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product_liability firestoneMany people have become familiar with the 2000 Bridgestone/Firestone recall information after at least 271 U.S. traffic deaths were blamed on the Wilderness AT tires. Most of the Firestone recalled tires were sold on the Ford Explorers and caused rollover accidents when the tire tread separations occurred. The Public Citizen consumer group issued Firestone recall information that alleged Ford and Firestone had been covering up the deadly tire/SUV combination for over a decade.
The consumer group and Safetyforum.com called for the recall of Firestone Wilderness AT tires. Despite the Firestone tire recall information, additional tires not included in the first recall allowed tire blowouts and SUV rollovers to continue. In the end, the Firestone recall information showed over 10 million tires were removed from the market, costing the company more than $1.6 billion in 2001 due to the recall and litigation costs.
In 2000, Congress enacted legislation to improve tire safety standards, a move that came shortly after the Bridgestone/Firestone recall information, but Public Citizen thinks that was just a start to long-overdue safety changes and is currently pushing for stricter auto safety standards. Just when the $149 million settlement of lawsuits stemming from the Firestone tire recall information was announced, resolving 30 class action suits nationwide, Firestone has found itself in the midst of yet another tire recall.
This time, the Firestone tire recall information has shown it is on a much smaller scale than the Wilderness recall was, now involving the Steeltex tire series made between March 1999 and December 2002. Due to the safety law passed in 2000, manufacturers are required to submit volumes of additional information about their products to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) officials. The NHTSA officials first became aware of the Firestone accidents in December 2003.
According to the Firestone tire recall information, there were about 300,000 Firestone tire recall models believed to still be in use around the time of the announcement. Class action status for lawsuits due to the recent recall may further injure the Bridgestone/ Firestone name. The company has just announced it is launching a new national advertising campaign to promote Firestone. Many critics believe the campaign is in response to the highly exposed Firestone tire recall information that has resulted in a high amount of negative publicity.
The over one hundred year old company is now spending four times what they spent in 2003 in attempts to promote the Firestone brand.