U.S.

New Tire Battleground

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 3, 2001 / 6:08 PM EDT / CBS

Venezuela has become the focal point of the nasty battle between Ford and Firestone over what caused a series of fatal accidents in the United States and abroad.

Venezuela is seriously considering banning the Ford Explorer. A final decision may come within two months, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

Samuel Ruh, who has investigated Explorer accidents for Venezuela's government, recommended the ban. He tells CBS News that Explorer accidents there have continued in alarming numbers even after all the Firestone tires were replaced last year.

"The trucks keep flipping over," Ruh said.

By his count, there have now been 84 Explorer accidents since last November on non-Firestone tires, killing at least 23 people.

"No other vehicle in Venezuela has that percentage of accidents," he claims.

Click here to learn more about how tires work.

Facing the possibility of an entire country banning the sale of Explorers, Ford launched an all-out campaign to exonerate its popular SUV, saying the Venezuelan's list is full of flaws.

"Brigestone Firestone in this country has tossed out these numbers as factual to cast blame that this is a vehicle issue, not a tire issue," said Ford's Jason Vines in mid-June.

Ford says six of the accidents on Venezuela's list were mere fender-benders, two were double-counted and three involved other Ford vehicles, not Explorers.

And Ford CEO Jacques Nasser told Congress last month that the Explorer is safer than its competitors in Venezuela, accounting for only 8.5 percent of SUV accidents.

But Ruh says that's simply not true and fired off a letter telling Nasser that his testimony to Congress and Ford's figures on Venezuela are "completely false."

In the United States, regulators are probing 203 deaths and more than 700 injuries in accidents liked to blowouts, many involving the Ford Explorer and Firestone tires.

Tire Tussle: Complete Coverage

Click here for complete coverage — stories by CBS News that peer into the Firestone tire recall.

Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires linked to blowouts in August, 2000. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration later issue a consumer advisory on 1.4 million more tires considered potentially unsafe.

Last month, Ford announced it was replacing 13 million additional tires as a precautionary step because of signs the tires' failure rate was increasing. Firestone strongly disagreed with the May recall and ended its business relationship with Ford the day before it was ordered.

The August recall involved ATX, ATX II and 15-inch Wilderness AT tires. The May recall included all other sizes of Wilderness AT tires.

Ford also replaced Wilderness tires in other countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and eight other Arab nations.