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Tire CEO, Ford face fire
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October 9, 2000: 10:41 p.m. ET
Firestone chief gives deposition as report links tire problems to Ford design
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Masatoshi Ono, the chief executive of Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., gave his deposition Monday in a wrongful death suit involving his company's recalled tires, just as a newspaper report suggested that part of the problem may be with the vehicle that most commonly used the tires, the Ford Explorer.
Ono, in his first testimony facing plaintiff lawyers since the recall of 6.5 million Firestone tires was announced two months ago, expressed sympathy for the victims whose lives were lost due to the faulty tires and admitted that he considered retiring after the recall was announced but was asked no to do so.
Ono testified at U.S. Congressional hearings last month and accepted personal responsibility for the recall that has become one of the biggest product liability crises in the United States in years. The company is on target to complete its recall of 6.5 million tires by November, Daniel Adomits, the company's division general counsel, said Monday.
 Also Monday, Bridgestone/Firestone said it has scheduled for 2 p.m. ET Tuesday at its Nashville, Tenn. headquarters. The company is planning a major news announcement but would give no other details, but a source close to the company told CNN that the announcement will involve a management reshuffle.
A Washington Post analysis of crash tests, published Monday, said the Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport/utility vehicle, has a higher rate of tire-related accidents than other sport/utility vehicles (S/UVs), even when the Explorer is equipped with Goodyear tires. Explorers with Firestone tires crashed four times as often as other S/UVs after tire failures, the Post said.
Click here for full coverage of the tire recall
The paper said that Ford Motor Co. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. officials said the sample size of accidents was too small for meaningful analysis.
Officials at Ford (F: Research, Estimates) and Goodyear (GT: Research, Estimates) criticized the Post's analysis Monday, saying the number of accidents examined was too small to be meaningful, and that the databases do not always accurately identify vehicles. The officials argued that Explorers should not be compared with the entire universe of S/UVs, which can range from two-seaters to the behemoth Ford Excursion.
Firestone recalled the tires in August after dozens of reports that they were prone to shred and cause deadly highway accidents. U.S. regulators have received reports of 101 deaths linked to tire failures. Most of the tires were mounted on Ford Explorer S/UVs.
Ford should share the blame
Since the Firestone recall was announced, Ford officials have maintained the problem that has been linked to hundreds of accidents and more than 100 U.S. deaths was a tire problem, not a vehicle design problem. In recent testimony Firestone officials have maintained that the design of the Explorer contributed to the fatal accidents.
But safety advocates and plaintiff attorneys have said Ford shares blame for the tire problem because it recommended the tires be inflated to 26 pounds per square inch, lower than Firestone's recommendation, to make the Explorer less prone to roll over. Ford last month increased its inflation recommendation to 30 psi to match that of Firestone
The Post report, if proven correct, could damage Ford's argument it should not be held responsible for civil damages in the dozens of suits that have been filed. It also could badly damage the Explorer's sales. The Explorer has been a key profit generator for Ford.
 Ford sold 37,510 Explorers in September, 1.1 percent more than the year- ago period, despite the negative publicity surrounding the Firestone recall.
Ford CEO Jac Nasser said the Firestone recall has cost Ford about $500 million, in an interview broadcast on the TV program "60 Minutes" Sunday. But Nasser also conceded that S/UVs, which have higher centers of gravity than cars, were more susceptible to rollover accidents when tires failed.
Ford has been named in many of the lawsuits filed in connection with the Firestone tire failures. Both companies have also been hit with dozens of lawsuits from around the United States, as well as legal proceedings in Venezuela, where there are 46 highway deaths linked to Firestone tires.
But Ono is the first top executive from either company to be deposed. Gordon Ball, a Knoxville, Tenn., attorney who is seeking class action status for his suit, was to conduct the deposition, according to his office. The deposition took place at a Nashville hotel Monday afternoon, the home of Bridgestone/Firestone, which is the U.S. unit of Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corp. Ono's testimony has not been released.
The attorneys are planning to depose Bridgestone/Firestone executive vice presidents Gary Crigger and John Lampe this week. Additional executives were to be deposed during the next couple of weeks.
Shares of Ford gained 56 cents to $25.88 at the close of Monday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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