Testimony: Tire Defects Discussed In ‘97

WILMINGTON, Del.--A Firestone worker has testified in a court case that top executives discussed its rampant tire failures in 1997. And the firm, along with Ford, is facing “significant hearings” this month on coordinating all the federal lawsuits filed against the companies. The plaintiffs’ demands for an expanded tire recall are also being raised, according to the Hayes Law Reports’ Motor Vehicle Product Liability journal.

On Oct. 16, a federal judge in Illinois will consider a request for injunctive relief by “the Gustafson plaintiffs” asking that the recall be expanded beyond the ATX, ATX II and Wilderness tires currently involved. A similar motion for an expanded recall is pending in a lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia by the Center for Auto Safety.

There are currently more than 100 cases pending against Bridgestone/Firestone. At last count, plaintiffs in 47 cases were asking federal courts for class action status and another 41 were seeking damages on behalf of individuals. Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford have moved to stay proceedings in most of the cases until a judicial panel decides on transfer motions.

Judges who make up the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will meet in Washington, D.C. Oct. 17 on a “motion to consolidate” by Tennessee plaintiff Martin Brookes. Brookes suggested transferring the federal cases to either the Middle District of Tennessee or the Southern District of Illinois, where a class action with 165 plaintiffs is pending. Plaintiffs in the Illinois case support Brookes’ motion.

Ford has asked the panel to consider transferring the cases to the Northern District of Illinois, in Chicago, rather than the Southern District.

(Hayes Law Reports, based in Wilmington, Del., publishes the monthly Motor Vehicle Product Liability report, and a monthly legal journal on e-Commerce. The company also conducts specialized litigation research for insurers, securities analysts and attorneys. For more information, contact www.hayesreports.com.)

Meanwhile, according to the sworn deposition of a retired quality assurance employee, senior executives at Firestone discussed customer complaints over the tires’ safety as early as 1997. Bob Martin, who retired in April from Firestone, testified last week that he began discussing the complaints in 1997 with Masatoshi Ono, chairman and CEO, and John Lampe, executive vice president.

The testimony reportedly shows that key executives knew there were critical safety concerns about the tires three years before the company’s August recall of 6.5 million tires.

The discussion of the customer complaints with Ono and Lampe came as part of quarterly sales meetings, Martin said. He testified that those attending the meetings involved top executives and financial managers, members of the planning and quality groups, and sometimes the meetings included members of the marketing department.

Martin, who still works for Firestone as a special projects consultant, made his statements in a deposition as part of a personal injury lawsuit against Firestone and a federal investigation into the safety of the company’s tires.

Firestone countered that Martin’s testimony does not contradict the Congressional testimony of Ono and Lampe--who had at first denied the tires were faulty and blamed the crashes on poor maintenance by consumers. Later they said they had no knowledge that the tires were bad until this past summer. The problems only became known after Ford requested tire performance and warranty claims data in late July and early August, Firestone contended.

Internal Firestone documents obtained by the Associated Press show that more than half the property damage and injury claims the company received from 1997 to 1999 were for the tires later recalled, according to the wire service. Most wrecks involved tread separation.

Ford began recalling the tires in 16 foreign countries more than a year before the U.S. recall, but U.S. authorities were not notified because Ford executives said they were not required by law to do so.

Also, Firestone has come out in favor of legislation that imposes criminal penalties on anyone who knowingly sells tires that are being recalled.

“The practice of reselling used tires under a recall is not only illegal and unethical but, most importantly, jeopardizes public safety,” said Lampe in a letter sent to Congress. “We strongly support any efforts at the federal, state or local level to prevent the resale of recalled tires, as well as efforts to punish those persons engaged in the sale of recalled tires. In fact, at the suggestion of attorneys general in 14 U.S. states, we introduced a voluntary ‘bounty program’ last week in an effort to get all tires subject to the August 9th voluntary recall of certain Firestone ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness AT tires out of circulation. Under the Bridgestone/Firestone Bounty Program and Used Tire Return Program, we pay a used tire dealer $10 per tire when the dealer completes an Inventory Return Form and the recalled tires are shipped back to Bridgestone/Firestone or are shredded at the tire reseller’s place of business.”

He called the practice “pernicious” and said “we are committed to working with Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), state authorities, and tire dealers to ensure that no recalled tire is resold or put back into service.”