October 12, 2005
The Bridgestone tire company, which owns Firestone, has reached a settlement of its long-standing legal dispute over massive tire safety recalls with the Ford Motor Company and agreed to pay Ford $240 million.
The dispute began with the Firestone tire safety recall in August of 2000 and Ford's subsequent tire replacement program the next year.
At the time Ford claimed it would spend $3 billion to replace 13 million Firestone tires, installed mostly as original equipment on the Explorer SUV.
The tires were linked to accidents involving 270 deaths and more than 800 injuries. The $240 million settlement ends a bitter fight between the companies.
