For More Information Click here for a complete list of tires included in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's consumer advisory. Without revealing a specific amount, Ford disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Friday that it has agreed to cover part of the cost of the recall. The automaker reiterated the recall of 6.5 million tires will reduce revenues and increase costs, but said it is too early to calculate the overall impact in the second half of 2000. While Ford and Firestone maintain that they only recently began to suspect a deadly pattern of tire separations, CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports that appears to be at odds with a growing body of evidence. And, although Ford denies it, a key document appears to show that Ford and Firestone changed the rubber recipe for U.S. tires after their first overseas recall.
Experts say that shows they knew of problems.
Now the companies are at odds about who knew what and when. Tire expert Max Grogran says the picture is clear to him. Pretty obviously this is a dud piece of rubber that they're putting into it on the top of the belts. If you've got one of these things it is a potential killer. And if the problem exists at one plant, Grogan says, it's going to be across the board.