Firestone reaffirms safety of AT tires

Bridgestone-Firestone Inc. (BFS) has reaffirmed the safety of its Wilderness AT tires, informing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States that its facts do not support an agency action that could result in expanded recall of any Wilderness AT tires, including those fitted on the controversial Ford Explorers.

"We will do everything in our power to ensure the safety of the driving public. If one of our tires might jeopardize that safety, then we’ll take it off the road. We’ve done it before and, if it becomes necessary we’ll do it again. But, that is simply not the case here," said John Lampe, Chairman, CEO and President of Bridgestone/Firestone.

NHTSA has failed to make its analysis available to BFS for the company to review in any meaningful way. BFS’s own extensive examination and evaluation of its tires, competitor tires and the Ford Explorer showed that the Wilderness AT tires were safe and that further action against the tires is unnecessary.

"We appreciate NHTSA’s diligence on this issue, but we strongly disagree with any suggestion that a recall action might be warranted and believe any such action could have potentially serious consequences for the driving public and the entire industry," said Lampe, referring to the testing that shows the Firestone tires perform well within industry levels on all tests. "This much is clear. Our tires are safe. And we will use every opportunity available to us to make that point."

"If the real issue at hand is the safety of the driving public – and we believe it is – then taking more of our tires off the road is not the solution. It doesn’t solve the real problem – the vehicle," Lampe added. "We now know this to be a fact: You can take every Firestone tire off every Explorer and the rollovers and fatal accidents will continue. We’ve seen it in Venezuela, and we are now seeing it in the US."