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Fed regulators clear Ford
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February 12, 2002: 6:01 p.m. ET
Dismiss Firestone's request to further investigate Ford Explorer's design.
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Federal safety regulators sided with Ford Motor Co. rather than tiremaker Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. Tuesday, as they said that no further investigation into the handling and control characteristics of the Ford Explorer sport/utility vehicle is warranted.
Bridgestone/Firestone had requested the investigation, charging that the design of the Explorer played a role in more than 100 deaths linked to the vehicles equipped with Firestone brand tires that suffered from a tread separation.
"The data does not support Firestone's contention that Explorers stand out from other SUVs with respect to its handling characteristics following a tread separation," said a statement from Jeffrey Runge, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Ford, which still faces lawsuits related to the deaths, was restrained in its statement on the NHTSA's findings in its favor.
"This is consistent with real-world performance data showing the Explorer to be among the safest of vehicles, and NHTSA's previous finding that many Firestone Wilderness AT tires built before 1998 contain a safety defect," said a statement from Sue Cischke, Ford's vice president of environmental and safety engineering.
Still, the decision is good news for Ford, which has seen its sales and profitability battered in the wake of the recall of 6.5 million tires in August, 2000, and in May, 2001, Ford announced it would replace 13 million additional Firestone brand tires due to safety concerns. That sparked a sharp split between the tiremaker and the automaker, with both accusing the other of putting an unsafe product on the road.
Firestone was even more terse in its comment on the findings.
"NHTSA has made its' determination," said Jill Bratina, a spokesman for the tiremaker.
The safety agency said that Firestone claimed that Explorers are defectively designed because they have an inadequate margin of control for an average driver following a tread separation incident.
The agency's statement said "the data does not support Firestone's contention that Explorers in general, or even model year 1995 and later two-wheel drive Explorers in particular, are more likely to" cause a loss of control following a rear tread separation and tire failure than other, comparable SUVs. 
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