The Tire Flap: Behind the Feeding Frenzy
10 October 2000
The Tire Flap: Behind the Feeding Frenzy
NEW YORK--Oct. 6, 2000--It may take months or years for investigators to discover what caused the accidents in Ford Explorers with Firestone tires. But that hasn't stopped tort lawyers, consumer advocates, and election-minded lawmakers from spinning the story for their own purposes.If they had not sounded the alarm, trial lawyers argue, the Ford-Firestone affair would never have come to light. That's probably true. But as plaintiffs' attorneys rush to cash in with lawsuits that assert the Explorer-Firestone combination is dangerous, they are also trying to use the scandal to blunt the drive for federal tort reform. Perhaps the most opportunistic response to the Ford-Firestone flap is coming from-surprise-Congress. After ignoring auto safety for years, conservative lawmakers, joined by a few pro-Detroit Democrats, are rushing to the fore. They are blasting NHTSA for failing to spot the problem earlier-and for ignoring warnings from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. officials about catastrophic accidents. That's ironic, since conservatives have for years been taking the agency to task for being too aggressive. All of this is happening despite the absence of solid analysis, which hardly anyone seems interested in.