Blame is Ford’s ‘Job One’

By Steven J. Milloy, Junkscience.com
Copyright 2000 Junkscience.com
October 23, 2000

The hysteria that has swept across the nation since August and prompted the recall of 6.5 million Firestone tires is finally dying down, as Firestone forecasts completion of the recall by the end of November. It now appears, however, that the hysteria was more a result of junk PR than junk tires - and that attention should really be focused on the Ford Explorer.

Yes, there was a genuine problem with a small number of Firestone tires mounted on Ford Explorers. The treads on those tires separated - leading to the tragic deaths of just over 100 people in Ford Explorers since 1992.

But federal statistics show that from 1990 to 1998 there were 16,373 single vehicle rollover accidents involving Ford Explorers in the United States - and a mere 1 percent involved tire failures. There were 1,305 deaths in Explorers in the United States from 1990 to 1998 - with the vast majority having absolutely nothing to do with tires.

You would never know this from the comments of Ford CEO Jacques Nasser, who has done a brilliant job of making Firestone the fall guy for the accident-prone Explorer.

Nasser has ducked responsibility for Explorer accidents again and again. He even swore under oath before Congress that "this is a tire issue, not a vehicle issue."

At Ford today, blaming someone else is 'Job One.'

The fact is, no tire is invulnerable and no tire can last forever. Poor maintenance, prolonged under-inflation, tread wear caused by thousands of miles of driving, road hazards, and long-term stress from poorly designed vehicles can all lead to tire failure. But in a properly designed vehicle, tire failure should not cause a fatal accident.

Most Explorers are equipped with Firestone tires, so when tire failure occurs on the vehicles it most often involves Firestones. If most Explorers were equipped with other tires, more of those would be failing.

If you think Firestone tires are extraordinarily dangerous, look at the Jeep Grand Cherokee, a sport utility vehicle equipped with Goodyear tires. Government statistics show that 7.6 percent of Grand Cherokees rollovers from 1990 to 1998 involved tire defects - far higher than the 1 percent for Firestone tires on the Explorer.

News reports show that Explorers with many different brands of tires roll over. A recent fatality took place September 24, when 18-year-old Brian Morales was killed and five members of his family were injured when the tread on a General tire on their Explorer separated in Long Beach, California.

Ford knows there is a problem with the Explorer. That's why on August 9 - the same day Firestone announced the recall of 6.5 million tires - Ford announced major improvements in the suspension of new Explorers. Ford said the changes were designed to reduce chances of rollovers and decrease wear on tires.

Ford also now requires safer 16-inch tires on new Explorers - instead of the undersized 15-inch tires that it required Firestone to supply in previous years. This change shows Ford now realizes it has been putting the wrong tires on the vehicle for years.

And in what amounts to a tacit admission that it has been recommending the wrong tire pressure for Explorers, on September 22 Ford finally began recommending a tire pressure of 30 pounds per square inch. That's a reversal of Ford's previous endorsement of a tire pressure of 26 psi. Firestone called for the higher tire pressure, which reduces tire failure.

In addition to improving the design of the Ford Explorer and other SUVs, one of the most effective ways of reducing rollover deaths would be to persuade more people to wear seat belts. In 1997, 1,155 of the 1,482 people who died in sport utility vehicle rollovers were not wearing seat belts.

Drivers also need to drive SUVs more safely and learn more about maintaining their tires. The Explorer is a truck, and drivers who can't drive trucks can wind up in serious accidents. In addition, tires need to inflated at the correct rate and replaced when they wear out with age.

Since only 1 percent of Explorer rollovers involve tire failures, most of the responsibility for reducing rollover accidents rests with Ford. Nasser, his company and all of us would be better off if Ford devoted far less effort to ducking its responsibility and far more effort to building safer Explorers.

A sign on President Harry Truman's desk said: "The Buck Stops Here." Nasser would do well to put the same sign on his desk, and throw out the one that says "Pass The Buck."