In a new report calling for a wider recall of Firestone tires, a coalition of consumer advocates and trial lawyers suggests that Ford Motor Co.'s attempt in the early 1990s to improve the fuel economy of its popular Explorer, by getting Firestone to reduce the weight of its tires, may have contributed to later tire failures.
According to the report, issued by the public-interest group Public Citizen and Safetyforum.com, a research firm that works closely with plaintiffs' attorneys and insurance companies, the weight of the Firestone ATX tires, designed and made for the Explorer, was reduced by about 1.6 pounds in the first half of the 1990s.
As a result, the tire was "lighter, less durable -- and therefore . . . more susceptible to tread separations," the report said.
Ford spokesman Ken Zino dismissed the report. "Generally speaking, weight doesn't equate with strength in a tire," he said. "It's structural design that equates with strength. The weight-carrying capability is determined by the volume of air a tire holds, not its weight." Zino said the company couldn't comment further because it hasn't seen the report.
Firestone spokeswoman Christine Karbowiak said in a statement that the report is based on "anecdotal and purely speculative theories that have no basis in the facts." She maintained that the recall covered all the problem tires.
The weight reduction came after Ford rejected two other options to make the Explorer's fuel economy more competitive with that of other sport-utility vehicles. According to the report, Ford considered requesting a change in the rubber compounds or an increase in the air pressure in the tires. Both caused the wheels to lift off the ground in turning test maneuvers -- a sign that the vehicle could be more prone to rollovers.
The report said Firestone then "removed weight from the tire by reducing its rubber and steel components," trimming its weight from 30.1 pounds in 1991 to 28.5 pounds in 1994.
"Given the catastrophic results that flow from the combination of poorly-performing tires on a rollover-prone vehicle, Ford and Firestone shoulder a heavy burden in refusing to recall all the Ford Explorer Wilderness tires," the report said.
The report "puts all the pieces together and makes a strong case for a wider recall," said Joan Claybrook, Public Citizen's president.
Arkansas lawyer Tab Turner, who has 37 lawsuits pending against Ford and Firestone, including one scheduled for a jury trial next week, is listed as having "assisted" in producing the report.
The 30-page document, complete with footnotes from pretrial depositions of Ford and Firestone officials, is a blueprint of sorts of the issues Turner is expected to raise in the case of Donna Bailey, a 44-year-old quadriplegic who needs a ventilator to help her breathe. She was injured last March when the Ford Explorer in which she was riding rolled over after a Firestone tire failed.
That tire was not one of the 6.5 million ATX and Wilderness tires recalled last August.
Both Public Citizen and Safetyforum have pressed for a wider recall. The recall affects all 15-inch ATX tires and only the 15-inch Wilderness tires made at Firestone's plant in Decatur, Ill. Public Citizen and Safetyforum want the recall expanded to include all 15- and 16-inch ATX and Wilderness tires, no matter where they were made.
Federal regulators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have been investigating whether a wider recall is warranted. NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said yesterday that he couldn't comment on the investigation's status until it is finished. It is expected to be completed by the end of February.
The coalition's report makes its case for a wider recall by citing Ford and Firestone documents, pretrial depositions, congressional testimony, and information filed with NHTSA.
It quotes from a deposition in the Bailey case in which Thomas Baughman, Ford's quality-control officer, said that all 15-inch Wilderness tires "are not robust against variations and inflation pressure and in operating condition, load and speed."
A copy of the Baughman deposition, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that he termed "shameful" Firestone's behavior in not notifying Ford when it began seeing failures of the since-recalled tires in Saudi Arabia in 1998. He said Ford didn't know for more than a year that Firestone was replacing the tires.
The report also cites NHTSA's database of 4,308 complaints about Firestone tire incidents, which have linked the tires to 148 deaths and more than 500 injuries. It said 1,094 of the complaints involved Wilderness tiresand contained enough information to determine whether they were involved in the recall; 1,060, or 97 percent, were not.
Additionally, of the 276 lawsuits involving Firestone tires, 39 involved Wilderness tires that could be linked to a specific manufacturing plant. Of these, 14, or 36 percent, were not made at the Decatur plant.
Firestone's Karbowiak said it was "both dangerous and irresponsible" to rely on the NHTSA information because it contains potentially inaccurate data.
Staff writers James V. Grimaldi and Cindy Skrzycki contributed to this report.