Are Firestone Tires Safe At This Point
? Essay, Research Paper
Agency Missed Early Tire Warnings
_____Correction_____
In some Sept. 12 editions, a headline in the Business subdivision misstated how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration handled some ailments about Firestone tyres. The headline should hold said, as it did in other editions, that the bureau missed the ailments.
By Cindy Skrzycki
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 12, 2000 ; Page E01
On Nov. 30, 1998, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received a missive from a Ford Explorer proprietor who said his Firestone tyre pace & # 8220 ; peeled off like an orange. & # 8221 ;
& # 8220 ; Imagine my daze when the mechanics looked at my tyre and told me I was lucky to be alive, & # 8221 ; the missive said, adding that the mechanics told him that Firestone tires on Explorers & # 8220 ; are known to lose pace and contribute to or do Ford Explorers to flip. & # 8221 ;
This was among every bit many as 26 consumer ailments about Firestone tyres, filed since the early 1990s, that NHTSA overlooked in January, when reexamining whether to open an probe into studies of Firestone tyre jobs.
NHTSA had missed the consumer ailments because of the manner its database is organized: They weren & # 8217 ; t filed under & # 8220 ; Firestone & # 8221 ; as tyre jobs ; they were filed under & # 8220 ; Ford & # 8221 ; as vehicle jobs.
NHTSA, the federal bureau responsible for tracking information about possible car safety defects, did open an probe into Firestone tyres May 2 & # 8211 ; after intelligence studies of tyre failures that resulted in fatal accidents. And NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said yesterday that the extra ailments would non hold prompted the bureau to travel any Oklahoman.
In the yesteryear, the bureau has opened probes with far fewer ailments. It looked into jobs with Michelin tyres in 1994 based on five ailments.
The unmarked ailments & # 8211 ; detailing incidents of tyre runawaies, tread separations and other accidents affecting Firestone tyres mounted on Ford vehicles & # 8211 ; exemplify how hard it has been for federal research workers to patch together a clear image of what went incorrect with the 6.5 million tyres that Firestone recalled last month. The letters might hold provided earlier hints to the range and gravitation of the jobs & # 8211 ; which have since been linked to 88 deceases in the United States.
In January, a safety-defects specializer with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told his higher-ups in a memo that he had been supervising Firestone-tire ailments for more than a twelvemonth but had counted merely seven in 1998 and eight in 1999 affecting the type of tyres that subsequently would be recalled.
But the specializer had missed other ailments dating back several old ages because when he searched the database he looked for ailments listed under & # 8220 ; Firestone ATX & # 8221 ; and & # 8220 ; Wilderness & # 8221 ; ( two types of the recalled tyres ) . The information & # 8220 ; indicates a little tendency of failures in Firestone ATX tyres, & # 8221 ; the specializer, Steve Beretzky, wrote in the Jan. 31 memo, a transcript of which was obtained by The Washington Post. But, he continued, & # 8220 ; I don & # 8217 ; t believe it is strong plenty to open an initial evaluation. & # 8221 ;
Beretzky said the figure of ailments was little compared with the figure of tyres manufactured, and even when the bureau called consumers in 1999 based on seeing a & # 8220 ; similar tendency, & # 8221 ; the information gathered did non add up to a instance.
NHTSA & # 8217 ; s Tyson said that even if the bureau had taken note of the extra ailments, the figure was non sufficient to hold prompted it to open an probe at that clip. Opening an probe is among the bureau & # 8217 ; s first stairss in a procedure that can take it to order a callback of insecure vehicles or car parts.
Called vehicle proprietor questionnaires, many of these ailments include exposure of the accidents, insurance studies, and transcripts of letters and measures sent to Ford Motor Co. and Firestone for harm done to Explorers from tyre runawaies.
For case, on Sept. 7, 1997, NHTSA received a missive from an angry Texas automobilist who said she lost control of her 1992 Explorer when her rear rider side tyre lost its pace:
& # 8220 ; I hit an 18-wheeler and bounced off his truck & # 8211 ; twice. I so crossed the median of Highway 288 toward oncoming traffic, & # 8221 ; she wrote. & # 8220 ; I have and will go on to state everyone that these tyres are a jeopardy and should be recalled. & # 8221 ;
Tyson said it & # 8217 ; s a oddity of the database that the Ford complaints didn & # 8217 ; Ts pop up when Beretzky was seeking for tyre informations.
But even without reexamining the full existence of consumer ailments, Beretzky said in his January memo: & # 8220 ; It is besides possible that the job is much larger than our informations is suggesting. & # 8221 ;
In reasoning against opening an investigatin, Beretzky noted in the January memo that when the bureau had a much larger volume of ailments in 1996 on Goodyear Invicta tyres, an probe was opened but no callback was ordered.
