In another devastating turn of events for Ford and Firestone, a federal judge last week granted class-action status to product liability lawsuits stemming from the Firestone tire recall. U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker's ruling allows anyone who owned or leased a 1991-2001 Ford Explorer on or before August 9, 2000 to join in the class-action lawsuit. Also included were consumers who owned or leased any vehicle with ATX, ATX II, Firehawk ATX, ATX 23 Degree, Widetrack Radial Baja and Wilderness tires from 1990 to the present. The class-action certification could include millions of Americans.

This particular class-action lawsuit remains a "no injury" action and does not include the hundreds of personal injury suits facing Ford and Firestone. The lawsuit looks to compensate those who may have lost money replacing tires or whose vehicles lost resale value.

The Explorer brand has been heavily criticized since the summer of 2000 when reports surfaced of the lethal Ford-Firestone tire combination. In August 2000, Ford and Firestone announced the joint recall of over 6.5 million Firestone tires made at Firestone's Decatur, Illinois plant. Over 200 deaths have been reported as a result of tire tread separation causing a loss of control and rollover in Ford Explorers equipped with Firestone tires. In October 2001 Firestone announced the recall of an additional 3.5 million tires.