Documents: Firestone Knew of Tire Defects in '97

Sept. 6, 2000 -- Officials at Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. knew as early as 1997 that there were concerns about the company’s Wilderness tires but apparently took no action to correct the problems, according to documents obtained by ABCNEWS.

The revelations came as lawmakers began hearings today in Washington into the defective tires suspected of causing accidents that have claimed more than 100 lives.

In mid-1997, a Ford dealership in Saudi Arabia alerted Firestone to problems with its tires and urged the now-beleaguered tire maker to recall tires fitted on 1995, 1996 and 1997 Ford Explorers, the documents show.

“I have to state I believe this situation to be of a safety concern,” Paul Wright of Al-Jazirah Vehicles wrote in a sternly worded letter to Firestone officials in Saudi Arabia in October 1998. “So I am asking, what is going on? Do we have to have a fatality before any action is taken on this subject?”

Ford ultimately replaced the tires in the Middle East, but neither company informed the U.S. government of the problems. They are not required to do so under current law.

Lawmakers also revealed today that warranty claims on the tires began escalating in 1996. And The Associated Press reported that Firestone began logging customer complaints of tread separation in tires from its Decatur, Ill., plant as early as 1997.

In August 1999, Ford recalled about 6,800 tires on Ford Explorers and Mercury Mountaineers in the Middle Eastern nations of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and Egypt, the company said.

But it wasn’t until four months ago that the federal government began investigating the case and less than a month ago that Bridgestone/Firestone announced a voluntary recall of 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires, most of which were on Ford Explorers.

Ford and Firestone Under Fire

Firestone and Ford officials found themselves under heavy grilling during today’s congressional hearings.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, a former prosecutor from Pennsylvania, said the executives’ testimony “strains credibility” and suggested Ford and Firestone could face criminal prosecution. The companies are already facing potential prosecution in Venezuela for tire failures there.

“That rises to the level of second-degree murder, where individuals knowingly allow a danger to exist which results in the death of another,” Specter said.

“Where was your sense of concern, as a human being and acorporation, to yell: ‘Look out, America! Danger is coming!’”demanded Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.

At the House hearing, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., called for all 15- and 16-inch Firestone tires to be recalled.

“The tire failure is one of the top three most serious vehicle safety defects we“ve seen in this country,” surpassed only by exploding gas tanks on Ford Pintos and GMC pickup trucks, he said.

Firestone CEO Masatoshi Ono, who appeared at the hearings along with Ford head Jacques Nasser, said he accepts personal responsibility for the failure of Firestone tires.

“I come before you to apologize to you and especially [to the] American people, especially the families who have lost loved ones,” he said.

Firestone will appoint an independent investigator to determine the root cause of tire problems, the company announced in a statement today.

Other representatives for Ford and Firestone, however, deflected senators’ demands to know why the companies had not alerted the public earlier of tread-separation problems that have been blamed for 88 deaths in the United States and 46 in Venezuela.

“We looked at every single database that was available to us at the beginning of 1999 … none of those showed the kind of dramatic difference in claims performance” that led to the Aug. 9 recall of 6.5 million tires in the United States, Ford Vice President Helen Petrauskas said.

House Targets Firestone, NHTSA

Congressmen at the House hearing largely left Ford out of their arguments — perhaps because several were from Ford’s home state of Michigan — instead unleashing criticism upon Firestone and the NHTSA. They also mentioned that State Farm Insurance had tried to bring evidence of problems with Firestone tires to NHTSA and Firestone.

“When State Farm, on its own initiative, took the virtually unprecedented step of taking its claims to NHTSA, the federal government’s highway safety watchdog, that dog apparently was asleep,” said Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va.

Joan Claybrook, head of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, and NHTSA Director Sue Bailey also spoke before the Senate committee. Clarence Ditlow of the Center for Auto Safety, Bailey, and Sam Boyden of State Farm Insurance were appearing before the House panel.

Claybrook said that NHTSA needs the power to impose stiffer fines and that previous tire-related lawsuits were settled under gag orders that blocked information from getting to the public. Courts need the power to dissolve the gag orders, she said.

Late today, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a bill that would require U.S. tire and automakers to notify the U.S. Department of Transportation within two days of voluntary or mandatory overseas product recalls. The bill alsoprovides for criminal penalties for manufacturers who fail to comply with the U.S. notice requirement.

Spreading Blame

Petrauskas, the Ford executive, told the Senate committee that Ford has asked Firestone about the Middle Eastern tires, and that Firestone had said they weren’t defective.

“Firestone concluded that the tread separations were caused by poor repairs, road hazard damage and operating conditions,” she said.

Bridgestone/Firestone spokeswoman Christine Karbowiak said the company did not participate in Ford’s foreign recalls because it had no evidence of a manufacturing or design defect.

“If Ford believed at that time there was a safety-related defect, it was Ford’s obligation to comply with regulatory requirements,” she said.

Ford now says Firestone made defective products.

“We have … probably 2.5 to 3 million Goodyear tires installed on Explorers … they have the same spec as the Firestone tires, including the same spec for recommended tire pressure, and they have not experienced problems,” Petrauskas told the Senate panel.

ABCNEWS’ Ariane DeVogue and Dennis Powell, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.