When Ford Motor Company announced on May 22, 2001 that it intended to replace all Firestone AT tires installed on Ford vehicles, many safety advocates applauded the move. However, during hearings held on Capital Hill yesterday, U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) raised the possibility that the tires Ford was using to replace the Firestones were actually as dangerous, if not more so, than the originals.

According to Tauzin, "Ford is going to replace these recalled tires with tires that have a worse claim history than some of the tires coming off the Explorers." Ford's decision to replace the Firestone tires came in the absence of a Federal government or Firestone recommendation to do so. Ford maintains that since all of the Firestone AT tires on its vehicles may be dangerous, not just those which were officially recalled by Firestone in August 2000, the replacement action is prudent.

However, during yesterday's hearings, Congressman Tauzin reported that the tires Ford plans to use as replacements, including Goodyear and General Tires, actually have a higher rate of failure than the Firestones that Ford plans to remove. Ford believes that any tires with a tread separation claim rate greater than 5 per million is unacceptable. However, Congressman Tauzin's figures show that the replacement Goodyear Wrangler HT and General Grabber have failure rates of 13.7 per million and 10.9 per million respectively. Tauzin also claimed that one brand of tire Ford is using in the replacement program has a failure rate of 124 per million. However, the Congressman refused to identify that brand.

Ford CEO Jacques Nasser was unaware of the elevated failure rate associated with some of the replacement tires. He countered that it would be physically impossible to test every replacement and that Ford simply decided to act expeditiously when it announced the replacement program. In a statement released after the hearing, Ford announced that it would "work closely with NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) to analyze what data there is and will act promptly if need be."