Thirteen
days after Ford’s announcement of the recall of 13 million Firestone Wilderness
AT tyres, Goodyear said that its plans to provide more than half the replacements
were on schedule.
The Akron, Ohio-based tyre producer has scheduled a 10-fold increase in production
of approved tyres and stepped up shipments to a network of nearly 9,000 outlets,
including independent dealers, company-owned outlets and Ford dealers.
These are outlets where consumers can obtain approved tyres without having
to pay up front and wait for reimbursement from Ford.
"This
situation differs significantly from the recall of a year ago when consumers
had to pay out of their pocket and wait for reimbursement from Firestone,"
said the president of Goodyear’s North American Tyre operations John Polhemus.
With 26 different tyres on the Ford-approved list, Goodyear claims to lead
the industry in both tyres approved and available outlets for replacement as
it tries to supply the majority of the replacements.
"We’ve had some stores with runs on tyres, and some without a great deal
of activity," Polhemus said.
"Therefore we have experienced some spot shortages, which certainly could
be expected in a recall of this magnitude."
Polhemus said that Goodyear is working with Ford to gain approval on additional
tyre brands as well, which could help improve delivery time.
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