Tauzin Data Forwarded To Ford

There were dramatic developments at the recent Congressional Hearing covering the latest recall of 13 million Firestone tyres, which was instigated by Ford. Congressman ‘Billy’ Tauzin said that he had data indicating that some of the tyres used to replace Firestones on Ford Explorers were, in fact, less safe than the tyres they were replacing. Tauzin’s figures reportedly showed some tyres with claims rates of 124 per million tyres; twice that of the Firestones and much more than the 5 per million looked for by Ford.

Tauzin’s question was whether this information would have affected Ford’s actions, had the company been aware of it. Ford has been given Tauzin’s data and is currently analysing the figures. The car manufacturer says that it will share the results of its findings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress, after which it will reveal them to customers, dealers and the media.

However, Ford is at pains to point out that the claims rate is but one aspect of the tyre failure analysis; tyre design, its physical properties and the effect of ageing are among the numerous other facets to be considered. A statement from a Ford spokesperson seems to indicate that the car manufacturer is still convinced that Firestone tyres are at fault, saying that Ford’s plan remains the same, ie: “to remove Firestone tyres with the risk of increasing rates of tread separation from our customers’ vehicles and replace them with safe tyres.” The implication there is clear enough; despite the new evidence, Ford is replacing Firestones with “safe tyres”.

The statement continues in the same vein, underlining where Ford thinks the blame lies: “If there is anything unusual in the data from Congressman Tauzin we will act swiftly, just as we have done in our replacement of 13 million potentially defective Firestone Wilderness AT tyres. We will continue to monitor through our Early Warning System the performance of all the tyres fitted to our vehicles.”.