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As Expected: Firestone Recalls 4×4 Tyres

The Ford Explorer has come under pressure because of a supposed series of accidents, blamed on allegedly faulty Firestone tyres. Both Ford and Bridgestone Firestone are strenuously denying the allegations. Firestone is the biggest tyre supplier for Ford’s Explorer and Expedition SUVs and the Aiken factory (opened last year) depends heavily on this business. The plant has an annual capacity of ten million tyres, of which nearly half are destined for Ford. After US retailer Sears Roebuck has taken some types of Firestone tyres off its shelves for this reason, in Tokyo, shares in Bridgestone fell by 8.8% at the news. In the US, Bridgestone/Firestone suggested at first that customers visit their B/F dealer for a tyre check but then decided to recall voluntarily ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tyres. The only size involved is the 235/75 R 15. This can count for up to 6.5 million tyres. This information was given in a press conference on 9th August in Washington D.C. The replacement will start in the south states of the USA because the problem often occurred in hot weather. The customer will be given a new tyre free of charge regardless of the condition of the old one. Firestone are also immediately recalling tyres from its 4×4 Wilderness range in Europe. Only one size is affected and relatively small numbers are involved. It is expected that the cost to Firestone could reach US$ 500 million. There are also rumours that Ford – itself coming under growing pressure – intends to change tyre suppliers for its Explorer and Expedition models. Industry observers have expressed surprise at how badly Firestone is managing the public relations aspect of the current crisis.

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Policy Of Appeasement From Michelin?

In a telephone conference on 28th July, following an earlier profits warning and subsequent fall in Michelin shares of around 10%, the management tried to explain the reasons for the profits warning. June was a bad month but there is still hope that the company will achieve an EBIT comparable to that of the first half of 1999. Exact figures will not be available until September. The problems are in the USA, where it was not possible to obtain better prices for truck tyres. On the other hand, the increase in raw materials prices (rubber, oil, carbon black), forecast to be about 3%, will now, it seems, be more like 4 or 5%.

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Gibara Explains Goodyear’s 2000 Strategy

At a dealer conference in Las Vegas, Goodyear Chief Gibara explained to an audience of 4,500 tyre people the need for consolidation in 2000, following the recent aggressive expansion strategy. Gibara pointed out the importance of the personal touch despite the fast growth of e-commerce and the Internet. The fill-rate problem will be improved through shipments from Latin America, Eastern Europe and Turkey for the US replacement market.

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NTDA Conference 2000

The National Tyre Distributors Association held its millennium conference in Portugal. Before the conference got under way, delegates were given the news that RapidFit had applied to join the association. The 300-strong chain of Ford dealers is the first of the vehicle dealerships to enter into membership. The keynote speaker at the conference was Sir Tom Farmer, one of whose points was that the association should consider becoming more commercial and explore the possibility of setting up a buying group for members. Other speakers explored the themes of the impact of e-commerce and the internet on tyre retailing and what tyre dealers can do to take advantage of the opportunities which are liable to arise in the future. The impact of legislation – existing and forthcoming – was another topic, including the implications of the proposed End of Life Vehicle Directive. There was a different format for the second day, when delegates broke into groups to discuss the three subjects of scrap tyre disposal, e-commerce and the changing face of tyre retailing, reflecting the previous day’s subjects. The group chairmen then reported back to the meeting and the conclusions were presented to the NTDA in order to guide the association as to its future strategic direction in these areas. Debate was lively and everyone agreed that the new format had been a resounding success.

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One Hundredth Birthday of Gummiwerke Fulda

For the 17th year running Gummiwerke Fulda held its dealer conference in March, this time in combination with celebrations in honour of the company’s one hundredth birthday. Last year Fulda boss Bernd Hoffmann had “to make do” with the presence of Goodyear’s top man for Europe, Valensi, but this time the management representation could not have been better. Sam Gibara, CEO of the group, made his welcoming speech to about 1,500 guests from all parts of the world, with Valensi and Gerd Grünenwald, responsible for marketing and sales Europe, also very pleased to help the company celebrate. Last year in particular and recent years in general proved to be very good years for Fulda. Until a few years ago the Fulda brand was heavily dependent on ATU and Stinnes, but that is now completely changed. Fulda’s German turnover is now spread over many small customers. Turnover with the two large ones is still important, of course, but gone are the days of total dependence. In Germany Fulda sells more tyres than Goodyear, but one has to add that Goodyear prices (trade to user) are significantly above Fulda’s. In the more recent past Fulda has had to compete with, or be measured against, Dunlop as well. It will be very interesting to see where the emphasis of Gerd Grünenwald’s and his team’s multi-brand strategy will lie. Details can be found in the April edition of NEUE REIFENZEITUNG.

