Ford Motor Company Letter to Firestone Regarding Recall

    DEARBORN, Mich., May 22 The following letter was sent
today to John Lampe, Chairman and CEO of Bridgestone/Firestone from Jacques
Nasser, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company .

    Dear Mr. Lampe:

    As you know, Ford has for many months been engaged in an intensive effort
to determine the root cause of the tire failures that led to last summer's
Firestone tire recall, and to prevent such failures in the future.  Throughout
this process, Ford has shared its findings and worked closely and
cooperatively with NHTSA and with Firestone's technical team.

    Based on our work to date, we are concerned that the performance of
certain Wilderness AT tires not included in last summer's recall is not at a
level consistent with the performance of similar usage tires from competitive
manufacturers.  This concern rests significantly on data supplied by Firestone
and NHTSA, which shows that failure rates for many of the Wilderness AT tires
are already worse than competitive standards and may deteriorate further in
the future.  Our own laboratory and vehicle tests confirm these results.
Although we have discussed our concerns with Firestone technical and
management personnel, nothing we have learned has changed our view that the
tires may present a risk to our customers' safety.

    Accordingly, we intend to announce an owner notification program to
replace all Wilderness AT tires for our customers at no cost to them.  This
action is preventive in nature since we believe the significant risks are
largely in the future.  However, the data leave us convinced that this action
is necessary to assure the safety of our customers, an objective that I know
you fully share.

    As the replacement effort goes forward, let us work cooperatively to serve
our customers and, most importantly, keep their safety as our highest
priority.  I hope this is a goal on which you can agree.