Ford, Firestone To Release Death Findings

A R L I N G T O N, Va., Dec. 11 -- Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/FirestoneInc. are ready to report to government investigators that they havereached similar conclusions regarding tire failures blamed for 148deaths nationwide, according to USA Today.

According to a report in today’s edition, theconclusions would clear workers producing the Firestone tires andthe Ford Explorer vehicle, to which many of the fatalities havebeen linked.

Ford officials said today the company is still researching thecause of the tread separations and has not determined a cause.

“We have not reached any conclusions,” said Ford spokesman KenZino. “We do not have anything to announce.”

Bridgestone/Firestone spokesman Dave Dickson confirmed thatcompany officials will be meeting with National Highway TrafficSafety Administration later this week todiscuss the status of its investigation. He would not comment onspeculation about a possible root cause.

Zino characterized the meeting with the NHTSA as a status report and a regular part of theinvestigation.

The companies are expected to focus on problems in the tiremanufacturing process involving adhesives and a layer of rubberbetween the tires’ steel belts, sources familiar with companies’plans told USA Today.

Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone would not say in advance whatthey would tell NHTSA, USA Today reported. The newspaper said Fordand Bridgestone/Firestone have conducted separate investigations ofthe tires and why they failed, and have been discussing theirfindings with each other.

Rising Death TollNHTSA figures link 148 deaths to separations, blowouts and othertread problems in Firestone’s ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires,6.5 million of which were recalled this summer. Many of those tireswere standard equipment on the Explorers.

Blaming the tire design and manufacturing processes could takeheat off the Explorer, whose design Bridgestone/Firestone has beenlinking to rollovers when tires failed. It also could countertheories that underqualified replacement workers made faulty tiresduring a 1995-1996 strike at Firestone’s Decatur, Ill., factory, orthat regular workers’ poor performance was responsible.