Ford and Firestone

In August of 2000, Firestone recalled 14.4 million of its tires. These were the same tires which Firestone had built for various Ford SUVs and trucks. Though this was a striking event, the escalation leading up to it amounted to several years. Tires and automobiles were sold to trusting consumers for years with known design flaws. The foundation of the tire crisis is rooted in Ford and Firestone’s sacrifice of ethical concerns in order to turn a profit.

In the years leading up to the recall, there were several complaints by insurance companies and various consumers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA); however, because of poor funding, the administration was unable to perform any adequate research. There were several incidences of tire tread separation in Firestone tires on various Ford models; most notably, the Ford Explorer. Ford and Firestone were aware of these issues. Each company actually had independent as well as in house testing done that supported the validity of the claims.

Ford did some tests and found that there was a stability issue with the Ford Explorer itself. However, they decided that the problem could be fixed by lowering the air pressure in the tires. Instead of wasting money to redesign the platform of the Ford Explorer, Ford decided to put a band aid over the problem. Ford could have taken action to make the fundamental design of the SUV safer, yet they declined to.

Firestone was also well aware of problems with tread separation in the tires that they were providing to Ford. The testing was done at a higher pressure rate than the tires’ intended use on the Ford models. Due to this fact, Firestone was able to persuade Ford that the tires would be safe enough for production and sale. Ford had also initiated some testing with some independent third parties. When the results of the tests came back in contradiction with Ford’s desires, they were quickly dismissed....