Ford Jr.: Not Just For Sentimental Reasons

Two weeks ago William “Bill” Ford (44) played his part in the fall of Jacques Nasser and took on the responsibility for the company himself. Since then he has taken every opportunity to emphasise that he is very interested in repairing the ruined relationship between Ford and Firestone. Many newspapers stressed that his two great grandfathers were the founders of Ford and Firestone and his mother was born a Firestone.

But sentimentality alone is not sufficient motivation. Almost single-handedly the now-resigned Ford boss Nasser ordered the additional recall of 12 million Firestone tyres that will burden the company’s balance sheet with a figure in excess of two billion US-Dollars. This has been regarded as completely unnecessary by Firestone and the tyre manufacturer has rejected any responsibility for this act.

After the US safety administration (NHTSA) and Firestone had agreed on a voluntary recall of some hundred thousand tyres, costing the tyre manufacturer a two-figure million Dollar amount of money, Firestone regards its attitude as justified. Ford wanted to present the bill to Bridgestone/Firestone at the right time. This may not be possible, in legal terms, the car producer might have no grounds against Firestone.

It is possible that a voluntary agreement could provide a way not to lose the face in front of the shareholders. If Bridgestone/Firestone were to resume its old position as a key supplier, settlements to accounts could be presented in a plausible way, as has already happened for example in the case of General Motors and Volkswagen in the “Lopez Affair”..