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ENGINEERING ETHICS and SOCIETY

The Firestone Tires/Ford Explorer Case Study

October 2000

http://www.konformist.com/botm/volume04/botm1000.htm

Its hyped by Time Magazine as "the biggest consumer panic since the Tylenol scare." The thing

is, it isn't all panic, and, unlike Johnson & Johnson when the Tylenol poisonings occurred, thecompany at the center of the storm hasn't faced the crisis straight on.

So far, 6.5 millions Firestone tires on Ford Explorers have been recalled after over 150 deaths (aswell as over 1,100 reported incidents) have been linked to high speed blowouts on the vehicles todate. Another 1.4 million may be recalled as well.

The first question in the scandal is who is the primary blame for this mess. Jacques Nasser,Ford's CEO, insists in a self-serving manner, "This is a tire issue, not a vehicle issue." TheAmerican corporate media has followed suit, and left little doubt the fault should be pinned onBridgestone/Firestone Inc. The vast majority of articles refer to the story as the "Firestone tire

scandal." Obviously, Firestone appears at least partially culpable here (Goodyear tires onExplorers allegedly have had little problems), but a cynic would suggest that the real reasonthey're the focus of blame has more to do with two factors. First, Firestone is a Japanese ownedcompany while Ford is American. Perhaps more important, Ford dwarfs Firestone in size, andthus has a greater influence over the media.

Left unsaid in the rush to blame Firestone for the tire blowouts is why they seemed to only befaulty on Ford Explorers. Perhaps it has something to do with Ford's recommendation to inflatethe tires on Explorer sport-utility vehicles (SUV) at 26 pounds of air per square inch. Normally,owners are advised to keep tires at 30 psi, but Ford settled on the lower standard in 1989, after itfound that the Explorer had a tendency to roll over at higher inflation levels. Underinflated tires

increase the risk of tread separation: a Firestone executive stated during congressional hearingsthat 26 psi gave the Explorer "a very low safety margin." (Ford switched to 30 psi last month.)

Indecu (Venezuela's consumer protection agency, a country where 46 deaths have occured,second only to the United States) is investigating another explanation: the agency suspects thatdefects in Explorer suspension systems may have been a factor in the blowouts. Coincidentally,Ford has been changing shock absorbers on Venezuelan Explorer models since 1999: theyunconvincingly insist this has nothing to do with any safety issues. Instead, Ford claims thechange is to provide a rougher ride, which supposedly was demanded by consumers.

Whatever the case, Ford Motor now has on its hands their biggest scandal since the days of the

Ford Pinto. In that seventies case study of corporate malfeasance, Ford (under the bullyingdemands of then VP Lee Iaccoca) rushed a car to the market which had fuel tank ruptures in 37of 40 crash tests. Ford knew of its problems, but decided that it would be more cost-effective toallow deaths than make it safer. (They could have fixed the problem at just $10 per car.) Ascurrent Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader would put it while describing the benignin comparison Chevy Corvair, the Pinto was indeed "unsafe at any speed." As many as 900people died in crashes over the fiasco. Iaccoca evaded criminal punishment and was laterrewarded with the position of Chrysler CEO.

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Nasser hasn't been as reckless as Lido, but his behavior clearly underscores that he just doesn'tget it. In his weak attempt at PR via commercials, he tries to come off as a fellow man of thepeople, while wearing suits that Johnny Cochran would consider extravagant. He would laterbrag of owning three explorers himself in the ad, not a good way to come off as a well-meaninginnocent victim rather than a participant in mass homicide. If he plays his cards wrong, Nassermay become the biggest symbol of Detroit cluelessness since Iaccoca and GM's Roger Smith

were handing out pink slips like the Vatican passes out holy wafers.

