Tauzin's hearing tomorrow may do nothing but convince Congress that the government-mandated and industry tests automakers and tire makers now use are worthless because they have not prevented the kinds of defects that have resulted in two massive tire recalls over the last 20 years. The government tests used by tire makers today have not been updated since they were adopted in 1967, long before radial tires became common. And those tests apparently aren't enough. They did not detect the defects that led to the historic recall of 14.5 million Firestone 500 tires in 1978, or the Aug. 9 recall of Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness II tires. Congress hopes to find some answers in the slew of complicated test data and procedures they will examine at their hearing.
Lawmakers face a daunting task.
The government-mandated test protocol tire makers use to certify their tires and the voluntary tests automakers use to verify the safety of their products are complicated, complex and highly technical. Even engineers have difficulty understanding them. Ford's testing also did not prevent a recall announced yesterday by Continental General Tire Inc. of 160,000 tires found mostly on 40,000 Lincoln Navigators made by Ford. The 16-inch ContiTrac AS tires are being recalled because of a handful of complaints, mostly in Saudi Arabia, where some tires have lost bits of tread. No deaths have been linked to the tires.