NHTSA: More Tire Deaths

Aug. 31 -- With Ford and Firestone already under fire on several fronts, the federal government now says it knows of 88 deaths believed to be linked to faulty tires.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Ford Motor Co. agreed today to testify before a congressional committee looking into the recall of 6.5 million tires and said his company would release to the public documents showing “what we knew, when we knew it and what we did about it.”

Also today, the Venezuelan consumer protection agency urged criminal prosecution of Ford and Firestone for their role in deadly traffic accidents there.The Venezuelan agency, Indecu, charges the companies suppressed information about defective tires on Ford vehicles.

“Thousands of tires still on the road, must be recalled,” said Samuel Ruh Rios, the agency president. “Ford and Firestone are guilty of negligence. They lied and deceived customers.”

Ford CEO Jacques Nasser defended Ford against today’s allegations and blamed Firestone for producing bad tires. He called Rios allegations “completely unfounded.”

“We’ve had impeccable business practices in Venezuela and throughout the world,” Nasser said. “We’re going to work with Indecu to resolve this and we’re going to begin that very quickly.”

Death Toll RisesThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced this afternoon it has now received 1,400 complaints involving 250 injuries and 88 deaths in the United States believed to be attributable to faulty tires. Those numbers have increased from 750 complaints involving 100 injuries and 62 deaths.

The agency is investigating accidents that may have been the result of blowouts, tread separation and other problems with the Firestone tires.

Firestone announced the recall of 6.5 million Wilderness AT, ATX and ATX II tires in the United States on Aug. 9, three months after NHTSA began its probe, but nine months after Ford started recalling tires overseas.