The Firestone Recall

The Firestone Recall

In the year 2000, Firestone issued a recall of a sum of 6.5 million of its tires, most of which were mounted on certain sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) of the Ford Motor Company. The problem with firestone tires began as early as 1997 and 1998, initially in countries like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Malaysia, where the hot climate is thought to have affected the tread-shedding of the tires. However, as time passed more and more car accidents outside and inside the US were linked to the Firestone tires mounted mainly on Ford SUVs and complaints against Firestone were increasing. By the year 2000, the death of 271 and more than 700 cases of injury were attributed to defective tire separation. At first, the Firestone Company didn't acknowledge the problem as its own and refused to take action against it, however, after pressure from the Ford Company, the NHTSA and consumer and retailer pressure, Firestone issued a recall of 6.5 million tires. And by the end of the year 2001, an additional 1.4 million tires were recalled. The recall has proved to be extremely costly to Firestone. Industry experts say that SUV tires typically cost auto-makers about $40 each, i.e. about $200 per vehicle. Firestone recall litigation costs have amounted to a loss of over $1.6 billion in 2001 alone for Bridgestone/Firestone. Most of the tires recalled have been traced the Decatur, Illinois plant, where many experts say that the problem may be due to the fact that 1,400 of the workers in the plant were replacement workers, who were much less experienced. Did Firestone know there was a problem? Did they not respond to consumer complaints in time? Did the company's focus on financial benefits overlook the safety of the consumers and the quality of the products?

Many people consider that one of the main problems with the firestone tires is its design. As the main reason for such car accidents are the tread shedding of the tires, many think that Firestone didn't enhance its products so that to have better design. Experts say that at the time new nylon sheets were introduced that could be used on the surface of the tires to add extra protection, however, the extra costs prevented the Firestone company managers from using it as they focused more on the financial part rather on enhancing the product design.

Another main problem with the Firestone tires is its quality and how well the company was able to assure the quality of its tires and control it. There have been charges that many of the tires suffering from tread shedding were produced from plants where there were many replacement workers, which are generally less