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Ford courts 3 tiremakers
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May 23, 2001: 5:12 p.m. ET
Seeks tires from Firestone competitors while former supplier attacks Ford safety
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - With its historic ties to Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. severed, Ford Motor Co. will look to three other tiremakers to help replace all remaining 13 million Firestone Wilderness AT tires the automaker is recalling over safety concerns.
U.S. tiremaker Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT: Research, Estimates), French tiremaker Michelin (PML) and German tiremaker Continental AG (FCON) all have been contacted by the world's second-largest automaker, which said the recall effort unveiled Tuesday should take months and cost $2.1 billion after taxes.
Ford (F: Research, Estimates) said the precautionary recall of twice the number of tires in Bridgestone/Firestone's massive recall last August was needed due to its findings that the tires not already recalled had higher failure rates than rival brands.
Bridgestone/Firestone has insisted the tires targeted in Tuesday's Ford recall, tires used as replacements in last summer's recall, are safe. The tiremaker, which severed its nearly century-old relations to Ford on Monday, also has faulted the automaker's recommended lower inflation level and the design of its Explorer sport/utility vehicle, on which many of the tires had been standard equipment.
"Today we shared with Congress compelling data showing that a Ford Explorer is twice as likely to rollover in a tire-related accident than any other SUV," said a statement from Firestone released late Wednesday. "Ford Explorers on non-Firestone tires continue to experience tread separations and tragic rollover accidents. Just last week, another life was lost when an Explorer rolled over in Florida after a tread separated from a competitors' tire. Ford's decision to replace Firestone tires will not stop these accidents from occurring."
Ford responded with its own data showing that the Explorer had just over one fatal accident per year for every 10,000 registered vehicles, which it said made it safer than all but two other models of SUVs, although it did not identify which two. The Explorer is the industry's best-selling SUV, with 445,157 sold last year.
Ford plans to replace all 15-, 16-, and 17-inch Wilderness AT tires on its Explorer and Expedition SUVs, as well as Ranger and some F-150 pickup trucks. It will also replace the tires on Mercury and Mazda vehicles equipped with the tire as well. More than 80 percent of the questioned tires are on Explorers, though.
Ford spokesman Ken Zino said 15-inch replacement tires appear abundant, though the automaker has yet to pinpoint the availability of 16-inch tires.
Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio, said Tuesday it is "working very closely with (Ford) to jointly develop an aggressive plan to address consumers' needs as quickly as possible," though that tiremaker didn't specify to what extent.
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"Goodyear regrets the fact that this situation has arisen," the company said in a statement. But Goodyear "is prepared to do whatever is necessary to help consumers get the right tires on their vehicles as quickly as possible."
Within days, Charlotte, N.C.-based Continental Tire expects to finalize details of Ford's request for additional tires, including how many the automaker needs and when, Continental spokeswoman Katharina Konowalski said.
Regardless, she said, Continental does not expect to expand its production to meet the demand, given the company's additional capacity now "to produce some of the tires they need."
"Continental will, of course, coordinate with Ford, a good customer of ours, to meet their need," Konowalski said. Ford and Lincoln-Mercury dealers will replace the tires at no cost to customers. Ford will reimburse customers up to $110 for 15- and 16-inch tires, and up to $130 for 17-inch tires bought from other authorized retailers.
Having also been contacted by Ford, Michelin North America Inc. president and chairman Jim Micali said Tuesday the Greenville, S.C.-based company would strive to make the replacements convenient and quick for consumers.
Ford said it would give a priority to replacing tires that are at least three years old, given that its tests and data suggest that the tire has greater failure rates with extensive use. That means that many of those customers who had new Wilderness tires put on their vehicles as part of last year's recall will have to wait longer for a second replacement.
During last fall's Firestone tire recall, Michelin made about two million tires available as replacements through Ford dealers and Michelin's own dealer network. Ford started giving customers their choice of tiremakers when purchasing the newly-designed 2002 Explorer, which has been on sale since March. Few of the dealers and customers order new Explorers have chosen Firestone for the SUV, which has seen a slower than hoped-for launch and its own recall of 50,000 vehicles in which right side tires may have been damaged due to a problem on the Ford assembly line.
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To divert more tires, Ford said it was shutting down production for two weeks at two plants in St. Paul, Minn., and Edison, N.J., and suspending assembly of various Explorer models in Louisville, Ky., for one week.
Ford shares closed down 19 cents Wednesday to $25.79, although that is up more than $1 from its low of the day. Shares of Goodyear lost 90 cents to $29.50, although shares of Michelin rose  1.43, or 3.5 percent, to 42.40 in Paris trading, while Continental shares gained 0.65 euros, or 4.2 percent, to 17.30 in Frankfurt trading. 
From wire and staff reports
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