Witness Blames Ford for Rollovers

August 20, 2001
An automotive safety expert has testified that vehicle design, not a tire defect, is to blame for a rollover accident that injured four members of a Texas family last year. The $1 billion trial in McAllen, Texas, is the first of many similar cases pending against Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford.

Chris Shapley, who specializes in vehicle dynamics, testified Friday that tread separation should not cause a vehicle to overturn. "It's going to disturb you a little bit but it should not throw you out of control," he said.

Earlier, Bridgestone/Firestone CEO John Lampe conceded there were flaws in some Firestone tires that could lead to tread separations but he said Ford was solely to blame for the accident in which Joel Rodriguez' brother, son and wife were injured when their Ford Explorer overturned in March 2000.

Lampe testified that 42 of 43 Explorer rollovers in Venezuela were on competitors' tires. The company has said that its tires were made according to Ford specifications and that tread separations alone do not cause rollovers.

Tread separations on Explorers equipped with Firestone tires have been linked to 203 deaths and 700 injuries. 6.5 million tires have been recalled.

Documents introduced in the trial show that Bridgestone/Firestone knew that tires made with an inexpensive nylon layer would be five times more likely to fail. One internal memo introduced as evidence indicated that the company calculated it could save 90 cents per tire by eliminating shoulder strips.

The trial continues this week.

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