GM Shifts From Firestone Tires on Some of Its Models

General Motors Corp. plans to stop using Firestone tires on certain models this summer and instead go with the Bridgestone brand of embattled Bridgestone /Firestone Inc.

GM’s move to increase its use of tires with the Bridgestone label comes on the heels of Ford Motor Co.’s move this week to unilaterally replace 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires, although GM called the timing coincidental.

Nissan Motor Co. also said it will drop Firestones from its retooled Altima sedan and equip it with Bridgestones from Bridgestone Corp., Bridgestone/Firestone’s Tokyo parent company. Nissan spokeswoman Dierdre Dickerson said its new mid-size car requires tires not available from Bridgestone/Firestone.

GM has not yet identified types of vehicles affected in the move, under consideration since late 1999, well before Bridgestone/Firestone’s recall of 6.5 million Firestone tires in August, GM spokesman Terry Rhadigan said.

While saying that “by no means is this a knee-jerk reaction” to Firestone’s troubles, Rhadigan said, “our customers were telling us they were having some concerns about Firestone.”

GM uses Firestones as standard equipment on 14 of its models.

Bridgestone/Firestone said, “We have agreed that, in some additional cases, supplying Bridgestone tires [to GM] was in line with the global goals of both companies at this point in time.”

The moves by GM and Nissan offer the latest setback for Bridgestone/Firestone.

Last summer, the Nashville tire company voluntarily recalled 6.5 million tires amid complaints that some would suddenly fail. The tires, which were standard equipment on the Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle, have been linked by the government to at least 174 traffic deaths and 700 injuries in the U.S.

Festering disputes over that recall culminated Monday with Bridgestone/Firestone’s severing its nearly century-old business ties with Ford. The next day, Ford announced its recall of 13 million more Firestone tires.

Bridgestone/Firestone insists a broader recall is not needed.

GM and Nissan say that the 13 million tires now being recalled are different from those installed on their vehicles, and that the tires meet their own standards.