Beretzky said yesterday that he couldn & # 8217 ; t remark on the probe.
NHTSA did observe that its ailments increased dramatically after a Houston telecasting station ran a narrative in February on jobs with the tyres.
On March 6, NHTSA issued an & # 8220 ; initial rating & # 8221 ; of the Firestone tyre job, two months before it publically announced its probe.
At that clip, the bureau said it knew of 25 ailments avering sudden runawaies or tread separations of Firestone ATX or ATX II tyres, ensuing in nine clangs and four hurts. It said all of the ailments were received in 1999 and this twelvemonth.
By May, when the bureau opened its public probe, it had counted 90 ailments. It found that 46 of those ailments were in the NHTSA database before Beretzky wrote the memo. And traveling even further back, it discovered that 26 of those ailments were logged in anterior to July 1998.
That & # 8217 ; s besides the month the bureau received an e-mail and certification from State Farm Insurance Co. , documenting 21 instances where the Firestone tyres were implicated in accidents with Explorers.
By Cindy Skrzycki
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 6, 2000 ; 12:27 Autopsy
The federal authorities & # 8217 ; s safety bureau reported today that fatalities linked to jobs with Bridgestone-Firestone tyres have reached 148, up from 119 two months ago.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration besides said that more than 525 hurts have been reported to the bureau, up from more than 500 when the last official run was released on October 17. Ailments have risen to more than 4,300 from 3,500.
NHTSA recalled some 6.5 million tyres for alleged tread separation jobs on Aug. 9. The bulk of the accidents and human deaths occurred on ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tyres installed on Ford Motor Co. Explorers here and in several foreign states.
The bureau is in the midst of look intoing possible jobs with the vehicle and the tyres and expects to see both companies at their central offices in Akron and Detroit following hebdomad.
Since the August callback, there have been four human deaths. Besides, five other human deaths occurred on tyres that have non been officially recalled by the company, but are capable to a consumer advisory that was issued by the bureau on September 1.
Fires
tone has said it would replace tyres included in the 1.4 million covered by the advisory? a assortment of 15 and 16-inch tyres? but merely if consumers requested the alteration.
Of the 148 deceases, NHTSA said 121 were reported straight to the bureau, while the balance were uncovered by Ford, Firestone and State Farm Insurance Co. in the class of the probe.
There besides have been studies of 53 deceases deceases linked to the tyres and Explorers in the Middle East and Venezuela.
Firestone Narrows Flaw Probe
By Caroline E. Mayer and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 13, 2000 ; Page A01
A top Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. executive told Congress yesterday that the company has narrowed its hunt into what caused defects in the 6.5 million tyres it recalled last month to two premier suspects: the & # 8220 ; alone design & # 8221 ; required to run into Ford Motor Co. & # 8217 ; s specifications and & # 8220 ; fluctuations & # 8221 ; in the fabrication procedure at its Decatur, Ill. , works.
The testimony of John Lampe, Firestone & # 8217 ; s executive frailty president, was the first clip the tiremaker has acknowledged that the jobs with ATX and Wilderness tyres, used chiefly on Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles, could be attributable to a fabrication or design defect. Up to now, Firestone functionaries have said the tyres failed because consumers didn & # 8217 ; Ts take attention of them decently.
The tyres have been linked to 88 deceases and 250 hurts in the United States.
At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, Lampe besides laid some of the incrimination for the accidents that led to the callback on Ford. & # 8220 ; We steadfastly believe. . . that the tyre is merely portion of the overall safety job shown by these tragic accidents, & # 8221 ; he said.
Lampe said the car manufacturer & # 8217 ; s determination to put its air-pressure recommendation at a degree lower than Firestone functionaries advised left & # 8220 ; small safety border & # 8221 ; to guard against overloading the vehicle.
& # 8220 ; Ford gives us demands for the tyre, and we design around those demands, & # 8221 ; Lampe said after the hearing. & # 8220 ; We have been researching a theory that the design specifications were excessively intolerant for little fluctuations in manufacturing. & # 8221 ;
Ford spokesman Jason Vines fired back last dark: & # 8220 ; We set the specifications, but we don & # 8217 ; t state them how to construct tyres. It & # 8217 ; s up to the makers to construct them. It & # 8217 ; s astonishing that when push comes to jostle, Firestone is renouncing its duty of being a tyre manufacturer. & # 8221 ;
Even more cutting to Ford, Lampe suggested during the hearing that there may be something inherently incorrect with the Explorer & # 8217 ; s design that makes the vehicle extremely susceptible to rollovers after a tyre has failed. & # 8220 ; In most instances a vehicle that experiences a tyre failure can be brought safely under control. However, we have seen an dismaying figure of serious accidents from rollovers of the Explorer after a tyre failure, & # 8221 ; Lampe said.
