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First trial in tire recall set
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August 10, 2001: 7:53 a.m. ET
Trial involving recalled Firestone tires set to begin Monday in Texas
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. is bracing to defend a case in which a family charges tires the company later recalled are responsible for an accident that left a woman permanently brain damaged, a published report said Friday.
The case, expected to begin in federal court in McAllen, Texas, Monday, is the first one focusing on whether the tires recalled last year were more to blame for hundreds of rollover deaths than Ford Motor Co.'s Explorer, on which the tires were installed as original equipment, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The embattled tire maker was preparing its defense as Tokyo-based parent company Bridgestone posted a $250 million loss in the first half of 2001 directly related to the recall of 6.5 million 15-inch Wilderness AT, ATX and ATX II tires.
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Firestone CEO John Lampe (Source: Bridgestone/Firestone) | |
The tires have been linked to more than 200 deaths in the U.S., mostly in accidents involving Ford's Explorer SUV.
The case in Texas involves Marisa Rodriguez, a 40-year-old mother of two who has been hospitalized with permanent brain damage since the Explorer in which she was a rear-seat passenger rolled over in Reynosa, Mexico, in March 2000. The tread on the right rear Wilderness AT tire separated as Rodriguez and her family were on their way back to Texas.
Firestone recalled the tire six months later, and the family sued both Ford and Firestone. Ford since has settled with the family for an undisclosed sum, the Journal reported.
As part of its defense, Firestone, which severed its nearly 100-year-old bond with Ford earlier this year, plans to emphasize evidence of design problems with the Explorer. Ford has been pinning the blame squarely on the tires.
"We have been very clear in the past few months about our feeling that the Explorer has serious safety issues," Firestone spokeswoman Jill Bratina told the Journal. "We certainly believe that when a car experiences a tread separation or a blowout, the driver should be able to pull over to the side of the road and change the tire." 
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