Ford has released the following statement concerning its investigation of the
Firestone tyre recall:
"The engineers and scientists of Ford Motor Company continue to meet with
both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Firestone on a regular
basis to discuss our ongoing investigation of the Firestone tyre recall. Our
ongoing statistical analysis and test data seem in agreement with many of the
preliminary conclusions of Firestone, as we understand them.
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"Our testing on Ford and other makes of vehicles and on tyre test rigs
show that P235/75R15 ATX and Wilderness AT tyres do run hotter than similar
competitive designs, although we do not know what aspects of the design cause
this.
"Our test data also show that rubber cohesion is lower in the belt area
of Decatur-built tyres. The test data, however, do not tell us what aspect of
the manufacturing process may cause this.
"We have not tested or analysed tyres that have had a puncture repaired,
but it seems reasonable that a tyre that is already sensitive to heat because
of design and manufacturing aspects could be progressively damaged if it was
run hot because of lower inflation pressures prior to or after a repair.
"The weight of the Explorer is well within the load rating of the tyres.
The curb weight of the heaviest four-door 4×4 model of Explorer increased only
154 pounds from 1991 to 1997. Our experience with more than 2.9 million competitive
make tyres that performed almost flawlessly in the field leads us to conclude
that the vehicle is not a significant contributor to tread separation.
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By GlobalData"Firestone’s data show that the somewhat higher occurrence of claims for
tread separations on a vehicle’s left rear tyre happens on a majority of light
trucks and SUVs from most manufacturers. The difference in weight, rear left
to right, on the Explorer is less than 100 pounds. Our analysis indicates this
left-to-right rear weight distribution on the Explorer is not significantly
different than on similar competitive vehicles.
"Independent real world accident data continue to show that the Explorer
is among the safest vehicles in its class for all serious injury accidents,
as well as for rollover accidents.
"While Ford’s investigation continues into the cause of Firestone tyre
tread separations, our preliminary root cause hypothesis is: The design of the
tyre generates high stresses and heat in the wedge and belt area. Manufacturing
processes at Firestone’s Decatur Plant reduce the cohesion level of the rubber
in that same area of the tyre. This reduced strength permits cracks to propagate
between the steel belts. We believe it is a combination of manufacturing factors
and the reaction of the tyre design to field operating conditions including
hot weather and very low tyre pressure, that have caused the increased failure
rate of these tyres.
"The important thing for our customers is that these elevated rates of
tread separation not occur again. Ford Motor Company already is using what it
has learned to enable early identification of problems at the time tyres are
produced and when they reach customers.”
