Ford Begins Massive Tire Replacement
May 23 -- Ford Motor Co. will replace all Firestone Wilderness AT tires on its vehicles because of "early warning signals" of problems with the tires, company CEO Jacques Nasser announced Tuesday.
"We simply do not have enough confidence in the future performance of these tires," Nasser said.
The move, which the company is calling a "customer service campaign" rather than a recall, will involve replacing up to 13 million tires at a cost to the company of more than $2 billion, he added.
Ford Vice President John Rintamaki said customers affected would be notified by mail.
Earlier Tuesday, Nasser met with lawmakers and told them his company had found that Firestone's Wilderness AT tires failed at a rate of 15 per million — three times the industry rate.
Blame Game Escalates
Nasser's comments represent the latest round of accusations as the bitter split unfolds between longtime partners Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.
The announcement came a day after Bridgestone/Firestone announced it was severing ties with Ford after nearly a century of doing business together.
Bridgestone-Firestone CEO John Lampe said Tuesday on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that his firm's tires were safe and that he had serious safety concerns about Ford Explorers.
"Our initial analysis of the engineering data that we have suggests very strongly that there are safety concerns with a large segment of the Ford Explorers on the road today," he said.
In a statement Tuesday, Firestone executive Christine Karbowiak complained that the company had been left in the dark about Ford's plan to replace the Wilderness AT tires.
The 95-year-old relationship between Ford and Firestone thrived until last August, when Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires.
The recall was prompted by tire failures, mostly on Ford Explorers, that have now been linked to 174 deaths and hundreds of other injuries.
Each company has blamed the other for the problem, and the final straw apparently came for Firestone amid reports last week that Ford had not consulted the tire maker about safety concerns with Firestone Wilderness AT tires that were left out of the original recall.
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