UNITED STATES: Ford, Firestone knew of deadly defective tyres

Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 11:00

More than 150 deaths around the world have been linked to defective Firestone tyres fitted to Ford motor vehicles. The deadly problem involves the tread separating from the tyre.

According to Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, writing in their weekly Focus on the Corporation column (available at <http://www.corporatepredators.org>), journalists, members of the US Congress and lawyers for the families of those killed in the accidents are demanding that the big companies be held responsible for the deaths.

Mokhiber and Weissman have been told by reporters following the case that Ford and Firestone were aware of the problem but failed to notify federal regulators.

Ford and Firestone had ordered the recall of problem tyres in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Asia — but not in the United States. Ford and Firestone knew of at least 35 deaths and 130 injuries before the US federal government launched a probe earlier this year.

The companies knew because they were being sued by the families of the victims. However, a condition of the court settlements Ford and Firestone were making with the victims and their families was that details of the companies' products' role in the deaths and injuries were not to be made public.

US attorney general Janet Reno has said she is looking into whether a criminal case can be brought. However, Mokhiber and Weissman point out that when the US car safety law was first passed in 1966, the car companies campaigned to prevent criminal penalties being included. They have blocked criminal penalties ever since.

US corporations know that the law and law-makers are on their side. Twenty-two years ago, a homicide charge was brought against the Ford Motor Company for the incineration deaths of three teenagers in a Ford Pinto.

Ford knew the Pinto model had a faulty petrol tank. The prosecution uncovered a 1973 memo by Ford executives that calculated that it was cheaper to pay compensation for resulting deaths and injuries (a human life was worth $200,000 in Ford's sums) than to recall all Pintos and correct the problem (at $11 for each car).

Ford brought in top lawyers and hired the judge's best friend as its local counsel. The judge ruled that much of the prosecution's evidence (including the "cost/benefit" memo) should not go to the jury. Ford was acquitted.