U.S.

Ford Replacement Tires Probed

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 24, 2001 / 5:23 PM EDT / CBS

Federal safety officials opened an investigation Tuesday into 2.7 million tires that Ford Motor Co. is using as replacements for Firestone tires recalled by the automaker because they were deemed dangerous.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said there have been at least 338 claims of tread separation on the P235/70R16 size of the General Ameri*550 AS tire - the same problem that plagued some Firestone tire lines and led to last summer's massive recall.

Ford said on Tuesday it would stop using the tire as a replacement for Firestone tires it is replacing until federal regulators complete a defect investigation.

Sue Cischke, Ford's vice president of environmental and safety engineering, said in a statement that the tire had met all of Ford's performance and durability requirements. It had been one of more than 60 tire models Ford is using to replace 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT truck tires.

"Nevertheless, to alleviate any customer confusion, we have removed this tire from our approved tire replacement list," Cischke said, pending the outcome of a defect investigation by NHTSA.

CBS News Correspondent John Hartge reports the claims involve seven crashes, including two rollovers, and 17 injuries. With the original Firestone recall, accidents involving more than 200 deaths were involved. This is just the beginning of a federal defects investigation, it does not mean safety problems have been confirmed.

NHTSA raised no objection to 10 of 11 tire makes, which were among tires selected by the auto giant in its plan to replace up to 13 million Firestone Wilderness ATs at a cost of $3 billion, that were brought to its attention by Congress.

At a hearing last month, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin announced that some of the tire brands that Ford Motor Co. was using to replace Firestone tires had higher rates of claims for injury and property damage.

The Ameri*550 tire is used as original equipment on Ford F150 pickup trucks and was identified by Ford as a replacement for Firestone Wilderness AT tires on the Ranger and 1997 F-series trucks.

Cischke said Ford had supplied about 4,300 tires so far, while replacing more than 3 million Firestone tires, and would have accounted for less than 0.1 percent of all replacement tires. She also said Ford would continue to use the tire as standard equipment on the F-Series pickup.

Continental Tire North America, which manufactures the General tire brand, did not immediately return calls for comment. But NHTSA said Continental has made several design and production changes to these tires since they entered production in April 1995.

NHTSA said the claims rates for tires made after July 1998 were extremely low, and there have been no injuries attributed to those tires. Ford officials did not immediately return calls for comment, but have said the company is using the newer tires as replacements on its vehicles.

"Nevertheess, to assure that relevant information is not missed, NHTSA's investigation will consider the safety performance of the entire population of these tires, rather than only those produced prior to those design changes," NHTSA said in a statement.

NHTSA is wrapping up its yearlong investigation into more than 55 million Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires. Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. has already voluntarily recalled 6.5 million of the tires, but NHTSA said it will push for a larger recall.

Bridgestone/Firestone says the tires are safe and it will fight such an order in court.

Ford, concerned about the safety of the Wilderness AT tires, recalled all 13 million of the tires on its vehicles in May at a cost of $2.1 billion. Bridgestone/Firestone cut off its centurylong business partnership with Ford that same week.