Firestone Case Danger on the Highway...

Firestone Case Danger on the Highway: Bridgestone/Firestone ¡Ã‚ ¦s Tire Recall Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., based in Nashville, Tennessee, has been in the business of making tires since 1900, when Harvey Firestone founded the Firestone Tire Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. Firestone was acquired by Bridgestone USA, Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Bridgestone Corporation, in 1990 for $2.6 billion. Today, the company markets 8,000 different types and sizes of tires, and a host of other products. The company has also enjoyed a long and prosperous relationship with Ford Motor Company which began in 1906 when Henry Ford purchased 2,000 sets of tires from Harvey Firestone. Despite emerging as a leader in the tire industry, Bridgestone/Firestone†¦show more content†¦After continued investigations, the NHTSA encouraged Bridgestone/Firestone to expand the recall to include other sizes and models of tires, but the company refused. On September 1, the NHTSA issued a consumer advisory warning of potential problems with other sizes of Firestone tires. During Senate hearings about the growing number of complaints and accidents, evidence surfaced that Bridgestone/Firestone had known about potential tread separation problems dating back to 1994. The company also admitted increasing production to dilute the failure rate. Executives stated that they had not investigated further because failure rates as determined by warranty claims had not demonstrated significant patterns. Bridgestone/Firestone officials accepted full responsibility and admitted the company had made  ¡Ã‚ §bad tires. ¡Ã‚ ¨ Masatoshi Ono stepped down as CEO, and John Lampe, former executive vice president, took over Bridgestone USA. Although many have been quick to point a blaming finger at Bridgestone/Firestone, evidence to suggest that Ford was not entirely blameless also emerged. The designs of the Ford Explorer, along with Ford ¡Ã‚ ¦s recommendations for tire pressure for the Explorer, have been scrutinized to determine whether they contributed to the rate of