Ford, Firestone Settle SUV Suit

ARLINGTON, Va.--A settlement reached in a lawsuit over faulty Firestone tires and the Ford Explorer will require mandatory public disclosure by both Ford and Firestone of any additional information provided to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress relating to the Ford/Firestone recall investigation. And both companies will have to conduct inspections of any Explorers and tires involved in other crashes being investigated by a team of lawyers from Safetyforum.com.

The lawyers, Tab Turner and Mikal Watts, obtained the settlement in Donna Bailey’s lawsuit against Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone. An undisclosed amount of money was earmarked for her, along with a videotaped acceptance of responsibility and apology by three Ford representatives.

On the day of the crash, Bailey was headed for a rock-climbing trip with friends. The once-active mother of two is now paralyzed from the neck down, Turner said. A quadriplegic, she uses a ventilator to breathe and a wheelchair to get around. The 43-year-old Texan has become a key figure in a tragedy that has captured the attention of the nation.

“Ms. Bailey is a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic as a result of a rollover crash in a Ford Explorer,” Turner said. She was a seat-belted front seat passenger in the Explorer when the right rear tire tread separated. Bailey was crushed between the roof and the seat cushion during the rollover crash.

Turner and Watts brought suit against both companies contending that the tire was defectively designed and manufactured and that the Ford Explorer was unreasonably dangerous due to the combination of its tendency to rollover and Ford’s “failure to provide a reasonable level of protection from roof crush during rollover crashes.”

The high profile lawsuit was pending before Judge Nanette Hassette in Corpus Christi, Texas. Jury selection was to begin today.

The lawsuit was being closely watched because it was one of the first court cases where the role of Ford’s Explorer SUV as an alleged cause of deaths and injuries associated with tread separation rollover wrecks involving Firestone tires. Ford and Firestone have consistently disagreed on the issue of the role the design of the Explorer plays in causing tread failures, loss of control and rollover crashes following tire failures.

Ford has labeled the Wilson-made Wilderness AT tires as “world class performers.” The failed tire in this case was a non-recalled Wilderness AT tire made at Firestone’s Wilson, N.C. plant. Thus far, only Wilderness AT tires made at Firestone’s Decatur, Ill. plant have been recalled.

Ford’s videotaped apology can be found on www.safetyforum.com.