Firestone/Ford: Tire Recall Timeline

November 1978: Firestone recalled 14.5 million of the Firestone 500 series tires after reports of accidents and deaths due to tread separation on steel-belted radial tires.

May 1988: Bridgestone, the world's No. 3 tire maker, acquired Firestone, the No. 2 tire maker. The takeover rescued Firestone from potential financial collapse due to the 1978 recall.

February 1989: Arvin/Calspan Tire Research Facility of Alexandria, Va., an independent research lab hired by Ford, measured the performance of 17 Firestone tires. The lab reported 3 belt-edge separation failures of the 17 tires tested.

March 1990: The Explorer was introduced as a 1991 model. The Explorer was redesigned to its current chassis design in 1995.

1991: Bridgestone/Firestone ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness AT tires became original equipment for the Ford Explorer (1991 - 2000), Ford Ranger (1991 - 2000), F-150 truck (1991 - 1994), Mercury Mountaineer (1996 - 2000), Mazda Navajo (1991- 1994), and B-Series Pick-up (1994 - 2000). Eventually, over 14.4 million tires would be manufactured.

1992: Bridgestone/Firestone began investigating allegations of safety problems with its tires. Ford began receiving complaints regarding Firestone tires on its light truck models.

1994 - 1996: The workers at the Firestone Decatur, IL plant went out on strike. Firestone used replacement workers during this period to continue production.

July 1998: State Farm Insurance research analyst Sam Boyden sent an email to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) reporting 21 tread separation cases involving the Firestone ATX tire. Boyden continued to send e-mails to NHTSA about subsequent Firestone tread separation accidents.

October 1998: Ford noted tread separation problems on Ford Explorers in Venezuela, and sent samples to Bridgestone/Firestone for analysis. A Ford-affiliated dealer in Saudi Arabia wrote to Ford Motor Co. complaining of problems with Firestone tires.

March 12, 1999: Ford memorandum noted that Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone executives discussed notifying U.S. safety authorities about a planned tire recall in Saudi Arabia. Ford decided to replace the tires overseas without telling federal regulators.

April 1999: NHTSA's Uniform Tire Grading Report gave Firestone ATX II and Wilderness AT tires the lowest grade on stress test temperature. The overwhelming majority of comparable tires received higher grades. It is believed that overheated tires lead to tread separation.

August 1999: Ford began replacing Firestone tires on Explorers sold in Saudi Arabia after reports of tread separation problems. Ford did not report the safety concerns, but called the replacement program a "customer notification enhancement action."

January 19, 2000: Internal documents showed Firestone executives knew about rising warranty costs due to accidents caused by the ATX, ATX II, and the Wilderness AT tires.

May 2000: Ford changed Explorer's standard equipment to Goodyear tires in Venezuela while waiting for Firestone to come to resolution regarding the tire separation problems. Ford recalled Firestone tires in Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia, and Ecuador. The entire overseas recall reached 46,912 SUVs.

May 8, 2000: NHTSA launched a formal investigation into the tread separation cases involving the Firestone ATX and Wilderness tires.

August 4, 2000: Ford found a pattern in the data pointing to the 15" ATX, ATX II, and Wilderness AT tires made at the Decatur, IL plant and called in the Firestone experts. They found that older tires produced late in each production year from 1994 - 1996 had a higher failure rate.

August 9, 2000: Bridgestone/Firestone announced a region by region recall of more than 6.5 million AT, ATX II, and Wilderness AT tires. Approximately 2 million Ford Explorers were named as subjects to the recall. The cost estimate for the recall ranged from $300 to $600 million. The hot weather regions were scheduled for tire replacement first, with other regions to follow. NHTSA reports that Firestone tire separations were responsible for 46 deaths.

August 10, 2000: Plaintiff attorneys involved with Firestone litigation over the past decade note they know of 107 related tire cases, with 90 of those having a direct link to the recalled tires.

August 10, 2000: Ford claimed it became aware of the tire separation problem one year ago, from anecdotal reports from Saudi Arabia.

August 16, 2000: NHTSA increased the number of deaths connected to the Firestone tread separations to 62.

Sept. 1, 2000: NHTSA announced another 24 Firestone tire models showed rates of tread separation exceeding those of the recalled tires. NHTSA also increased the estimate of deaths attributed to Firestone tires from 62 to 88. Venezuelan authorities report that at least 47 people died because of the Firestone tires.

Sept. 28, 2000: Ford announced that it will offer customers buying the 2002 Explorer a choice between firestone and other brands of tires. The auto maker reveled plans to equip the bulk of its next generation SUVs with Michelin tires.

October 17, 2000: Attorneys general from 48 U.S. states and territories pressure Firestone to better publicize the replacement of 1.4 million tires, not subject to recall, but the focus of a government consumer advisory. The advisory came after the NHTSA said it identified worrisome tread separation with an additional 1.4 million tires.