U.S. Weighing Inquiry Into Explorer Stability
In a surprise announcement Tuesday at a congressional hearing into the Firestone tire recall, the federal government said it is considering investigating Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.’s charges that the Ford Motor Co.’s Explorer SUV is prone to rollovers.
Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is giving “full consideration” to the possibility of investigating the Explorer’s rollover tendencies.
And Rep. W.J. “Billy” Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked NHTSA to examine data collected by the committee suggesting that the No. 2 auto maker, which is recalling 13 million Firestone tires on Ford vehicles, will replace them with tires that are just as dangerous, if not more so.
Tauzin said he hoped NHTSA would evaluate the tire failure claims within 30 days and let the public know whether Ford’s recall is warranted.
“Some of the tires Ford is replacing have a poorer claims history than the tires they are being replaced with,” Tauzin said.
The 203 traffic fatalities linked to Firestone tires, mostly on Ford Explorers, prompted Ford this spring to issue a recall of 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires on Ford vehicles and exchange them for tires from Continental, Goodyear and Michelin. The move, which followed Bridgestone/Firestone’s voluntary recall of 6.5 million tires last year, will cost the auto maker $3 billion and wipe out second-quarter profit.
Ford Chief Executive Jacques Nasser said testing by more than 100 of Ford’s engineers and scientists supported the recall. “Without this action, customer safety would have been at risk,” Nasser said.
Firestone Chairman John Lampe repeatedly called Ford’s testing procedures biased by pitting Firestone tires up to 9 years old against new tires of other brands. He maintained that the Ford Explorer’s design rather than Firestone tires put drivers at risk.
“There is something wrong with the Ford Explorer,” Lampe said. “The testing and accident data we have submitted prove it. When I was here last year, I said that you could take all of our tires off the Explorer and serious rollover accidents would still occur. And, unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening.”
Ford spokesman Ken Zino issued a statement in response to Tauzin’s comments about the replacement tires: “We are troubled by the release of the accusation that our replacement tires are deficient. . . . We will work closely with NHTSA to analyze what data there are and will act promptly if need be, as is now suggested by Mr. Tauzin.
“It is unfortunate that the data and the analysis of it were withheld from us and many of the members of the congressional committee.
“Explorer has consistently since its introduction in 1990 been among the safest vehicles on the road according to independent government and insurance industry data. The record of Firestone ATX and Wilderness AT tires also speaks for itself.”
Consumer advocacy groups had mixed reaction to the news of a possible probe of the Explorer.
Bob Rolls, head of Safe Highways Alliance, said: “After 12 years of secret lawsuit settlements and lying to the public, it’s about time Ford Motor Co. gets investigated for numerous deadly flaws on the vehicle that earns Ford one-third of its profit.
“The Explorer is too tall, not wide enough and the suspension system is all wrong. . . . And the roof is built to inadequate standards. If you roll over, it will squash down so fast and so completely that your head will be crushed.”
But Ralph Hoar, head of Safetyforum.com, a consumer activist group in Arlington, Va., was less enthused. “It’s a futile and useless exercise. They [NHTSA] really shouldn’t waste their time on it; they should get about the business of setting vehicle stability standards.
“What are they going to do . . . if they find it defective? It’s a vehicle dangerously prone to roll over. But what is ‘defective’ is a legal definition, and it’s whatever the government says it is, unless the manufacturer acknowledges something is defective under the [1966] Motor Vehicle Safety Act or NHTSA declares it’s defective under the act.”
Last summer, Nashville-based Bridgestone/Firestone spent millions to voluntarily recall 6.5 million of its tires amid complaints that some would suddenly fail. The company spent an estimated $30 million more this spring to mount its most expensive advertising campaign in history to burnish its badly battered image.
Tauzin and some other subcommittee members aggressively questioned Nasser on the need for Ford’s more recent recall.
But Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), a former House Commerce Committee chairman, defended Ford, whose headquarters are about a mile from his Detroit home. Dingell berated Tauzin and other Republicans for publicly discussing the data suggesting that brands being substituted on Ford vehicles were more dangerous than Firestones.
Some witnesses complained that the issue of consumer safety was lost amid the finger-pointing over hearing procedures and the competing tire testing claims.
“Ford and Firestone are learning the hard way that even though they may be able to persuade government regulators not to be tough, safety is what the public wants,” said Joan Claybook, a former NHTSA head who is now president of Washington-based consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
Ford shares closed Tuesday at $24.74, down 26 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Times staff writer Terril Yue Jones in Detroit contributed to this report.
