In twelve pages this paper discusses the relationship between Ford Motor Company and Firestone Tires in light of the 13 million tire recall. Thirteen sources are cited in the bibliography.
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accident deaths and simultaneous finger-pointing by Ford and Firestone began surfacing with regularity late in the summer of 2000. The observed problem is that Ford Explorers, Fords top-selling vehicle,
have been involved in an extraordinarily high number of incidents in which their Firestone tires fail through tread separation. The incidents have been concentrated in hot-weather areas of the
US and other nations, indicating more problems with tires than with the vehicles, but when Firestone finally made a public statement, that statement was that fault lies not with its
tires but with Fords suspension system. There are growing numbers of facts known in the case, but the issue only came to light
after a series of lawsuits naming the two companies as being responsible for the growing number of deaths and injury resulting from the failures, whatever their cause. The pattern
that has emerged is that the tread fails on factory-installed Firestone tires, the Ford Explorer flips over and death and injury result. Each company is making public only the
information it feels required to disclose, for the issue is in litigation and the stakes are great. Firestone has instituted a voluntary recall of 6.5 million tires but is
working feverishly to ensure that Ford shares financial responsibility in the end. So far, voluntary and government-ordered recall totals are for more than 13 million Firestone tires (Bridgestone CEOs
goal, 2001). Regardless of the outcome of this situation, it has raised other questions of how the industry is regulated and likely will
have implication for refinements among regulatory agencies. Ford and Firestone had a century-old relationship, but that has been severed and the future of Firestone is now in question.