Quote:
Originally Posted by Radar Chief
My understanding of the Explorer / Firestone issue was that the Explorer was an SUV, as in designed for off-road not as an Indy car.
If the people buying SUV’s in the early ‘90’s had bought minivans or sedans instead most probably wouldn’t even know that the Explorer came with Firestone tires.
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The geometry was bad with these things the high center of gravity and narrow wheelbase made then prone to flipping when other SUV's would not.
In a deposition taken of a Ford engineer, James Mason, Mr. Mason reluctantly admitted (when confronted with Ford documents) that in 1989 he recommended that the Explorer be lowered and widened to increase stability. This recommendation was the result of internal testing by Ford that showed the vehicle was subject to rollover in accident avoidance maneuvers.
In the deposition taken in Hall-Edwards v. Ford, a case in Dade County, Florida, Mr. Mason explained that the reason the vehicle was not made more stable was that Ford did not want to delay the introduction of the Explorer. Accordingly, Ford produced a vehicle they knew was unstable in order to maximize their profits. They did indeed maximize profits; unfortunately, at the cost of hundreds of lives and serious injuries.
In 2006 in a Ford Explorer rollover trial, evidence was introduced that indicated that the Explorer is unstable not only on Firestone tires but also on tires made by Goodyear, Cooper, Michelin's Uniroyal, BF Goodrich, Kelly Springfield, Continental General and other tire manufacturers.