Attorneys of Record for
Tires

Taras Kick
The Kick Law Firm
660 South Figeroa Street
Suite 1800
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-624-1588
217-624-1589 fax
taras@kicklawfirm.com
kicklawfirm.com

C. Tab Turner
Turner & Associates, PA
4705 Somers Avenue, Suite 100
North Little Rock, AR 72116
501-791-2277
501-791-1251 fax
tab@tturner.com
tturner.com

SafetyForum Reports:
Firestone Executive Sheds New Light on Why
Decatur Tires Seem to Fail More Often

ARLINGTON, VA -- DEC 4 -- Firestone tires made in Decatur appear to have higher failure rates than tires made at Firestone's other plants because most of them were on Ford Explorers distributed in the southeast and southwest parts of the U.S., according to testimony of Robert Martin, a Firestone vice president of Quality Assurance who retired earlier this year.

Overwhelming reports of tire failure in the southeast and southwest prompted Firestone and Ford to recall 6.5 million tires in August of this year.  The recall was limited to include only 15-inch Wilderness tires made in Decatur and 15-inch ATX and ATX II tires. 

"Mr. Martin's testimony is the first time that a representative of either Ford or Firestone has publicly admitted that blaming all the bad tires on the Decatur plant is unfounded.  As we have insisted from the outset, Wilderness tires - regardless of plant origin - are all of the same design, all made the same way, and all suffer from the same defect.  Telling the American public that it's safe to ride on these tires is wrong, misleading and irresponsible," said Little Rock, Arkansas attorney Tab Turner.  Turner is Safetyforum.com's "Attorney of Record" for tires and participated in the deposition taken in Nashville.

Turner emphasized that his words of caution apply even to replacement Firestone Wilderness tires installed during Firestone's recall.  Firestone recently announced that it is nearing completion of its recall.  "All they've done is given people a false sense of safety and security.  All of these tires are defective, regardless of size, age or plant origin," Turner said.

A Safetyforum.com review of 79 lawsuits for which the source plants for both the tires and vehicles are known, tends to confirm Martin's testimony. Virtually all of the lawsuits are in hot southern or western states. About one third of the vehicles were Explorers made in St. Louis.  Decatur tires were on 81 percent of those vehicles.  Only 33 percent of the Explorers from Louisville had tires from Decatur.   The Washington Post reported this Friday that a Ford spokesman "confirmed that officials in the truck division thought that generally most of the Explorers built in (St. Louis) went to the west, while Louisville, Kentucky-built Explorers went to the East."

Firestone's Martin, who retired in April of this year, explained during a recent deposition that the impression that Decatur is the source of most defective Wilderness tires is a statistical aberration.  He attributed the over representation of Decatur tires to Firestone and Ford's distribution patterns.  Most of the Decatur tires were shipped to Ford's Explorer plant in St. Louis, Missouri.  Most Explorers made in St. Louis are shipped to the southeast and southwest where extreme heat hastens the tires' deterioration.

Martin testified that "There are two plants that built Explorer vehicles.  One is in Louisville and one is in St. Louis.  And from a sheer logistics point of view, the Decatur tires would go to the St. Louis-built vehicles more so than Louisville and those vehicles more so would go west and south."  When asked to explain why there appeared to be a higher percentage of failures coming out of the Decatur plant as opposed to the other plants, Martin responded, "I believe I answered that previously.  About what would cause it. . .  I talked about distribution, the assembly plants that were provided by our company.  Decatur to St. Louis, Wilson to Louisville, distribution of those vehicles to the Southwest, Southeast."

Turner reiterated, "We have contended from the outset that the public needs to know this type of information in order to make an informed decision about whether families should be using Wilderness AT tires on any vehicle regardless of the plant of origin or whether they were original or replacement tires installed during the recall.  Telling the public that its safe to continue to carry families on these tires so long as they did not come from Decatur is simply irresponsible conduct."

(12/04/00)

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