Tire Recall Chronology

February 6, 2001:  The latest NHTSA figures now show 174 fatalities linked to some Firestone tires.  

January 7, 2001:  Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone settle out of court in Texas lawsuit with a woman who remains paralyzed after a tire failure and vehicle roll-over.  On TV that night, NBC's Dateline asks "Why are Firestone tires still failing?"  A man died when a Ford Explorer rolled over after a Firestone Wilderness (that was not in the recall) failed.  Consumer groups ask for a widening of the recall.

December 19:  Bridgestone/Firestone announced the results of its

December 6:   The NHTSA states that  "As of December 6, 2000, 148 fatalities have been reported to us as being related to these tires, an increase of twenty-nine from the 119 that had been reported to the agency as of mid-October."  An updated spreadsheet reflecting new complaint statistics relating to the Firestone Voluntary Recall is available at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/hot/firestone/Update.html.

November 1:  The TREAD Act was signed into law by President Clinton.  New requirements for manufacturers include periodic reporting to the DOT of foreign and domestic data on recalls, customer satisfaction efforts, insurance and warranty claims.  An additional $9,100,000 was allocated to the Department of Transportation to put the TREAD Act into place. At the signing, President Clinton said the Act "represents an important first step toward strengthening our Nation's motor vehicle safety laws."

November 1:  In Las Vegas over twenty Indy drivers sponsored by Bridgestone/Firestone stood in support of the company at its dealer meeting.

October 25: The Los Angeles Times in a story published October 25, 2000 reported that some Goodyear LT tires had tread separations that resulted in crash fatalities.  The NHTSA is studying the matter. 

October 24:  An NBC Dateline story aired 10/24/2000 and published on MSNBC presented an expose' on SUV rollovers.  The story begins with a crash in which a man died in a rollover of a Ford Explorer after a tire failure.  The tire was not in the recall, nor was it a Firestone. 

October 24:  Engineering analysis of failed tires, to date,  has not found a single cause.  Studies by the Bridgestone/Firestone are continuing.   

October 23:  The voluntary tire recall is being completed far sooner than expected.  Company officials target November, 2000.

October 21:  Toyota Motor Corporation is retaining Firestone tires as original equipment on all Toyota vehicles.  The company reported receiving no complaints from customers.  In September Honda Motor Company reported that it will stay with Firestone.

October 20:  (Texas)  Relatives of a couple that died when a Ford Explorer rolled over agree, out of court, to settle their lawsuit against Bridgestone/Firestone.  The terms of the agreement are confidential.  

October 18:  The NHTSA increased the number of deaths connected to tires in the Firestone voluntary recall to 119, with over 500 injuries.

October 18:  In a story published October 18, 2000, the Los Angeles Times said that Ford "passed up a chance to boost Explorer stability." based on internal Ford documents.  The manufacturer says that the redesign is inconsequential to the risk of rollovers. 

October 16:  Firestone agrees to replace an additional 1.4 million tires in an agreement with 48 states.  The customer satisfaction program is not a expansion of the recall of 6.5 million  tires. Firestone spokesman, Joe Quinn said "We are still in discussions with NHTSA about the tires involved in our customer satisfaction program. We continue to believe that these tires are safe, but for any customer who is concerned, we will inspect those tires," Quinn said. "We don't want the customer to get stuck in the middle."

October 13: The Bridgestone Dueler AT 689 tire is being being looked at by Bridgestone and Toyota after some cracks were found on many.  There does not appear to be a safety issue involved . 

October 10: Bridgestone/Firestone kept adjustment claims info on defective tires for eleven years but didn't analyze the data until this year, after the U.S. government began the investigation of the tires, the company's CEO,  Masatoshi Ono, stated in a deposition yesterday. .

    October 9:  The Ford Explorer has a higher rate of rollovers than other SUVs, even when equipped with other tires, The Washington Post reported October 9, in an analysis of national fatal accidents from 1997 to 1999.    The study found that the Ford Explorer was 3-4 times more likely than other SUVs to have an accident related to tire failure.  When an equipment failure did cause an accident, the Explorer was found to have a 53 % higher rollover rate than other small SUVs.   Ford's CEO Jacques Nasser,  in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" on October 8 conceded that SUVs were more susceptible to rollover accidents when tires failed , because they have higher centers of gravity than cars.  Ford and Goodyear dispute the Post's analysis.  In an internal Ford document discovered by congressional investigators, Ford's own study of accidents after tire failures in Venezuela, found the rollover problem to be unique to the Explorer. "High incidence of vehicle roll over after a tire blow out or tread loss has not been detected for other vehicle brands," such as Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp., the document said.

   October 6:  With a 42-0 vote the House Commerce Committee passed the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation (TREAD) Act, and sent it to the entire House for a vote.  The TREAD Act gives the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) greater power to deal with product defects.  It includes provisions for prison time of up to 15 years for tire and auto executives that knowingly allow defective products to  be sold that result in deaths to the public.

   October 1:  The NHTSA reported 169 complaints with the Firestone Steeltex S4S and AT tires. These included eight crashes, with twelve injuries and two deaths.   Ford placed Steeltex tires on over 75,000 Ford Excursions, and many F-250 and F-350 pickups.    

    September 23: Ford adjusts recommended tire pressure upwards to 30 psi for Firestone tires.

    September 19: Ford's Lincoln Navigator is involved in a tire recall with another brand.  Continental-General announced the recall of just under 200,000 tires supplied to Ford.  The tires, 16-inch ContiTrac A/S have had tire separations, but no reports of injuries.  Just as in the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire voluntary recall, the majority of tire failures were on the left rear of the Ford SUVs.  Engineers for the companies  and the NHTSA are seeking  to determine why so many tires have been failing on the popular SUV.

   September 19: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration increases the number of deaths linked to the Firestone tire failures from 88 to 103, and reported 400  injuries and over 2,226 complaints about the tires.

    August 9:  Bridgestone-Firestone, Inc. is voluntarily recalling millions of tires made for sport utility vehicles and light trucks.  

The recalled tires are only the size P235/75R15 in Firestone's radial ATX, radial ATXII tires, and Wilderness AT tires with the letters "VD" at the beginning of the DOT code on the side of the tire.  

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