Ford, Firestone Will Now Work Together
To Find an Explanation for Tire Problems

By TIMOTHY AEPPEL, STEPHEN POWER AND JOSEPH WHITE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. are trying to smooth over their past antagonisms as the companies seek a common explanation for fatal accidents involving failed tires.

Ford and Firestone are now exchanging preliminary findings into the root cause of the tire failures ahead of each company meeting with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials starting Dec. 11 to brief the agency on their respective investigations. The companies apparently want to present a united front to federal regulators and, ultimately, to the public.

Working together is a major departure for Ford and Firestone, which have been sniping at each other since the Aug. 9 recall of 6.5 million tires, most of which were sold with Ford's popular Explorer sport-utility vehicles. The failure of those tires is allegedly linked to 119 deaths in the U.S. and more than 40 overseas.

During September congressional hearings into the recall, Ford executives accused Firestone of withholding crucial claims data that could have signaled safety problems much earlier. Firestone, for its part, blamed Ford for recommending tire-inflation pressures that were too low and allowed inadequate safety margins. Ford insisted repeatedly that the problem was entirely with the tires. Firestone, the U.S. unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., has said it was exploring problems with tire design and manufacturing, but also the interaction of the vehicle with the tire.

But clearly, the companies have concluded that the finger-pointing they engaged in during those public hearings damaged both sides in the eyes of consumers who were left confused and skeptical about both the tires and the vehicles. In order to move on, both sides need to offer buyers a clear explanation of what went wrong and the assurance that it has been fixed.

"Let's face it, it doesn't do either company any good to have dueling analyses," says one person familiar with the situation. Forging a common front could also help the companies face a mounting wave of litigation targeting both companies. "If one of the primary issues in these lawsuits becomes 'Why are the tires failing?' it looks awfully bad if one stands up and says 'it's failing because of this' but the other stands up and says 'No, it's that,' " says Tab Turner, an attorney in Little Rock, Ark., who represents plaintiffs suing tire companies.

Firestone is conducting an internal investigation and has hired an independent analyst from the University of California at Berkeley to study why the recalled tires failed. Ford also is doing its own investigation into the tire failures, including the molecular makeup of the tires and how they perform on vehicles. The auto maker won't share its preliminary findings.

Ford spokesman Ken Zino says "We continue to meet with both NHTSA and Firestone to work on a resolution of this."

Ford and Firestone engineers have been exchanging large quantities of technical data in an effort to agree on the root cause of the tire failures. "We continue to meet on this and we are making progress," Mr. Zino says. But so far, he said, the two companies haven't come to a single conclusion. "It's more a question of interpretation than major differences" over facts, he says.

"The key is to make sure we understand what happened and more importantly to prevent its recurrence," says Mr. Zino. He added that Ford believes it owes an explanation to its customers.

Christine Karbowiak, a Firestone spokeswoman, says the tire maker has had continuing talks with NHTSA and Ford and that the coming NHTSA meetings are part of that process.

Although most members of Congress have turned their attention away from the Firestone recall, NHTSA officials are under pressure to finish their investigation by March, a deadline originally set in September by Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater. The agency is trying to determine whether Firestone should be forced to broaden its recall, which is now limited to certain Wilderness AT, ATX and ATX II tires. Regulators have said an additional 1.4 million tires of various sizes are dangerous and should be included in the recall, but Firestone officials dispute that claim.