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Firestone to recall tires
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August 8, 2000: 10:37 p.m. ET
Tire maker to announce recall of tires used on many sport utility vehicles
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corp. on Wednesday will announce a limited recall of millions of Firestone-brand tires that have been blamed for fatal crashes involving sport utility vehicles, sources close to the company said Tuesday.
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The recall covers millions of tires currently used on some of the nation's most popular sport utility vehicles, including the Ford Explorer.
 Investigators said some of the Firestone tires in question have "shredded" so that the tread separates from the core of the tire.
The initial recall would cover ATX, ATXII and the Wilderness brands of tires in seven warmer-climate states, the sources said. They could not say which states specifically.
Firestone merged in 1990 with Bridgestone USA to form Bridgestone/Firestone. The company, based in Nashville, Tenn., is a unit of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., the world's largest tire manufacturer. A Tokyo analyst that follows Bridgestone has estimated a recall could cost the company up to $500 million.
Bridgestone/Firestone representatives met with government auto safety officials Tuesday, and reached an agreement that will be made public Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C., a source close to the discussions told CNN.
The recall would affect fewer than half of the 48 million tires produced by Firestone since 1990. It will initially focus on tires in the Southern-area states, the sources said, including tires on some Ford light trucks, Ranger and F-150 model vehicles.
The tires have been original equipment on Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan and Subaru vehicles for several years, but most accidents reported to the traffic safety agency have involved the Ford Explorer.
Said an official at one company: "We're certainly glad that it's going to be happening, and that it will be happening quickly. Later, we will be even more happy when we know all customers' affected tires can be replaced."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating whether the failures of those tires are to blame for some 46 fatalities across the country, up from 21 fatal accidents under investigation just last week.
NHTSA spokeswoman Liz Neblett told CNN Tuesday that the increase is partly the result of media coverage of the problem as local authorities learn of a possible connection to accidents elsewhere.
More than 300 complaints, inquiries logged
Neblett said the agency has now received more than 300 complaints or inquiries from consumers.
A family injured last week when a tire blew apart on their sport utility vehicle in Florida announced a lawsuit on Monday against the tire maker.
Randall Smithwick, his wife, their 14-year-old twin daughters and a family friend were driving Thursday across the Everglades on a portion of Interstate 75 known as Alligator Alley when the vehicle's right rear tire blew apart. The Ford Explorer flipped three times before coming to rest on a grassy median. All were hurt.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the right rear tire tread separated, causing the vehicle to swerve. Authorities said the tires were the vehicle's original Firestone Wilderness ATs, as supplied by Ford Motor Co. NTHSA said it would add that accident to the list it is investigating.
A lawyer for the family has said that Firestone and Ford knew the tires were faulty when they began replacing them in South American countries as far back as six years ago, but that the companies never alerted U.S. consumers to the dangers.
Ford has replaced Firestone tires for free on vehicles sold in Venezuela, Ecuador, Thailand, Malaysia, Colombia and Saudi Arabia after tires failed in those countries. Though not accepting blame, Ford said last week it swapped tires "as a customer satisfaction issue."
It has not made a decision on replacing tires for U.S. customers, but Ford Vice President Martin Inglis told Reuters Tuesday that warranties on the tires in question are covered by the supplier, not the automaker.
Firestone said it is offering free tire inspections in the U.S. in light of safety concerns and will remedy any problems to "the customer's satisfaction."
Sears announced Friday it was halting the sale of Firestone ATX and Wilderness tire models at its stores and at a chain of tire stores it owns (National Tire and Battery). Montgomery Ward has also pulled the tire models from its auto centers. 
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