Originally Posted by
dedwards0323
No - I was referring to the first tire recall Firestone had back in 1978. The Firestone 500, their premier tire, delaminated the tread and resulted in a major recall. The incident you referred to was in 2000 after Bridgestone bought Firestone. Here's a major manufacturer that had not one but 2 major recalls for the same issue in different tire models and still survived this public disgrace & image.
Here's an article about the recalls:
Firestone Tire Recalls
Here's some additional information about the Firestone 500 recall in the 1970's:
"The Firestone 500 the tire that came close to destroying Firestone as a company. This tire was plagued with defects and recalls. Deaths apparently were caused by this tire. Ultimately, Firestone would get bought out by Bridgestone. In 1973, only two years after the 500's debut, it is reported that, Thomas A. Robertson, Firestone's director of development wrote an internal memo stating "We are making an inferior quality radial tire which will subject us to belt-edge separation at high mileage". Firestone introduced strict quality control measures in an attempt to fix the inherent problems, however they were not successful in totally eliminating the basic faults. In 1977 a recall of 400,000 tires produced at the problematic Decatur plant was initiated. Firestone blamed the problems on the consumer, stating under-inflation and poor maintenance.
On October 20, 1978, Firestone recalled over 7 million Firestone 500 tires. Congressional hearings into the 500 also took place in 1978. The tire was found to be defective and the cause of 34 deaths. In May 1980 after finding that they knew the tires were defective, the NHTSA fines Firestone $500,000 USD, which at that time was the largest fine imposed on any U.S. corporation and the largest civil penalty imposed since passage of the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Act. Multiple lawsuits were settled out of court and the constant negative publicity crippled the company's sales and share price."
Ahh, OK, I was referring to the Firestone/Ford Explorer fiasco around 2000 (+/-). Interesting references (Not by lawyers who profited by the affair) are (
Inside the Ford/Firestone Fight - TIME ) and (
Text of Letter to Ford From Bridgestone - The New York Times ). A lot of lawyer-speak articles/source pages on the net involves one sided litigious self interests, but there are a huge amount of factual summaries that point the finger at Ford (even though Firestone also paid a heavy price in brand and $ paid out AFTER successful appeal with newfound documentation). Shame, it'll never end with the bean counters vs customer safety/loyalty. In the end, we ALL get it in the end EXCEPT the lawyers, they get a LOT in their wallets.
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