It also took years for the pattern of accidents involving some Firestone tires and Ford Explorers to emerge. Bridgestone, Japanese-owned and based in Nashville, Tenn., believes last fall's recall of 6.5 million Wilderness AT tires was more than enough to remedy legitimate safety concerns. Yesterday's announcement may be meant to remedy something else, namely the Explorer brand name. Nasser claims the Explorer is one of the safest SUVs. But there is no question that the vast majority of rollover crashes have nothing to do with tire failure.
All tires fail, auto experts say.
The issue is whether the rate of failure is excessive and what happens when they fail. Tread separations in other cars are most often little more than inconvenience to the driver, Firestone has said. Yesterday, Nasser met with Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and congressmen on Capitol Hill. Grandstanding Rep. Billy Tauzin , a Louisiana Republican, who is the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, praised Ford for its decision. Tauzin promised to hold hearings, just as he did last fall.