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WASHINGTON, DC, Sept. 6, 2000 - Ford Motor Company today announced new
initiatives that will provide improved analysis of tire safety data
and will ensure governments around the world receive consistent
information on safety actions.
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Ford Chief Executive Officer Jac Nasser
announced the company's plans today during testimony before a joint
hearing by the House Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications,
Trade & Consumer Protection and the House Commerce Subcommittee on
Oversight & Investigations.
"While this is clearly a tire issue and not a vehicle issue, we feel a
responsibility to do our best to prevent a situation like this from
ever happening again," added Nasser.
First, Ford will work with the tire industry to develop and implement
an "early warning system" to detect the first signs of tire defects on
vehicles already on the road. "This new system will require that tire
manufacturers provide comprehensive real world data on a timely
basis," said Nasser. "We're confident the tire industry will work
closely with us on this issue."
Second, Ford is committing to advise U.S. safety authorities of safety
actions the company takes in overseas markets, and vice versa. "From
now on, when we know of a safety action, so will the world, even if
some customers are totally unaffected," said Nasser. This commitment
by Ford will begin immediately. The company continues to devote
round-the-clock resources to replacing bad tires with new, good tires,
and to helping find the root cause behind the high incidents of
failures for the recalled tires.
Ford actions center around taking care of its customers. Ford Motor
Company began by insisting that Bridgestone/Firestone recall the bad
tires. A special tire hotline was immediately set up and continues to
operate (1-800-660-4719). Since then the company has worked closely
with the global tire industry to increase tire production. Ford has
also suspended production at three assembly plants - Edison, New
Jersey; Twin Cities; and, St. Louis - to free up 70,000 tires for
immediate use as replacements. So far, close to two million tires have
been replaced.
"The strength of Ford has been, and continues to be, its employees and
loyal customers," said Nasser. "I'm extremely proud of our employees
and our dealers who are working around the clock to earn our
customers' loyalty. We will do whatever it takes to make our customers
happy." |
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