Firestone Stepping Up Tire Production
Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. said Wednesday that it has doubled production to meet demand in the wake of its massive tire recall and that all replacements should be completed by spring instead of next summer.
The tire maker has replaced 200,000 tires so far and boosted production to about 350,000 tires a month, up from a typical month’s production of 180,000, Executive Vice President John Lampe said. The company will continue to increase output until it reaches about 500,000 a month in January.
Bridgestone/Firestone, a unit of Japan’s Bridgestone Corp., recalled an estimated 6.5 million tires Aug. 9 that have been involved in tread separation accidents, most involving Ford Motor Co.’s best-selling Explorer sport-utility vehicle and other light trucks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating the Firestone accidents since May 2. According to a Times analysis of NHTSA data, the agency has processed 575 complaints, involving 54 deaths, that name various Firestone brand tires, including the 15-inch ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT models being recalled. The agency is investigating at least 62 deaths in all, the eight others linked to unspecified brands.
The recall was originally to be carried out over a year, with California, Arizona, Texas and Florida, which accounted for most of the reported incidents, to receive replacements first.
But Firestone is now offering replacements in every state through its more than 1,500 directly operated stores, 8,500 licensed dealers and 2,900 Ford and Lincoln Mercury dealers. The recalled tires are being replaced by other Firestone tires as well as models made by competitors to meet demand.
Meanwhile, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. said it now believes that it alerted government safety investigators about problems with Firestone tires as early as July 1998, through an e-mail. On Tuesday, the insurer told The Times that it first contacted NHTSA in 1999 to inform the agency about an unusually high number of accident claims involving Firestone tires.
State Farm said that by July 1998, it was aware of 21 potential failures of Firestone ATX tires. The insurer said it followed up with a telephone call to NHTSA in mid-1999. NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said the agency has a copy of the 1998 e-mail but that the number of accidents State Farm reported was too small to have prompted an investigation.
As early as 1997, State Farm said, it began notifying Firestone about accidents it believed were caused by faulty tires and demanding that Firestone reimburse the insurer for the costs of the accidents.
Firestone officials on Wednesday denied receiving any formal complaint from State Farm about problems with the tires.
But a spokesman for State Farm said its repeated demands for reimbursement should have alerted Firestone to the problem.
“There was no official notification, but there was repetitive notification through the [claims for reimbursement]” said Phil Supple, a State Farm spokesman. “Common sense would dictate that if State Farm were at the door again [seeking reimbursement], there’s a trend.”
Also Wednesday, Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House subcommittee on consumer protection, said he will probably hold hearings on whether Bridgestone acted quickly enough in recalling the 6.5 million tires.
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The Associated Press was used in compiling this report.
