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Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. Focuses its Investigation

21 September 2000

Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. Focuses its Investigation; Company Recommends 30 PSI Pressure for Explorer Tires

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 A Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. (BFS)
official told Congress today that the 100-year-old company is focusing its
investigation of the small percentage of tires involved in fatal rollover
crashes equipped on Ford Explorers on the Decatur, Illinois plant.
Additionally, Firestone is now recommending air pressure on tires equipped on
Explorers be no lower than 30PSI.  BFS Executive Vice President John Lampe
said the company yesterday urged Ford to immediately change the specification
on the sport utility vehicles outfitted with P235/75R15 tires to reflect the
safer tire pressure.
    While saying it would be inappropriate to engage in speculation, Lampe
said that the company's team of investigators had found fruitful areas to
review in its search for the cause of the tread separation phenomena to the
interaction between the design of the tires and "potential manufacturing
variances at the Decatur plant."
    "A comprehensive review of the Decatur production process has been
conducted to determine whether variances in any production process could have
caused or contributed to this problem," Lampe testified before the House
Commerce Committee. While making clear that Firestone has not yet been able to
identify the exact root cause or causes of the problems, which appear in a
very small percentage of the tires, the company is closer to finding an
answer. Additionally, an independent investigator into the root cause, Dr.
Sanjay Govindjee, began his work yesterday in Akron.
    Because the number of tires involved is so small, Lampe said Firestone's
field engineers and other technical experts have a difficult job. Answering
the problem would not be unlike "finding a needle in a haystack."
    Firestone's own investigation into what Lampe called "tragic accidents"
also revealed that Ford's recommended tire pressure of 26 PSI, which gives a
softer ride for the vehicle, resulted in a "very low safety margin for the
Explorer" as compared to other SUVs. "The vehicle manufacturer sets the air
pressure," Lampe told the lawmakers, adding that Firestone "must rely on that
judgment" so long as the pressure is set within Tire and Rim Guide parameters.
Since the recall, Firestone has concluded that "running an Explorer at low
tire pressures, overloaded, particularly in hot climates appears to be a
serious part of the problem."
    Reiterating that the company takes full responsibility when the problem is
with its tires, Lampe also said that the "tire is only part of the overall
safety problem shown by these tragic accidents."  Lampe told the committee,
"Let me be very clear; we could remove every one of our tires from the
Explorer, and rollovers and serious accidents will continue."
    The hearing also focused on testing.  Lampe told legislators that the
recalled tires were subjected to "a series of exacting tests" before they were
introduced. He also revealed that those tests were performed by either
Firestone or Ford as "directed by Ford in its engineering specifications."
    The auto maker required a series of tests before the tires could be
certified; Firestone also fully tested the tires in accordance with government
regulations, and thirdly -- at Ford's request for the 1995 model year,
Firestone tested the tires under standards developed by the Society of
Automotive Engineers.