Ford-Firestone Case Study

I. Background of the Case

A. Synthesis

Ford Explorer was the perfect car for the people who wanted it all. It’s a family car with the rugged, adventurous image of a truck. However, the problem was it was still a big, tall truck and it rolled over more easily than a passenger car would. There were many speculations on the causes of the rollovers. Two of the speculations were the failures of the Firestones tires installed on the vehicle where tread separations of the tires usually happen before the rollover. Also, was the instability issues of the vehicle. Some reports say that the instability of the Explorer was due to its high center of gravity.

In May 2000, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a letter to both Ford and Firestone requesting information about the high incidence of tire failure on the popular Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle (SUV). Subsequent investigation by Ford revealed that the tread on the 15-inch ATX and ATX II models and Wilderness AT tires tended to peel off, resulting in very high failure rates. When the tires failed, the vehicles would roll over, sometimes killing their occupants.

Bridgestone/Firestone, along with some observers, believed the problem was not just the tires but the design of the Explorer itself, which made it prone to tipping over. Ford fought back, saying it would replace all Wilderness AT tires at its own expense, including those not covered by the recall (a total of 13 million tires). Firestone responded by severing its relationship with Ford, ending an association that dated back almost 100 years.

On August 9, 2000, tire manufacturer Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announces that it is recalling 6.5 million of its model ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires; the move comes two days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration linked hundreds of accidents and at least 46 deaths to problems with the tread on the tires. The recall began in Southern and Western...