Testimony of Exec VP, Bridgestone/Firestone
13 September 2000
Testimony of John Lampe, Executive Vice President, Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. Before the Senate Commerce Committee September 12, 2000
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 The following is a testimony of John
Lampe, Executive Vice President, Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.
before The Senate Commerce Committee:
Chairman McCain, Senator Hollings, And Members of This Committee:
We want to thank you for calling this hearing. It has been a new
experience for us to be appearing before Congress, and probably for any
company to be subject to such an intense congressional investigation as has
occurred over such a short period of time. But, we are greatly benefiting
from this process to learn about our own mistakes, and to work with you,
members of the committee, toward ensuring that our tires and all tires are as
safe as possible.
Firestone has manufactured hundreds of millions of safe tires for over one
hundred years. Americans have driven billions of safe miles on safe Firestone
tires. That is why this situation, with deaths and serious injuries, must be
addressed and should never happen again.
It is little more than a month ago, on August 8, that we met with the
National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration and together reviewed the
performance of tires that have been associated with tread separations. These
accidents have primarily occurred on the Ford Explorer vehicle. We regret
that almost 10% of those rollovers involved tire separations. In light of
that fact, we announced a voluntary safety recall of 6.5 million tires.
We are recalling those tires as quickly as possible. We are making every
effort to determine why certain tires failed. So far, we have replaced 2
million tires. Although we sped up production, we cannot meet full demand.
To help alleviate that problem, we are paying for competitor tires to act as
replacements. We are reviewing every aspect of our manufacturing and control
processes. We are making microscopic examinations of many recalled tires.
We are also trying to work with Ford Motor Company to understand the
cause. This has led us to understand a key point for the future. The
government and others have tended to look at auto safety and tire safety
separately. We believe that it is important to look at both issues together.
Correct tires must be matched with vehicles; the mutual duties of tire
manufacturers and automobile manufacturers must be made absolutely clear. If
only it were possible to find a simple cause, such as certain tires made at a
certain time and a certain plant, we would have resolved the problem.
But, we cannot today provide you with a conclusive cause of our past
problems. We will not rest until we determine the cause.
We wish to take this opportunity to clarify some key points that were
raised at last week's hearings.
* First, why didn't we immediately alert NHTSA and the American public
when incidents involving rollovers occurred in Saudi Arabia?
* Second, why didn't we act on claims data and immediately recall our
tires?
* Third, did we encourage Ford to conceal information from NHTSA relating
to what occurred in Saudi Arabia?
* Fourth, did Ford have to "pry" information out of us relevant to
potentially serious or fatal injuries as a result of rollover
accidents?
* Fifth, are we going to make an additional recall of the 1.4 million
tires suggested by NHTSA?
* Sixth, what speed tests did we conduct or not conduct, and why?
* Seventh, what information have we learned about what went wrong at our
Decatur plant in 1995 and 1996.
We will provide this committee out best answers to these crucial
questions.
Perhaps left out of the klieg lights of last week's hearings which focused
on matters of the past, was the actions we will take now to assure the
American public that Firestone tires are safe.
First, we will appoint an outside, independent investigator to assist in
tire analysis and determine the root cause of the tire problem. This
investigator will help assure you and the American public that Firestone tires
are reliable now and in the future.
Second, we will fully cooperate with this committee about tire safety. We
will release data and information in order to assure consumer safety with our
products.
Third, we are accelerating a rollout of a nationwide consumer education
program. If there is any good that has come out of this very bad situation,
it is the need for the American people to be fully informed about tire safety.
Our education program will take place in almost 7,000 company stores and
Firestone dealers. It will provide everyone with information about proper
tire maintenance and safety. We will use in-store videos, showroom displays,
brochures, windshield tire pressure reminders, and tire pressure gauges. We
will strive to assure that all consumers understand the safe use of tires.
Fourth, we pledge to continue to work with NHTSA toward developing better
"early warning systems" about tire safety. We commend NHTSA Administrator
Bailey for her suggestions. We will inform NHTSA about recalls that occur in
foreign countries. We will work with NHTSA to develop an in-vehicle system to
alert drivers about tire pressure.
Fifth, we will work with this committee to develop any necessary
legislative remedies that will assure to the American public that their tires
and vehicles are safe. The distinct roles of tire and vehicle manufacturers
regarding safety need to be brought together, rather then looked at
separately. We will work with you to bring this disconnect to an end.
With us today are some leaders of our union workers. We stand united as
we work together to assure millions of families that have put their trust and
faith in Firestone that, now and in the future, we will manufacture the safe
tires that every consumer can trust. Mistakes can be tragic, but it is more
tragic not to learn from them. We will work with you in this hearing and in
the future to achieve that goal.