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Firestone Defence Becomes More Aggressive

During a highly emotional press conference in Tokyo, Bridgestone’s boss Kaizaki again asked Ford to shoulder more of the blame. Kaizaki again pointed out that the recall in the USA is precautionary and, to date, no technical failure has been found. In Saudi Arabia, for example, the tyres have not caused – according to a joint investigation by Firestone and Ford – the problems. Firestone has never tried to cover up the facts, said Kaizaki (67). He refused to resign and said that he would take the responsibility for re-establishing the Firestone brand. A management shake up in Nashville seems likely, as soon as the recall is over. John Lampe, Executive Vice President for Bridgestone/Firestone USA, said during the hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee that Ford should share the blame. Official data on 16,000 Explorer rollovers, related to 600 deaths, show that in only a very few cases were there problems related to tyres. Bridgestone management is annoyed that, during Nasser’s call to Sam Gibara at the end of August, the Goodyear chief said that he had no knowledge of Goodyear problems in connection with the Explorer. Goodyear supplied two million tyres for the Explorer and there have been numerous proofs and photographs showing that Explorer accidents and rollovers had occurred with Goodyear tyres.

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Yokohama Introduces New High-Performance Tyre A 539

In the last week of March Yokohama Rubber Co. presented the new A 539 tyre to the European trade press at the Japanese D-Parc (Daigo Proving Ground and Research Center). Thirty-three sizes of this tyre will be available in Europe, about 20 of them are already in the market, the remaining sizes to be introduced within the next four weeks. The A 539 has an asymmetrical tread pattern and, according to the manufacturer, the excellent qualities of sportiness, quiet running and good cornering stability on dry and especially on wet roads.

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ETRA Conference Discusses Scrap Tyres

The problem of scrap tyres (or, as ETRA prefers to call them, post-consumer tyres) is one which affects every country where tyres are sold. ETRA, the European Tyre Recycling Association, is the only European organisation devoted exclusively to tyre and rubber recycling and in July, the association held a conference in the UK to discuss the scale of the problem, assess progress and look at possible solutions. ETRA regards post-consumer tyres as a readily available and inexpensive resource rather than merely a problem and the association is keen to get this viewpoint across to the industry, governments and the public. Around 2.5 million scrap tyres arise every year in the EU, of which 61% are re-used or recycled in some form. 39% go to landfill, which will be banned shortly. The conference programme was a full one, with a variety of speakers, including representatives from enforcement and licensing agencies, trade associations and those involved in developing new processes and uses for scrap tyres. Among the solutions discussed were rubberised asphalt, rubberised sports surfaces, the emotive subject of using tyres as artificial reefs and a method of using microwaves to break down tyres into their component parts. The effective and environmental disposal of scrap tyres is a problem for all parts of the industry and one which will become even more acute when landfilling of tyres is banned in a few years.

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Scrap Tyre Recyclers Meet in Schwerin to Find Feasible Solutions

Under the headline “Recycling von Altreifen in Deutschland – Aktuelle Lage und Möglichkeiten für die Zukunft” (“Scrap Tyre Recycling in Germany – The Current Situation and Future Possibilities”) a two-day conference was held in the banqueting hall of Schwerin Castle in mid-October. Joint hosts of the first meeting of this kind on German soil were the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Ministry of the Environment and the European Tyre Recycling Association “ETRA”. The conference in Schwerin is part of a series of European meetings organised as Regional Information Briefings by ETRA for the airing and discussion of current questions and problems in the tyre recycling industry with the object of eventually finding common solutions. The programme was opened with a presentation covering the current situation of the scrap tyre recycling industry in Germany. This was followed by reports/discussions on the current state of the recycling technology as well as the opportunities for opening new markets for recycled scrap tyre products, in which almost 100 experts from the areas of tyre trade and disposal, retreading, material extraction, construction industry/road building, technology, equipment industry, waste disposal took part together with representatives of the civil authorities. In the course of the conference it became clear, however, that there was still a widespread lack of technological know-how and a considerable ignorance about how to market the recycled products. One reason is a limited demand for such products, another a lack of innovative and worthwhile product ideas and of adequate marketing concepts.

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7th VDI Conference on Tyres, Chassis, Roads

The contact area between tyre and road surface is generally compared to the size of a postcard. An area, whose smallness bears no relation to its importance as the central spot where the interaction between motorcar and supporting ground takes place. Generations of experts have thought long and hard how to optimise this A6-sized contact area in the interest of road safety. The 21st and 22nd October saw the beginning of a new round in the eternal quest for more knowledge. On these dates the seventh conference in twelve years of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) took place under the headline “Reifen – Fahrwerk – Fahrbahn” (“Tyres – Chassis – Road Surface”) at the Hanover Congress Centre. As at several earlier meetings, the wheel was not studied in isolation but as the link between chassis and road surface. The central theme of the meeting was therefore the interaction between those three components. Each lecture or discussion session consisted of three half-hour presentations grouped together under subject matters such as “Reciprocal influences between tyres and road surface”, “Tyre noise”, “Measuring and devising models”, “Warning and run-flat systems”, “Vibration and comfort” as well as “Chassis concepts”. Almost 225 VDI members from the sectors of research and manufacturing had accepted the invitation. Apart from many car manufacturers the tyre industry was also well represented in Hanover and thanks to the disciplined lecturing techniques and to well-informed and motivated questions from the public the conference was able to live up as a genuine discussion forum to a large extent.

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Tyres ‘Still A Core Business’ For Pirelli

At a press conference in Milan, Mr. Marco Tronchetti Provera and Mr. Giovanni Ferrario reacted to speculation that Pirelli might diversify into other automotive components, as has Continental. Tyres “will continue to be an absolute core global business for Pirelli” they said, and emphasised that Pirelli would maintain its independence, while seeking alliances “wherever appropriate”.

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