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Venezuela mulls Ford ban
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May 24, 2001: 11:51 a.m. ET
Nation's consumer protection agency calls for ban on Explorer sales
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Venezuela's consumer protection agency said Thursday it is asking for a ban on the sales of Ford's top-selling Explorer sport/utility vehicle in the country following accidents tied to rollovers.
The state's consumer agency (INDECU) said it suspects that problems with the vehicle and not the tires had caused fatal crashes, and it would ask the nation's public prosecutor to back its call for the ban of the S/UV.
INDECU director Samuel Ruh Rios told Reuters that studies carried out by the institute since August last year showed that out of 50 accidents in Venezuela involving Ford Explorers, only one had involved a vehicle using Firestone tires. More than 35 people have died in the accidents.
"This raises the idea that it's not the tires, that it's problems in the vehicle," Ruh Rios said.
A Ford (F: down $0.49 to $25.30, Research, Estimates) spokesman said the company has received no official notification of such a move in Venezuela, calling it a "wild speculation," the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
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"We feel confident that we have all the technical backing to support the integrity of the vehicle," the paper quoted the Ford spokesman as saying.
Ford announced Tuesday it is replacing up to 13 million Firestone-tires on its vehicles, doubling the number of tires exchanged in last year's recall, prompted by new data that raised concerns of tread separation in Firestone Wilderness tires. 
--from staff and wire reports
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