Word: using
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...involved with NHTSA. Once a fierce enforcer of auto safety (it instigated a massive 1978 recall against Firestone), it had become just another underfunded government regulator with little power to police or penalize. Lawyers feared the agency would come up with a whitewash that companies would use in their defense. But Roberts, spurred on by the dead girl's parents, decided to help NHTSA do its job. Through an official, he let the agency know about his discovery, helping galvanize what would become the second largest tire recall in U.S. history, covering Firestone's 15-in. Radial...
...century. But Firestone, while loath to alienate such a valuable customer, says the lower level of air pressure Ford recommended for the tires--26 PSI, compared with Firestone's suggested 30 PSI--may have contributed to the trouble. Ford has decided to end its exclusive contract with Firestone and use an additional tire supplier, Michelin, for the 2002 Explorer models due out next year. "This has been an extremely difficult and disappointing time in our relationship," Nasser said. "We're going to evaluate it a day at a time...
...overinflated tires. Critics see these arguments as disingenuous, if not offensive. According to an internal Ford memo dated Oct. 1, 1999, reviewed by TIME, at least part of the reason some of the Wilderness tires were failing in the gulf region was that the company had decided to use the North American-made tires even though Firestone had warned that they were "not meant" for the rugged terrain. Ford says it knows of no such document. Thanks to NHTSA's lax reporting requirements, the companies weren't legally required to inform the agency of any problems overseas...
...1970s, when the 55-m.p.h. speed limit was established, U.S. tiremakers were introducing steel-belted radials--now standard on most American cars, including the Ford Explorers. Even in the '70s the fatal consequences of tread separation were well known. And so were a number of remedies, including the use of nylon caps that form a tourniquet around the belts and rubber to hold them together. Nylon caps are widespread in Europe and other parts of the world, but with U.S. speed limits set low, most experts believed they weren't necessary in America...
Firestone engineers advocated the use of nylon caps in the '70s to head off the infamous tread-separation scandal on Firestone 500 radials. In this latest scandal, however, Firestone's replacement tires in the U.S. do not have nylon caps, except for a few Bridgestones shipped in from the parent company in Japan. Firestone argues that its tire problems are specific to one factory and not a matter of technology. Bridgestone, however, does sell the nylon cap Dueler for SUVs in the U.S. Like other nylon-fitted tires, they are higher-grade and cost $103 each, compared with just about...