Venezuela Group Joins Ford/Firestone Outcry

A Venezuelan consumer agency has accused Ford Motor Co. and tire maker Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. of concealing design flaws that led to fatal accidents in that South American country, a charge that Ford vigorously denied.

Samuel Ruh, head of the Venezuelan consumer safety agency, known as INDECU, said there is “enough evidence” of Ford and Firestone hiding dangerous shortcomings in their products to pursue criminal action.

Ford replaced 39,000 Firestone tires, mostly on its Explorer sport-utility vehicle, in May after a series of accidents in which the tire treads peeled off, causing the trucks to careen out of control. Most of the tires were made in Venezuela.

“It is absolutely incorrect to assert that the design of the Explorer is contributing, in any way, to this serious safety problem,” said Helen Petrauskas, Ford vice president for environmental and safety engineering. “We have met with INDECU to ensure the agency has a complete and correct understanding of the Firestone tire tread-separation issue.”

Bridgestone/Firestone is waiting to see INDECU’s findings, company spokesman Ken Fields said. “That agency is preparing a report, which is not final or released, so we cannot comment on it,” Fields said from Nashville, where Bridgestone/Firestone has its headquarters. The company is a unit of Japan’s Bridgestone Corp.

“We have been cooperating with the agency in Venezuela to determine the facts surrounding any of the incidents concerning our tires,” Fields said. “We have not had the opportunity to fully evaluate the tires in question.”

Ford also said Friday that it has discovered that the tires it replaced in Venezuela had a defect that could have contributed to their failure. The tires lacked a fifth nylon layer that helps them stand up to Venezuela’s rougher roads and faster speeds, spokesman Mike Vaughn told Bloomberg News.

The Firestone tires, produced in Venezuela and put on Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles, were labeled as five-ply when they had only four plys, Vaughn said. That particular tire is not used in the U.S.

Vaughn did not return phone calls seeking comment and Bridgestone/Firestone did not respond to his claim.

Bridgestone/Firestone this month recalled some 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires in the U.S., used mostly on Explorers. It is scrambling to replace the tires, airlifting tens of thousands from Japan and authorizing Ford and Firestone dealers to use competitors’ products to meet the demand.

Also Friday, Bridgestone reported that its group profit tumbled 48.5% in the first half due to costs related to the tire recall.

Venezuela’s Ruh also said Ford put excessively soft shock absorbers on early Explorer models, forcing a tire pressure for the Explorer that was unsuitable for the type of Firestone tires with which it was equipped. Ford tried to correct what Ruh called a “mistake” by changing the Explorer’s shock absorbers, which required strengthening the chassis, and charging consumers for it, he said.

Ford’s Petrauskas responded: “We have made stiffer shock absorbers available to our customers in Venezuela to address ride-quality complaints related to washboard road surfaces.

“These are two completely separate issues: the tread separation safety concern, which Ford has addressed beginning in May with the announcement of our tire replacement program for all owners of Ford vehicles with Firestone tires; and a customer satisfaction issue related to high-speed driving on rough road surfaces,” she said.

Ruh said “many” Venezuelans died in crashes involving Explorers with Firestone tires, but did not give a number. In the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating crashes of Firestone-equipped Explorers that have left at least 54 people dead.

Also Friday, the U.S. House Commerce Committee sent a team of investigators to Ford’s headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. as part of a federal probe into the recall of the Firestone tires.

The team will visit Firestone’s headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday.

Federal authorities are reportedly considering whether to widen the recall to include 16-inch versions of the ATX and Wilderness tires. No decision on expanding the recall was made as a result of Friday’s meeting, and the Department of Transportation backtracked from a statement Friday by Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater suggesting that the tire recall might be widened. Slater hadn’t meant to say that, aides said.

Most of the recalled tires were made in one plant, in Decatur, Ill., from around 1994 to 1997. Firestone has stopped making those tires and says the Decatur plant matches other Firestone factories in world-class quality.

Ford and Firestone officials said they are cooperating with the investigators from the House committee, which plans to hold hearings on the recall. No date has been set, but the Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Sept. 6 and has asked Ford Chief Executive Jac Nasser and Bridgestone/Firestone Executive Vice President John Lampe to testify.

Ford says it has given more than 70,000 pages of documents to the government related to the recalled tires.

A new survey released Friday showed that more U.S. consumers are crossing the Explorer and Firestone tires off their list. The survey, conducted by CNW Marketing/Research, found that 11.4% of 2,652 people who intended to buy a SUV said they would not consider an Explorer with Firestone tires. That is up from about 5% in an Aug. 15 study.

Another group of 16% moved the Explorer from either first or second on its shopping list to fourth or lower, effectively removing the brand from contention. That is up from 11% in the previous survey. Furthermore, only 5.1% of 2,901 consumers shopping for tires said they would consider buying Firestones, down from 21.4% before the recall.

“It has reached the point where Ford must seriously reconsider its alliance with Firestone, and Bridgestone must take a deep look at the cost of even retaining the Firestone name,” said CNW Vice President Art Spinella.

Bridgestone/Firestone will air a television ad this weekend pledging that the tire recall is “our highest priority.” The ad, to be shown Saturday and Sunday on CBS during the NEC World Series of Golf, shows Bridgestone/Firestone’s Lampe affirming the importance the company puts on “your safety and to resolving this issue.”

“We took this step to underscore the facts of the recall and to reiterate our commitment to the safety and satisfaction of our consumers,” Lampe said. “Programming like this event is ideal because it reaches such a large number of viewers.”

Bridgestone reported Friday it earned $176.6 million in the six months ended June 30, down from $343 million a year ago.

The decline reflected a special loss of $347.7 million related to the tire recall announced two weeks ago. The company said at the time it expected the recall would result in such a charge against earnings.

Group sales slipped 4.8% to $9.3 billion, in the first half from $9.7 billion a year earlier.

Bridgestone fell 31 cents to $14.25 in over-the-counter trading.

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Times wires services were used in this report.