To underline his point, Lampe added that & # 8220 ; federal information shows that there have been over 16,000 rollovers with the Ford Explorer, doing 600 deceases. The tyre failure has been involved in merely a really, really little per centum of these deaths. & # 8221 ;
In her testimony, Sue Bailey, decision maker of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said, as she has earlier, & # 8220 ; I think we & # 8217 ; re covering with a tyre job, & # 8221 ; endorsing up Ford & # 8217 ; s oft-repeated contention that the callback involved a tyre job, non a vehicle job.
But she added that & # 8220 ; as portion of this probe we & # 8217 ; ll research the possibility of a combination & # 8221 ; of tyre and vehicle jobs doing the accidents. She said the Explorer & # 8220 ; is portion of the on-going probe because we are concerned about the rollover capability. & # 8221 ;
The gulf between the two companies & # 8211 ; which have been making concern for about 100 old ages & # 8211 ; merely widened when Ford & # 8217 ; s main executive, Jacques Nasser, testified after Lampe. He took Firestone to task for neglecting to portion critical claims informations with Ford that could hold pointed out jobs every bit early as 1998. & # 8220 ; This is non the candid and blunt duologue that Ford expects in its concern relationships, & # 8221 ; Nasser said.
Sen. Ernest F. Hollings ( D-S.C. ) characterized the deteriorating Ford-Firestone relationship: & # 8220 ; It & # 8217 ; s like binding two cats by the tail and throwing them over the clothesline and allowing them claw each other. & # 8221 ;
Sen. John McCain ( R-Ariz. ) , the commission president, said there was plentifulness of incrimination to travel around & # 8211 ; even for Congress, which & # 8220 ; sometimes interferes with authorities regulators in the prosecution of their duties. & # 8221 ; He said he is inquiring the inspector general of the Transportation Department to reexamine NHTSA & # 8217 ; s handling of the callback probe and find if had adequate resources to make its occupation.
McCain said he hoped to hotfoot limited statute law through Congress before it adjourns in a few hebdomads to give federal safety regulators authorization to acquire information about possible defects faster.
Reps. W.J. & # 8220 ; Billy & # 8221 ; Tauzin ( R-La. ) and Fred Upton ( R-Mich. ) , the presidents of two House Commerce Committee subcommittees that held a joint hearing on the issue last hebdomad, program to present similar statute law today.
& # 8220 ; It is terribly late, but I & # 8217 ; d be terribly surprised if something didn & # 8217 ; t go on, & # 8221 ; Tauzin said in an interview. & # 8220 ; When Congress wants to move, we can move. I think everyone wants to act. & # 8221 ;
At the same clip, McCain said he is composing a missive to press the Senate Appropriations Committee to drop a proviso, now in the support measure in conference commission, that would exclude NHTSA from implementing a system to rate the rollover leaning of SUVs until farther survey.
Car manufacturers have criticized the evaluation system as being scientifically unsound, but Nasser agreed to McCain & # 8217 ; s bespeak yesterday to work with regulators to implement an appropriate evaluation system & # 8220 ; without the farther hold of a study. & # 8221 ;
Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater testified that NHTSA is paying more attending to pall safety, switching $ 1.8 million to the callback probe. The section besides will inquire Congress for permission to switch another $ 9 million of the bureau & # 8217 ; s financess so it can better its database, engage 30 more research workers and update tire-testing processs.
One point of contention between Ford and Firestone has been the proper air force per unit area for the Explorer & # 8217 ; s tyres. Firestone & # 8217 ; s Lampe said Firestone originally had agreed with Ford & # 8217 ; s mandate that the tyres be inflated to 26 lbs of force per unit area per square inch. The Washington Post reported last month that Ford chose 26 pounds per square inch to cut down the vehicle & # 8217 ; s leaning to turn over over.
& # 8220 ; Problems can happen if and when the air force per unit area drops below the originally specified degree, & # 8221 ; Lampe said. & # 8220 ; The full issue of tyre rising prices force per unit area selected by the vehicle maker must be addressed. Does that force per unit area provide equal safety border to guard against harm caused by underinflation and overloading? & # 8221 ;
Lampe said Firestone now recommends that tyres on Explorers be inflated to 30 pounds per square inchs. Firestone functionaries said they made that recommendation late, before the callback was announced Aug. 9. Ford functionaries say it was merely a twenty-four hours or so before the callback.
Staff authors Greg Schneider and Cindy Skrzycki contributed to this study.
Bibliography
www.nbc.com/firestonetires
www.cnn.com/accidentson firestone
