All but 13 of the 271 known deaths from these tires took place after 1996. Lawyers and traffic safety researchers decided not to contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) because they lacked confidence in the agency and feared that an investigation might conclude that there were no defects, thereby compromising existing personal injury lawsuits.
Ĭongressional inquiry into the scandal led to the enactment of the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act in October 2000.Īs early as 1996, personal injury lawyers were aware of accidents, injuries, and deaths caused when the tread separated from Firestone tires at high speeds. Each company publicly blamed the other for the defects, a disagreement that ended the companies' nearly 100-year relationship. Ford also fired or accepted the resignation of executives. The revelations halved the market value of Firestone parent company Bridgestone, which fired or accepted the resignation of several executives and closed the Decatur, Illinois, factory where the tires were manufactured.
Unusually high failure rates of P235/75R15 ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness AT tires installed on the first-generation Ford Explorer and similar vehicles caused crashes that killed 238 people and injured around 500 others in the United States alone more died in other countries.
The Firestone and Ford tire controversy of the 1990s saw hundreds of people die in automobile crashes caused by the failure of Firestone tires installed on light trucks made by Ford Motor Company. 1990s safety scandal involving Ford Explorer SUVs fitted with Firestone tires
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