Of course, there's another element to all this that may dwarf the entire Explorer scandal. Sincebeing introduced in 1990, the Explorer has been the best-selling SUV on the U.S. market and hasbeen a leader in making the SUV fashionable. As Intellectualcapital.com pointed out, "Ford'sU.S. SUV sales totaled 768,743 vehicles in 1999, a steady climb of 540,199 more units thanthose sold in 1990. Ford also has expanded the company's SUV lineup, from two models in 1990to six in 2001." SUVs gobble more gasoline and emit more pollution than passenger vehicles,and as Ford itself admitted earlier this year in a report, are "directly contributing to risinggreenhouse gas levels and global climate change." Considering the effects that pollution andother environmental wastes have on populations, as well as the effects on the Third World with

higher gas prices, 150 deaths are chump change in comparison. People paying for skyrocketingprices at the pump right now are feeling the effects of this same syndrome.

Incredibly, Ford presented their report on SUVs, titled "Connecting With Society," as a slick PRmove, in which they feigned concern for the effects of their boondoggle. Terry Bresnihan,director of environmental strategy for Ford, termed the report as a "leadership action." Their meaculpa was as disingenuous as their feign of denial over prior knowledge with the tire scandal,admitting that "with a few exceptions, its products are not industry leaders in fuel economy."Their excuse: they have no choice over the matter, since they are at the whim of consumers whodemand SUVs, a phenomena the auto industry has absolutely no control over.

Sure. In the 1998 issue 16 ofSteamshovel Press, Martin Kauffman wrote what may be the finestarticle ever in the esteemed counterculture conspiracy magazine, titled "The Manhattan Projectto Manufacture the First Yuppies." In it, Kauffman persuasively shows how the entire Yuppiemovement was conceived, created and promoted to transform the sixties generation intomindless servants of the status quo in exchange for material wealth. The process was done viatheNew York Times andNew York Magazine, which extolled the yuppie ethics before theybecame chic.

To think that the promotion of Yuppie values ended with pate and Louis Vutton bags would benaive. That the SUV soon became a nineties staple of the Yuppie lifestyle (as well as the "soccermom") appears to be a major marketing coup. After all, until ten years ago, light trucks were as

much a staple of redneck culture as shotguns and beer: the transformation of them into a elitistsymbol of mobility was a difficult feat. Then again, considering that the automobile industryspends $3 billion a year on advertising, it may not have been so difficult after all.

The end result: masses of drivers on the road in gas-guzzling tanks which they lack the skill todrive effectively. But why did Ford and the other motor companies push the SUV bandwagon?The Clean Air Act exempted light trucks from higher fuel standard requirements. Daniel Becker,director of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Program, put it bluntly: "The law

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http://www.intellectualcapital.com/http://www.intellectualcapital.com/

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allowed them to pollute more and kill more because the vehicles were designed to haul hay, notlattes home from Starbucks." Ford Motor, not so incidentally, is heavily controlled andinfluenced by the oil industry.

Incredibly, many environmentalists applauded Ford for its self-serving report. Holly Ross ofGreenCar.org stated, "This is the first public declaration I've seen. We're very excited." Others

were not so congratulatory. As Intellectualcapital.com put it:

With the technology available today for more fuel-efficient engines, green groups claim thatconsumers could shave as much as 50% or more off their current gas bill each year. Becker saidthe Ford Explorer, which currently gets 19 miles to a gallon of gasoline, could get 34 miles pergallon with a $935 investment per car in better technology. The Excursion, Ford's largest SUV,gets only 10 miles per gallon in the city.

Even more incredibly, despite the scandal (as well as rising gas prices), Explorer sales areactually still rising this year. And that's before Ford has even tried a truly effectivedisinformation campaign, such as hiring John Stossel (or a Stossel wanna-be) as a hack to

dismiss the 150 deaths as "statistically insignificant," an example of "junk science" and"hysteria." Obviously, the Beast that Nasser serves so well is hardly down for the count.

Update: On October 10, it was revealed that, contrary to Ford's insistent claims, Explorersequipped with Goodyear tires were indeed unsafe in their own right. This wipes out a maindefense of Ford Motor in their claims that they aren't the culprit here. Stay tuned.

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