further study.

McCain called Shelby’s effort--supported by the auto industry--”a classic example of inappropriate legislating” and said it would “increase the cynicism of the American people over special interests.”

Consumer activist Joan Claybrook, head of Public Citizen, urged McCain to move quickly on NHTSA reforms. “I don’t think members of Congress should go home and ask their constituents to vote for them until they’ve fixed this problem,” she said.

Also on Tuesday, Bridgestone/Firestone said it will replace the 1.4 million Firestone tires for which NHTSA had issued a warning Sept. 1 after the company refused to expand the recall.

Bridgestone/Firestone said it will replace the tires for free even if no defects are found or reimburse as much as $140 per tire for competitors’ models. The tires covered include various sizes of the ATX, Firehawk ATX, ATX 23 Degree, Wide-track Radial Baja, Widetrack Radial Baja A/S, Wilderness AT and Wilderness HT lines. Most of the tires were manufactured as replacements, but three of the 24 tire types were original equipment on the 1991 Chevy Blazer, 1991-1994 Nissan pickup and 1996-1998 Ford F150.